Best Linux Distro for My PC

[flibberdipper]

My Dell recently became a turd with Windows XP, and I formatted the hard drive, hoping that there was a snappy Linux distro for it. It has a 2.8GHz Pentium 4, Intel Extreme Graphics 2, and 512MB of RAM. I've had it with Windows on it, and now I'm putting Linux on it, but like I said, I don't know what would be good for it. I want it to have a GUI (none of the text-based crap), otherwise I won't use it. And I would love if I could boot it off a USB drive. Thanks!

[Wesley]

Ubuntu is what your looking for

 

 

How to create a bootable USB stick on Windows

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

[flibberdipper]

I tried Ubuntu on it, and it was HORRIBLE. When it still had 1GB of RAM it took forever to do anything.

[Ashley]

Mint is very easy to use, has a large amount of compatibility (based on Ubuntu, Steam works in Mint as well) but uses less resources than Ubuntu.

[lutzee]

For something really lightwight you could go for crunchbang, but it doesn't feature a full desktop enviroment like ubuntu does.

Its up to you between whether the trade off of speed to usability matters.

[Wesley]

I've only ever used Mint at a command line level as a DHCP server so i've never used it worth giving a shot

[Wesley]

For something really lightwight you could go for crunchbang, but it doesn't feature a full desktop enviroment like ubuntu does.

Its up to you between whether the trade off of speed to usability matters.

+1 to the above... he's right with the trade off with older machines you can't have your cake and eat it to sort a speak sometimes you just have to settle.

[Guest GRRigger]

Just try Open suse, mandriva, red hat, fedora,ubuntu... the last i used and was quite happy with was openSUSE 

obviously if you do certain things ( gaming ) then might not be for you YET

[Assassin]

Try Lubuntu its light ubuntu. So it should not be heavy on your resources. http://www.lubuntu.net/

[iNsahne303]

There is also Linux lite, which is based on ubuntu, but requires much less power. https://www.linuxliteos.com/

Since it's very similar to ubuntu you'll find many great tutorials and how-to's.

[UselessBread]

but it doesn't feature a full desktop enviroment like ubuntu does.

 

What? No. #! is fully functional, there is only a lack of certain options menus (like mouse and keyboard), which you can get from the repositories, if you really need to.

 

I however wouldn't recommend #! to OP based on the fact that if he is not familiar with Linux it might not be the easiest to start on.

That is why I would say go with a Ubuntu fork like Xubuntu or Lubuntu.

[lutzee]

What? No. #! is fully functional, there is only a lack of certain options menus (like mouse and keyboard), which you can get from the repositories, if you really need to.

 

I however wouldn't recommend #! to OP based on the fact that if he is not familiar with Linux it might not be the easiest to start on.

That is why I would say go with a Ubuntu fork like Xubuntu or Lubuntu.

 

What I mean by DE is that the distro (#!) is a compilation of other applications to build the distro, where as eg Ubuntu, will use a set DE (this case unity) where all the main applications/menus etc are made by the unity team with only a couple of other programs.

 

There are only a couple of things made by the #! team, and half of them are just scripts. Like I said, its the trade off between speed and usability.

Xubuntu would come somewhere between ubuntu and #!. And would be a good choice. 

[flibberdipper]

I decided on Xubuntu 12.04 LTS, since I already have a CD with it and it seemed to run fine on the live CD.

[flibberdipper]

Oh, and thanks for all your input guys! This is why I like Linus Tech Tips so freaking much, is because people here actually seem to care about their fellow nerds.

[UselessBread]

What I mean by DE is that the distro (#!) is a compilation of other applications to build the distro, where as eg Ubuntu, will use a set DE (this case unity) where all the main applications/menus etc are made by the unity team with only a couple of other programs.

 

There are only a couple of things made by the #! team, and half of them are just scripts. Like I said, its the trade off between speed and usability.

Xubuntu would come somewhere between ubuntu and #!. And would be a good choice. 

 

How does the unification of a desktop enviroment's components make it a fuller desktop enviroment than a different one, where you don't have one dev team? This doesn't make any sense. They both work, they both do their job.

 

[lutzee]

Its just how I view them. Simple as that.