Today I tested NeptuneOS 4.4. At the beginning, while loading it gives an error about some font, but it loads fine after that. It has a custom start menu Windows 7 style, but you can use also the KDE menu which is in the same Win7 style. I did an update from Aper (software manager in KDE) which went flawlessly. This distro has in the repositories ATi & nVidia drivers which is a big plus, because you don't have to follow complicated procedures to install them, just 3 clicks. So...Kanotix is out of the picture. I'll see the rest how they go... L.E: The ATi Drivers installed just fine, but still don't kick in when they are supposed to. I have to deal aticonfig...now that's going to take some googling...
It's not only a talk about KDE and driver. Some distros, even though these I'm testing are all based on Debian, I want to see which one is the easier to work with. For example, as I mentioned in the previous post, in Neptune's repo I found ATi & nVidia drivers without having to edit sources.list. I want a distro which gets the job done without me lurking on the web for a freaking script and things as such, just for the laptop to perform as expected. I want the ease of Windows in Linux. Maybe for some, this sounds childish, but now I can do these tests, so I do them. In the future, when I won't have the time, I don't want to RTFM for a week to solve something that I can do now. Feel free to share your linux experience, which is most definitely greater than mine.
I work at an OEM refurb facility and between testing and repairs, I have some downtime so I try different distros on different types of machines. Not any real in depth testing, more along the line of seeing which distro installs the quckest or gives the least trouble during or after installs. I've not had any real issues in regards to installing at least 20 different distros on everything from low-end notebooks to dual Xeon workstations. The only real issues I run across are drivers as I have limited internet access and I can't spend a large amount of time on in depth research. And time spent gaining knowledge is never wasted.
I used or tested Linux frum 2009 until now.I like much KDE Plasma 5 but while there are isues I stick now with Manjaro Flubox 15.09
It's okay that you not agree with all of my Statements, now we have a ongoing talk. Well, out-of-the-box is impossible and also not on Windows, remember the official Windows 10 RTM release and nVidia Driver disaster (for some People). So you see not even Windows can handle all configuration, imho it's not possible, or if you will not get the best performance, because WU prefers stable over beta. My time argument was more about instead of using other distros because it not worked for you the first time, you could simply use your choosen distro and use the time to mod as per whiches. The same goes for Windows. Overall that will coasts less time. As I can understand you have absolute no checklist or anything else to compare the distros besides if that they're working or not (out-of-the-box). I think you will miss some fun because of that, because after you get all working I think you evolved with it and also remember that the distros changes very often (e.g. Ubuntu gets updates every 6 months).
I'd like to say that both sides of this discussion make perfect sense to Me. Whereas, we'd like to find the "perfect" distro, one that We can grow with, How do you know unless you've tried a few of them. And then there's the knowledge attained, which is precious IMHO. Also, the idea of installing live makes good sense. If it doesn't work, it's easy to clean up and try another. @Socrat, et.al: Please keep going. I like Mint, but I'd like to know about other distros, and the problems encountered. If a distro is difficult to set up, beginners should know about it. There's nothing more disheartening than trying to install an OS that has quirks. @Chef: You're right. It makes perfect sense to get to the know the distro intimately before going on to another one. Especially for beginners like Me, who know practically nothing about Linux.
For what it's worth , my " Test-bed " machine has a fully installed Mint OS , updated and hardened . I've been using it daily for some time now and I make all of my Live USB stuff on it . I am typing on it this very second ! So I'm not simply "dabbling" with various Linux distros , although I do a fair bit of that also - In the philosophy of science , there is no such thing as a "failed" experiment. Even if the results are nothing like what was expected , there is always something to be learned ! Of course I could just use my spare time playing video games , but I choose not to PS - thanks for your contribution Michaela Joy , constructive as always.
I'm aware that problems can arise, but that's the thing: even though all the distros are based on Debian, some are more polished than others, more tweaked, depending on the developer, thus making users' life easier. This is my goal: to find a distro that works out-of-the-box or just minimal tweaks needed to get it ready for daily use.
Taking a stab at Linux Mint here. Surprisingly, got all my hardware working fine without much hassle.
No need to be surprised , that is the regular experience with Mint - It is always my number one recommendation to anyone who wants to " dip a toe in the Linux water ". Enjoy !
I agree .. what I find makes it easier as well is having a fingerprint reader - one can have a really secure pwd and not worry about typng it out each time.
Keep the saga going Perhaps I'm too complacent, but Xubuntu 15.04 recognizes all the hardware of my Dell Precision laptop and it does everything I want. But do I play around with Mint every now and then. And I love learning from threads like this and the countless scores of Linux YouTube videos. So many Linux distros and Linux factions (ranging from reasonable to fanatic). At the moment, I am somewhat tired of any MS OS. (Probably MDL's fault for exposing me to so much good information that I'm saturated!)
Yea, I just switched my mother to Linux Mint/Cinnamon from Windows 7. All I had to do was install nVidia drivers, change the desktop background, import her bookmarks (and tweak Firefox), install Wine and the one program that I needed to install Wine for and let her go at it. It took me all of about 2 hours to get everything the way that I wanted it (from starting install to finished). She hasn't looked back yet. And she is no spring chicken, she is over 60 years old. That just goes to show that anyone can use Linux with no problem. *Everything worked out of the box except for having to install nVidia drivers. Scanner, printer, WiFi, just works. Completely satisfied.
If you think running a live Linux distro from CD or USB cannot hurt your system, read on: I've been running UUMATE from a USB pen drive to get the feel of it before going in for a bare metal install. The simple things worked well, so I gradually got more adventurous. Connecting to the wifi network was fine. Disconnecting from the network was not as easy, but I managed to do it. When I rebooted back into Windows, my wifi wouldn't work. Diagnostics kept saying the wifi switch was turned off, but it was on. Turning it off would remove the adapter; turning it back on would re-enable it, but the adapter just wouldn't work. Uninstalling and reinstalling the wifi adapter driver didn't work either. I had to install a manufacturer provided utility that enables and disables the wifi adapter at a lower level, and was only then able to turn the wifi back on.
Never had an WiFi problem with any linux distros (live or installed), but I'll try UUMATE and connect and disconnect from WiFi to see if I get the same problem as you had. I'm testing linux on HP Pavillion dm4.