Linux Distros, User Evaluations

[TWPonKubuntu]

I debated where to put this, but Geek News seemed good enough.

http://www.everydaylinuxuser.com/201...est-linux.html

The reason I even bother to look at this is my trouble running Kubuntu 16.04 on my older laptop (Dell Latitude D820, 32bit, 4GB Ram, etc). The biggest (show-stopper big) problems are failure of video support and baloo failure.

Since I'm unable to get Kubuntu 16.04 working (adequately) on my laptop, I am looking for a distro which can still handle such older systems.

And, NO, I still use Kubuntu 14.04 on this laptop, with complete satisfaction... Ir just works and is my production machine.

However, I do want (need) to use upgraded tools (PHP 7, CodeIgniter Framework 4, etc) without throwing away my working system. That means I am testing other distros in hopes that they recognize the need to support older systems and in particular, the 32bit processors still used by many. NOT JUST MY SYSTEM, but those of my clients...

SO, read the linked article and do your own evaluation.

[claydoh]

All I will say on "best distro" polls and blog posts is that they are akin to asking what the best breathing air is, lol. The first responders to these are almost always from those 2 or 3 distros with the more enthusiastic user base. It sure makes it hard to wade through the mess and get to useful information.

This is one of the better articles on this subject as some time and care went into the writing and analysis.

What is still usually totally missing are any solid, specific reasons why one is better. "Beginner friendly" as one example is far too vague.

sent from my LG V10 using Tapatalk

[TWPonKubuntu]

Claydoh, yeah, it is very subjective and a full analysis would be expensive, not to mention still biased by the researcher.
It boils down to what works for each user...

I just want to find a Linux distro which will continue to work on my, and my clients, older 32bit systems.

I liked the linked article because it was user driven, as opposed to system developer driven.

[GreyGeek]

A lot of distros no longer release 32 bit iso's. Some good ones still do:
https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

https://www.kali.org/downloads/

[TWPonKubuntu]

Yeah GG, and I can sympathize with the need to direct resources to where they see the the marketing going...

But, the fact remains that there are a lot of older systems still working (mine among them) and that is a market too.

I don't feel the need to spend money on a new system, merely because the latest OS requires a newer platform.

Thanks for the links to Mint and Kali, I'll investigate.

[GreyGeek]

Yeah GG, and I can sympathize with the need to direct resources to where they see the the marketing going...

But, the fact remains that there are a lot of older systems still working (mine among them) and that is a market too.
I don't feel the need to spend money on a new system, merely because the latest OS requires a newer platform.

I hear ya. I can't afford a new box either. My box is six years old. In computer generations that makes it a grandpa, just like me!
But, it's not broken so I am not going to fix it. It works for Minecraft with my grandson so that is all that matters.

Thanks for the links to Mint and Kali, I'll investigate.

I ran Linux Mint KDE 17.3 for a couple months earlier this year. KDE is KDE, but Mint also includes a ton of GTK+ libraries and apps, which gives it a different feel. But,it's alright. I generally prefer a cleaner, more KDE centric distro and minimize or eliminate when possible any GTK+ or MONO apps.

[acheron]

A lot of distros no longer release 32 bit iso's. Some good ones still do:

Results of survey (kubuntu portion) for support of 32bit isos

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ku...ly/010524.html

[oldgeek]

I have been running Mint 18 and Peppermint 7 on my 32-bit netbook with 2 mb ram and an atom processor, and both seem fine. Peppermint is a little faster, but is more bare-bones than Mint since it doesn't include things an office application out of the box. It's easy to download any program you'll need, however. Peppermint also has some spectacular photos for the desktop background. Both are recommended for newer converts to Linux and both quite simple to learn. I've had no crashes on either one, but then again I don't use my netbook much. I don't know how long 32-bit machines will be supported by these distros, but both are LTS editions, so you should be able to get at least a few more years out of them.

[TWPonKubuntu]

acheron,

Looking at the survey, I'd have to agree that within a decade the significance of 32 bit will decline, as will the physical lifetimes of many 32 bit hardware. Planned obsolescence is real and part of the business plan.

Than being said, the present situation is forcing may 32 bit systems to be abandoned, not because they have died, but because the software no longer supports them. That is bad for me and bad for my clients, many of whom still have those older systems and cannot / will not pay for new hardware.

I'm not advocating a return to the days of DOS or Windoze, but right now, we're being squeezed out by software, not hardware.

[GreyGeek]

Results of survey (kubuntu portion) for support of 32bit isos

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ku...ly/010524.html

From your link:

April 2019 (16.04 LTS support ends here for Kubuntu - 3 year LTS)

From https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Xenial Xerus Rel: April 21, 2016 EOL:April 2021

Is Kubuntu's EOL different from Ubuntu/Canonical's?

[acheron]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/XenialXerus/...eNotes/Kubuntu

Kubuntu 16.04 LTS will be supported for 3 years.

Obviously packages that are updates as part of the ubuntu 5 year LTS will continue to come though via the archives.

[Snowhog]

From your link:




From https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases


Is Kubuntu's EOL different from Ubuntu/Canonical's?

The longer EOL; April 2021; is for server installations; desktop installations get the shorter EOL, IIRC.

[acheron]

The longer EOL; April 2021; is for server installations; desktop installations get the shorter EOL, IIRC.

ubuntu desktop (AKA unity etc) is 5 years.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/XenialXerus/ReleaseNotes

Support lifespan

Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS will be supported for 5 years for Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Core, and Ubuntu Kylin.

All other flavours will be supported for 3 years.

[Snowhog]

So then, as I read it, the 5 years support applies specifically to Ubuntu, and that "All other flavours" means all of Ubuntu's 'official' variants: Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu and such. Is that correct?

[claydoh]

Each desktop flavour gets to choose between 3 and 5 year LTS lifespans, and it seems most if not all other than the Unity have gone with 3 years the past few LTS cycles.