lectricpharaoh

I'm considering installing Linux on my machine, most likely in a dual-boot scenario. I've picked Ubuntu because I'm a Linux newbie, and it's supposed to be easy to install, use and configure. However, although I've decided this much, I'm undecided on which flavor of Ubuntu to go with. It seems to me my best choices are base Ubuntu, Kubuntu, or Xubuntu.

Typical tasks I use the computer for are programming, surfing the web, word processing, playing music, transcoding video files (not so much watching them, as I generally watch them on the TV hooked up to my Archos), and playing Diablo II (which I believe works just fine through Wine). I'm also a sucker for eye candy, so I'd like something visually pleasing, and configurability is a must.

If it matters, my main machine is a HP/Compaq laptop with a Sempron 3300+ processor, one gig of RAM (minus what the onboard video uses; this is configurable through BIOS), an 80 gig HD, and the LCD panel is 1280x800 widescreen. My optical drive is dead, but that's okay as I've got an external USB 3.5" IDE enclosure that I can connect a DVD-RW drive to. While I can't actually put it together this way, with the optical drive being too big, I can use it in a pinch. Booting from CD and burning both CD and DVD media have been tested, and work fine.

Anyways, I'd like to have people's suggestions. Those with experience with the Ubuntu flavors I listed may have recommendations or tips, or perhaps even comments regarding common pitfalls in this situation. Anyone?

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Jessehk

They're all very similar. AFAIK, they only differ by the desktop environment (DE) they use.

Any choice would likely work equally well, though normal Ubuntu (which uses Gnome as the DE) is the most well-supported and polished.

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Jimbo

They are all about the same but for the DE. You can also install the others onto whichever you start with, if you'd like to compare.

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pal

I personally like Ubuntu GNOME mostly because I like the word Gnome than KDE or xfce, xfce with a tiny mouse logo does look appealing but i like to picture gnomes than mouse. I also plan to develop gnome applications. Other than differences in their interfaces they're pretty much similar in most ways (like word processing, internet browsing, playing music, they're mostly the same software that you would use in most of other linux distro).

iEngage

It all comes down to preference. Just run the liveCD for each one and decide which you like best.

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OpenLoop

I've used all three and I prefer Ubuntu because, in my experience:
- It's the original
- It's more stable than both kubuntu and xubuntu
- Gnome is a lot cleaner than KDE, not as clean as xfce which lacks functionality, but it strikes a balance between usability and cleanliness.
- Gnome has Desktop Effect (wobbly windows, transparent windows, fancy minimize effects), but these might need a good graphics card to work.

Hope that helps.

Jimbo

Can't say for sure about Ubuntu, but when I was running Gentoo I had these is KDE and XFCE too. It just took a little bit of time to set them up, partly because this was when the features were new, and partly because it was Gentoo. I'd guess you can even get these on your hardware, since I was running them on integrated video at the time too.

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Sorrofix

It doesn't really matter which one you choose because the 'flavors' of Ubuntu are just a bunch of packages stuck onto a disk image. You can install Gnome or XFCE or whatever on Kubuntu, and likewise goes for the rest of them. It's really up to you to find out which window manager you prefer the most. Just install them all and fool around with them.

KDE seems to be more popular among the eyecandy-lover crowd, as it has a lot of focus on widgets and add-ons for the desktop. It's also a bit more complex than Gnome. Gnome is nice in this way because it's fairly simple to configure and use, and looks pretty decent too.

>It's more stable than both kubuntu and xubuntu
I'd question that. While my experience with Ubuntu in general has been that it's far from the most stable Linux distro out there, which flavor you choose doesn't seem to have a huge impact on the stability of the operating system as a whole.

>Gnome has Desktop Effect (wobbly windows, transparent windows, fancy minimize effects)
That doesn't really have much to do with Gnome. It's mainly the work of compositing window managers such as Beryl/Compiz (and more recently, Compiz Fusion, the merger of the two). Gnome doesn't provide these effects, only the "platform" (for lack of a better term) to run it on. And of course, in order to run compositing window managers on X, you need Xgl, an X server designed to provide 3D acceleration to the X windowing system.

mrynit

xubuntu is "ment for less powerfull computers", that excludes my p3 that ran 98 fine.
In default xfce you cannont send drop menu icons on to the launcher panel. They have to be manual added as custom launcher applications. Desktop icons are not visable by default. Those are my major complaints against xubuntu.

I use ubuntu on all my computers.

there is nubuntu, fluxbuntu and linux mint as well.

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teishu

i like Xubuntu as its soooo fast however i've found Ubuntu seems to work better for me, more supported and as Jessehk said its well polished....

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