Spatry's Top 5 Linux Distributions for Beginners

[tbarry1a]

Well, I upgraded my kernel from 2.6.38-13-generic to 3.2.0-030200-generic and there still is a problem with wireless access on my IBM T42. I have edited the wireless connection for WPA & WPA Personal and entered the password. Once I save it, the keyring pops up and I store it there, but then I get a dialogue that says Authentication Required By Wireless Network. I can't seem to get past that. Any thoughts? Do you think that the built in wireless is just not compatible?

[LinuxSpatry]

@tbarry1a I used to own an IBM model similar to yours (T52 I think) and I know for a fact that the Linux kernel supports the wireless device... IBM products do support Linux... If I were you I would check with the IBM website and also a Google search with "Ubuntu IBM Thinkpad Wireless" may yield some results. Having the updated kernel is also a plus...

[UnforgivableMen]

@tbarry1a I had that problem as well.Here's a solution. DON'T use the keyring at all. The first time you enter the password for your wireless network the keyring is gonna pop out and ask u for the new keyring password- leave it blank. Then it's just gonna ask u whether u wanna use the unsafe password storage ,click yes. Reboot and that's it

[tbarry1a]

I guess what my question is, on the kernel ppa website do I just choose the kernal that has the highest vesion number regardless of what I have now? In other words, if when I type the uname -r , if it shows that I am at 3.0.1 oneiric can I jump to 3.2.1 precise dated Jan 12 2012? Or do I need to stay in the save level and go to 3.0.17 oneiric dated Jan 12 2012? That's were my confusion is. I'm not sitting in front of that computer right now to give you exacts, but I think you get my drift. Thnx

[LinuxSpatry]

@tbarry1a YES... you may use a PRECISE kernel. Just avoid kernels with a "RC" and make sure you select the right architecture x86 or x64

[tbarry1a]

Thanks for your advice. I went ahead and watched the video "Keeping it Fresh". I am a little confused, however, with which kernal to choose on the kernal website you have listed. There is quite alot listed there and I am not sure what to pick. I curently have Zorin OS 5 Lite. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[LinuxSpatry]

@tbarry1a go for the most recent STABLE version... Do not pick a RC (release candidate) MAke sure you are not using ATI or Nvidia proprietary drivers or you will break X and you will not be able to boot into a GUI...

[tbarry1a]

I just installed Zorin OS Lite on IBM T42, but my wireless does not seem to work. Any suggestions?

[tbarry1a]

Thanks for your great advice. I am just getting started in Linux and I went ahaed and installed Zorin OS Lite for an old IBM T42 laptop. I really like this look. I also love the Look Changer. I am having a problem, however, with wireless access. I cant get it to work. It seems to see my wireless network but I can't connect to it. I triededit the connettion and enter the security ino and everything, but no go. Do you think I should get a "Linux Friendly" USB Wireless stick?

[LinuxSpatry]

@tbarry1a I encountered the same problem when I was using my wifi dish. Please see my "Keeping it fresh" videos which cover upgrading the kernel. The newer kernels will support your wireless hardware... NOTE: you SHOULD NOT upgrade your kernel if you have installed the PROPRIETARY ATI or NVIDIA drivers.

[MunzirSuliman]

Thanks for the advice :) i just installed pinguyOS on my laptop falling back from ubuntu 11.04 and I really liked almost every thing about it from the look and feel to the pre-installed applications , except for two things bothered me 1- the laptop became just a little bit slower that i could not run recordMydesKtop normally as a result 2 - I could not run the 'ATI Catalyst' as a root user !!! :( help plz ..my laptop is Toshiba satellite with 2GB ram,230 GB HDD and intel core 2Duo 2.16GHz

[LinuxSpatry]

@MunzirSuliman Personally, I prefer the stock xorg driver over the ATI proprietary driver... please see my pinguy howto series as I cover that operating system in great detail from installation to keeping it up top date. I cover the installation of the ATI driver in the series.

[MunzirSuliman]

@LinuxSpatry Thanks for your fast replay . may i know under what 'title' you had uploaded the toturial?! and do you think that my laptop specifications' are sufficient for pinguyOS?!!!

[LinuxSpatry]

@MunzirSuliman Your processor is a dual core,,, mine is a single 2.33 with 8 gigs of ram... your computer is adequate for pinguy OS... I think instructions are included in one of the "Keeping it fresh" episodes...

[LinuxSpatry]

@MunzirSuliman one thing to note... I now have pinguy running on ALL of the house computers... one computer is a 1.5 ghz with 1 gig of ram and it runs smoothly. Now that I have all of the house computers set up the way I want them, I can get back to making videos... LOL

[mohamedshareef1]

Downloading ZorinOS now. Many thanks.

[ashkot]

@mohamedshareef1 Zorin OS is awesome!!

[MrPaulv67]

Just installed lubuntu great for older computers that want buntu but need a light desktop 5 of 5 stars

[ChuckOnTech]

Which linux video editor do you use?

[LinuxSpatry]

@ChuckOnTech I mostly use openshot along with windows apps in WINE to do some special effects...

[ChuckOnTech]

@LinuxSpatry Thanks.

[Krothie]

Wooohoooo! 100 videos! Congratulations!

Only distro's on that list I tried out was Linux Mint (10) and Ubuntu (10.10 & 11.04)

[LinuxSpatry]

@Krothie Thanks... I am slowly creeping up to my 200th episode LOL

[marcuspbaird]

well done on your 100 ep :)

[Tallman67122]

KUBUNTU 11.04  is my choice (2.) Ultimate 3.0 (3.) Linux Mint 12 (4.) Ice Feast 2.0 (5.) Edbuntu - educational Ubuntu with alot of educational stuff for the kids...loaded on thier computers of course.

[Videotubelord]

This is not top 5 linux distros, but top 5 ubuntu distros. Difference between them is just a look.

[LinuxSpatry]

@Videotubelord Apparently you did not understand the title this is "MY top 5 list"

[Videotubelord]

@LinuxSpatry i did, just mentioned to replace word linux with ubuntu :)

[Hi675445]

@Videotubelord my my my my

[blackpoolboots]

great review. looking for a change to ubuntu will try pinguy or ultimate

[LinuxSpatry]

@blackpoolboots ultimate is a great one to try but pinguy 11.04 is better IMHO

[izbm666]

All ubuntu based :D

[LinuxSpatry]

@ilovefolgers Glad that is working out for you!

[tostoday]

My top Linux for Windows users: 1. Zorin-been following them since last year--the Look Changer is awesome. 2. Close but Linux Mint without Gnome 3 (for now). 3. Ubuntu Unity, I dual boot this with XP. Lubuntu requires restricted extras, dconf-editor, etc--not my choice for newbies, but I use it in an old laptop, it's quick! Pinguy seems a bit bloated. Keep in mind, dual cores plus 3D cards are preferred machines.

[LinuxSpatry]

@tostoday I am running Pinguy on a single core and it runs great... I will admit I removed a few things from startup that I did not want... I used Zorin before switching to Pinguy and I thought that was nice, I just outgrew it quickly.

[Linux4UnMe]

Get outtaaaa here Spatry. Everybody knows the REAL top 5 list is

5 (Solaris) 4 (Lunar) 3 (SlackWare) 2 (Gentoo) and the Number 1 best distro for newbies....... wait for it........................... LFS!!! (linux from scratch) WOOT WOOT! :) :) :) :P :P :P

[Bladerunner4511]

Hi matey cant agree with you more top selection of distros im loving pinguyos its the best for new users and geeks keep the videos comming have a great one

[LinuxSpatry]

@Bladerunner4511 Pinguy is awesome! Expect to see more coming soon!

[icyos]

Gz u Spatry great channel and super videos matey, hope your channel really grows and I am really enjoying the material you are covering. Just one thing you forgot Puppy Linux in your top 5, think you will find it at number 2...............giggles.

[LinuxSpatry]

@icyos If you were to do a TOP 5 I think they would cover 5 variations of puppy? ha ha

[icyos]

@LinuxSpatry Hahahahaha you know me so welll gz again spatry.

[LinuxSpatry]

@icyos :-)

[QuietstormRising]

Thanks for the recommendations, I loaded in Linux Mint 11 (DVD version) using Lexar Jump Drive. Everything was recognized and ATI drivers were successfully installed. I also noticed that Linux Mint has also replaced Ubuntu as the number one distro. All that being said, I can finally start working away from windows 7.

[LinuxSpatry]

@QuietstormRising YES! Mint has the top spot on distrowatch... I have my eye out for the release of the BETA

[LinuxSpatry]

@MrControl735 I cannot get some of my games to run under wine... they are old favorites and the experimental 3d support in virtualbox works flawlessly.

[Linuxmint44]

Great Video Sparty. and may I say your the first Windows user who is Not some big complainer or some windows fan boy saying he likes Linux too but in reality he's a complete patronizer Who looks down on the Linux community. Kudos for not being one of those types of windows users on you tube Sparty.

Now on another note I believe the main reason Ubuntu got to be a success on the desktop was Canonical took Ubuntu in to the Free Market to compete with Windows.

[LinuxSpatry]

@Linuxmint44 I embrace any technology which I can make good use of. I no longer have a partition for windows on my computer, but I do use Windows software everyday thanks to WINE, Vinyard and Crossover. After using Windows for many years, I wanted to try something that would be more engaging. Linux has matured and has really changed the way I work with my computer... I cannot sing Linux (and the wonderful community) enough praises!

[TheRealpdq]

only 900 more videos till 1000 :D

[LinuxSpatry]

@TheRealpdq Uh yea sure, that will not take long if each episode is 10 seconds each!

[sidhartRON]

100 videos and it took me so long to find you.

This is an amazing channel.

I'll suggest a lot of my friends who are new to linux

[LinuxSpatry]

@sidhartRON welcome aboard!

[brobriobri]

ANOTHER GREAT VIDEO!!!!... HAPPY #100!!!!!....Spatry, you're right on with this. The five os distros you mentioned are sure to be the easiest for a Linux beginner, and both the Mint & Pinguy come with the Mozilla Firefox flash plug-ins (for watching Youtube videos) pre installed by default. Yes, there are others that could be added to the list, but as you mentioned, these are 'your' top 5 Linux distros for beginners. Awesome job with this!

[dlnsane]

Gratz on your 100th Spatry! =]

[ImTheDaveman]

Favorited - Thumbs up - and tweeting this one. I think most Windows Users should "try" one of these linux OS distros. PinGuy OS has been the most eye appealing and user friendly that I have seen, next to Linux Mint. I want to try Zorin and see what's happening there.

Have you covered "React OS" yet? Its still behind but I think has potentual, at least from what Ive seen. I never could get an earlier version to install. Its essentially a Windows XP compatible knock off. Their work is worthwhile.

[LinuxSpatry]

@ImTheDaveman I could never get reactos to even install in virtualbox :( I really wanted to try it!

[brobriobri]

@ImTheDaveman - Very interesting. I see that earlier releases of ReactOS are no longer supported, and the current release is still in 'alpha stage', but it's worth keeping an eye on, for sure. ReactOS is suppose to somewhat mimic the Windows os. I don't know. My initial reaction is that this would be good for people who just can't seem to break away from Windows, and would rather go with a 'Windows-like' operating system. I think I would rather migrate away from such a thing, but that's just me.

[SgtCraigHart1]

very nice spatry! i would use linux all the time but theres just some games wine cant handle haha. happy 100th!!!

[LinuxSpatry]

@SgtCraigHart1 I know what you mean there... dual booting is recommended for gamers

[UberSquirrelUnite]

My favorites are Zorin OS and Ubuntu 11.10. Zorin OS is quite possibly the snappiest OS I've ever used, even with all the Compiz effects and has a lot of built-in programs. Of course, I also wanted to try GNOME 3, and Fedora always gave me wi-fi issues. So far I'm loving GNOME Shell on Ubuntu 11.10, despite all the hate both get. I'll probably try Linux Mint 12 that's using GNOME Shell with their new MGSE addition.

[LinuxSpatry]

@UberSquirrelUnite I like ZorinOS 5. I have the ultimate edition. It is nice but I outgrew it quickly.

[LinuxSpatry]

@MrControl735 I still use Windows in a virtual machine

[JoFri24]

PinGuy OS needs many cpu and much more ram, not good for netbooks or slow notebooks. Xubuntu much more better. Lubuntu or Puppy (Wary or eePuppy) run very good on my netbook. On a normal Power Pc the best Linux Mint or Zorin OS (for Ex Windows) is very good with Gnome 2.xxx. For Gnome 3.xx the good Fedora and for Unity Fans :-) Ubuntu 11.10 the best. For KDE users Suse Linux. Good channel stay tuned.......

[sk8rked]

@JoFri24 It barely uses any CPU and RAM for my friend's netbook. He's running the one designed for netbooks (PingEEE)

[JoFri24]

@sk8rked ok. i will test ping-eee on my netbook..... thanks dude

[LinuxSpatry]

@JoFri24 IcyOS has a review on Pinguy where he is running it smoothly on his netbook. I concur with the comment posted by sk8rked.

[ImTheDaveman]

@JoFri24 - I have a discontinuted HP 550 Netbook & linstalled Pinguy over Vista & it ran great on it - and that was before I upgraded from 1GB to 2GB memory. Of course I never tried a whole lot of the features on the Pinguy. The slowest experience I had with it was a lengthy painful Install on the Netbook. After that - no problemos., But thats just my own personal experience. I'm not a seasoned Linux user. Obviously it varies from computer to computer. I heard that memory should be at least 1GB.

[fatriff]

Best distros for me, Ubuntu 11.10 with Gnome Shell or OpenSuse 12.1 with Gnome Shell. OpenSUSE 12.1 debuts Snapper. Snapper builds on the new Linux filesystem BTRFS and offers powerful filesystem snapshot- and rollback functionality, For lightweight distros for netbooks and such, Peppermint OS and Bodhi Linux.

I've been wanting to use the BTRFS filesystem for so long! But most distros just haven't implemented support yet.

[Videotubelord]

Not Kataya, thats russian name Катя and pronounces like this: bit(dot)ly/sWNX3G

Linux mint is French distribution but for some reason they call every distro release by a russian girls names

[LinuxSpatry]

@Videotubelord Mint originates from Ireland according to Distrowatch website

[Videotubelord]

@LinuxSpatry I knew that linux Mint originated from Ireland, but their facebook page speaks french only :D

[Videotubelord]

@LinuxSpatry I a bit misleaded with info, digged it deeper and looks like only last two releases sounds russian. While Julia could be not russian only, but Katya is definite russian name. I found some info that they choosing girls names with letter ending "a" and probably always different country name to spread Linux Mint all over the world :)

[LinuxSpatry]

@Videotubelord All of my shows are unscripted. I may mispronounce something from time to time... At least I hope you guys got the gist of what I was saying....

[Videotubelord]

@LinuxSpatry Don't understand me wrong, it's not anger it's sharing knowledge. Linux does not derived from US or UK and most of names are in non english. YOUR SHOWS ARE GREAT! KEEP IT GOING! ;)

[brobriobri]

@LinuxSpatry .. I think what Videotubelord is trying to say is that it's not pronounced "Kataya", but rather, "Katya" (pron: Katia or Kateea - with very little emphasis on the y). Many Russia women are named Katya. It's a very common name there.

[Videotubelord]

@brobriobri exactly! :)

[marcuspbaird]

nice vids sparty I tried most of the ones you said and like the how to do series on pinguy :)

[joshuahardy95]

PinGuy OS gave me a lot of troubles

random crashes

could not update

could not install anything

and this was all out of the box

[TheGeo913]

Happy 100th. video!!! GREAT top 5 from you!!! Yeah it was nice that you gave a shout out to the Ubuntu folks as well :) All those distros in your top 5 were Ubuntu based so kudos to the Ubuntu folks! And kudos to Debian as well because without Debian there would be no Ubuntu or Ubuntu based distros :) Looking forward to your upcoming videos Spatry!!! Your really making awesome videos :) I enjoy them very much!!!

[LinuxSpatry]

@TheGeo913 Thanks for your comment! Yes Debian gets an honorable mention as well as Linus Torvalds and I am sure I could go on ad infinitum to give credit to all who are involved in this marvel of human genius!

[TheGeo913]

@LinuxSpatry Haha... SO many people to give credit to Spatry! Let's not forget Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation as well! By the way... I knew Debian wouldn't make your top 5 Linux distros for beginners but it MAY make your top 5 for slightly harder distros to try out! Haha... Keep those awesome videos coming Spatry :)

[LudwigSpiegel]

As always very, very thorough! I sure do enjoy your channel.... As soon as I come from work it is the very first thing i want to see. Thank you for sharing this ..... very nicely done.

[LinuxSpatry]

@LudwigSpiegel Thank you! When I started this show I never thought it would go this far... I am grateful for all of the feedback and support I have been getting from everyone!