Completely new to Linux? Click and read along.

[hellnoire]

DSL and other smaller distros often have a hard time when it comes to the wireless. Might be best to install something like Ubuntu and strip out what you don't need, then add in the wireless yourself.

[LizardMan]

thanks for all this guide hellnoire

[allwin.m007]

i want to download linux mint..!
but which one should i go for?

mint 8 or mint 5 lts?
what is d difference btw them?

[hellnoire]

LTS means Long Term Support. I'd go with 8 because it's more recent.. but I hate Mint entirely so.... yeah...

[allwin.m007]

@hellnoire
ubuntu hangs in my system after the desktop appears!
since ubuntu is based on gnome, will all gnome type distro's hang or....?

i tried kubuntu, it works fine..!

i wanted to try xubuntu but i'v heard d latest version has a lot of bugs..?!

there r so many of linux distro's?
im spoilt 4 choices!
i dnt knw which one should i go for..!
ne recommendations?

[hellnoire]

Xubuntu 10.04, I'm hearing they're patching it up quickly to fix up said bugs. But I'll recommend you stuff from my favourites and name you the ones I hate. I love Xubuntu, Mandriva (KDE or XFCE), Puppy Linux, and Frugalware. Frugalware, out of all of them, wouldn't be very good for a newbie... but I love it for just the general feeling I get from it. I also liked Salix when it worked on my computer. The ones I tend to stay away from are Ubuntu main/Kubuntu, OpenSUSE, Linux From Scratch, and Sidux. However... you're free to try what you'd like, that's for sure.

[JayCub]

Hi paul i have just browsed through this thread and can see a wealth of knowledge and hard work... would it be ok to copy some of the thread for personal use onto my pc ...that way i can print off while im working away...at the moment im typing this from fedora live..
Have you considered publishing your views to a book...

Appreciate all you hard work...and there is lots to choose from..

[hellnoire]

I've said it before, I believe, but I'll say it now... this is Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0

[JayCub]

Thanks Paul/hellnoire for the prompt response .... looking foreword to following your tutorials

[coolczone]

Unlike the first couple of walkthoughs, I'm going to be doing a lot of this one visually, and with codes for you to copy-paste. But since this is configuring the beast, thankfully, it's not as hard.

Automatic Logon:

• Go to the system menu
• Then to the Logon Window
• Then to the Security Tab and hit 'Automatic Logon', making sure to scroll down and hit your name.

Automatic Updates:

• Open the system menu again.
• This time, hit Software Sources.
• You should see a screen like this.
• Go over to Updates, and change to either 'Download All Updates in the Background' or 'Install Updates without Confirmation'. (One downloads them all for you, the other downloads and installs.)
• Hit Close, and Reload when asked.
• Update by hitting the Arrow at the top, then hitting Install Updates and let them install. You might need to restart.

Faster Repos:
A repo is short for Repository and stores update information on it. The main server for your country is usually very slow unless you do this tip.

• Open the system menu, back to Software Sources.
• When you get to the default tab, hit (in our example) SERVER FOR UNITED STATES, and select Other.
• It will pop up with a window which will look like this.
• Hit Select Best Server, and it will quickly ping all the servers it has in the list. After it's done, hit Choose Server, then Close, then Reload when asked.

Removing what you don't need:
Keep in mind, this command I'm about to give gives you not a bare system, but my personal tastes in the software included. Check the menus first to see if there is anything you'd like to keep, and if so, exclude it from the command.

• Go to the Applications menu, then to Accessories and then Terminal.
• You should see something like this.
• I say again. Look under the Application Menu to make sure there is nothing here you'd like to delete. Check all programs out before you run this command. Yes you can get the programs back but it's better to keep them the first time then to have to re-download.
• If you're happy with removing everything here, then copy and paste this into your command line:

  sudo apt-get remove tomboy && sudo apt-get remove tracker && sudo apt-get remove gnome-games && sudo apt-get remove sound-juicer && sudo apt-get remove ekiga && sudo apt-get remove pidgin && sudo apt-get remove brasero && sudo apt-get remove rhythmbox

This will remove Tomboy, Tracker, GNOME's default games, Sound Juicer, Ekiga, Pidgin, Brasero, and Rhythmbox. Don't say I didn't warn you. If you want to keep a program that I listed here, then exclude the

sudo apt-get remove programname

from the command. This command removes each one, piece by piece, so you do get a second chance to approve or not. This also teaches you our first important command, sudo, as well as the name of one of Ubuntu's most powerful command-line programs, apt-get.

Hi hellnoire, just wondering what recommendations you have instead of the removed programs?