# Linux distribution recommendations for my mom's PC **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2009, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189 "2009-02-03T01:11:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/1 "2009-02-03T01:11:49Z")
I’m going to be putting a Linux box in my mom’s house to replace her 11-year-old eMachines running Win98. I use Ubuntu, and I’ve seen Knoppix. Between the two, I’d choose Ubuntu for her. But I’m sure there are plenty of distros I haven’t seen that might be more user friendly. She’ll be doing internet/e-mail stuff, occasional word processing possibly, and that’s probably about it. Recommend away. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/2 "2009-02-03T01:37:52Z")
I haven’t seen every Linux distribution, but I’d go with Ubuntu. Yeah, there might be something better out there that nobody’s ever heard of, but if nobody’s ever heard of, then it’s going to be very tough to fix anything that might happen to go wrong. And even with the simplest needs and the most user-friendly system, something will eventually go wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/3 "2009-02-03T01:45:24Z")
She’s not going to be able to do anything with any version of Linux beyond run a browser and email client. Get those set up to work and show her how to start them and you’re done. You could delete all UI elements but just those two buttons so far as she’ll be concerned, so it really doesn’t matter what distro you’re talking about. Go with the one you’re most comfortable with so you can add or subtract apps as you want. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/4 "2009-02-03T01:50:41Z")
Ubuntu has a very good reputation for user-friendliness. I installed Kubuntu on my new desktop this past summer and I was very impressed at how it detected my hardware and installed the correct drivers. Admittedly I had a false start in trying to install it because I originally selected the wrong video driver rather than letting the installer select it for me, and once I’d made that choice there was seemingly no way to have the installer select a driver, but once I got past that hump everything, even the wireless network configuration, was easy. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/5 "2009-02-03T02:06:13Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Go with the one you’re most comfortable with so you can add or subtract apps as you want. I actually agree with Sage Rat, but in my case that would still be Ubuntu. I’ve gone through Red Hat, Slackware, Mandrake, and Debian, and Ubuntu is the best mix of power, friendliness, and software availability I’ve yet to see. The install process for Debian is bad enough to disqualify it as long as Ubuntu exists, Slackware doesn’t have package management (you don’t need it for backroom servers or firewalls), and Red Hat (now called Fedora) and Mandrake (now called Mandriva) are both RPM-based distros, and I can’t stand RPMs now that I’ve seen deb-based package management. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/6 "2009-02-03T08:23:55Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Slackware doesn’t have package management pkgtool ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/7 "2009-02-03T09:01:39Z")
Howtoforge has nice tutorials on [Kubuntu 8.04 (KDE3 desktop)](http://howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-kubuntu-8.04-lts), [Ubuntu 8.10](http://howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-ubuntu-8.10), and many other flavours of Linux. These are probably overkill for her needs, but they do make a useful checklist. ETA: I use Kubuntu 8.10 (KDE4), and despite minor issues once in a while, I am very, very pleased… ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/8 "2009-02-03T09:27:32Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > I actually agree with Sage Rat, but in my case that would still be Ubuntu. Yep. I run Debian personally, but I think Ubuntu is probably a better choice for user-friendliness. I know a guy who had the Ubuntu (7.10, I think) installation blow up on his old (~7 years old) Win98 PC…well, “blow up” isn’t quite accurate – it would hang. So he installed Mepis, which he says is great. That’s not an endorsement from me, as I’ve never used Mepis, nor even seen his computer (yet…he wants me to take a gander sometime soon to attempt to figure out why Ubuntu was a no-go). Rather, it’s just to say that there’s at least one person out there who moved from Win98 to Mepis on a relatively old machine and was quite happy with it. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/9 "2009-02-03T09:35:14Z")
Personally, my only recommendation is [Xfce](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xfce). Whatever the distro is, Gnome and KDE both run like pigs in my experience. They might look prettier, but Xfce has all the same buttons and each window doesn’t take an hour to launch. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/10 "2009-02-03T10:02:06Z")
My mum and dad (virtually computer illiterates) are happily using Ubuntu on their PC at home. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/11 "2009-02-03T10:09:08Z")
gOS is pretty good - it;'s basically Ubuntu with the Enlightenment desktop instead of Gnome - as a result, it will still run nicely on slower systems that might feel a bit clunky and slow running Ubuntu. It’s worth trying it on the Win98 machine - it might even be OK on that level of hardware. The desktop environment is styled very much in imitation of OSX with a dock, desktop widgets and window decorations that look a bit like those on a Mac [http://www.thinkgos.com/gos/index.html](http://www.thinkgos.com/gos/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/12 "2009-02-04T01:48:13Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > pkgtool It doesn’t do dependency tracking, which to me is implicit in the whole concept of package management. There is slapt-get, but Slackware isn’t built with dependency tracking in mind and there is no guarantee, as there is with Debian and Ubuntu, that dependency tracking will keep working. > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Personally, my only recommendation is [Xfce](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xfce). Whatever the distro is, Gnome and KDE both run like pigs in my experience. They might look prettier, but Xfce has all the same buttons and each window doesn’t take an hour to launch. Xubuntu is an Ubuntu variant that comes with Xfce by default. Or you can get Ubuntu, uninstall all of the Gnome stuff, and get the Xfce desktop packages. But I’ve never had problems with KDE on any system I’ve ever installed Linux on. ---
**Author:** ![HookerChemical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/13 "2009-02-04T03:32:17Z")
I’m semi computer savvy, and I’ve been able to set up Ubuntu. Way back in the day (5 years ago-ish) I had some success with Mandrake. I assume you’re only looking for basics like a browser and email, so I’d go with whatever had the proper drivers. Ubuntu gets my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/14 "2009-02-04T03:36:06Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Personally, my only recommendation is [Xfce](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xfce). Whatever the distro is, Gnome and KDE both run like pigs in my experience. They might look prettier, but Xfce has all the same buttons and each window doesn’t take an hour to launch. Ditto. I run Xubuntu on my laptop (Ubuntu with XFCE…I also have KDE and Gnome installed, but run the XFCE 99% of the time due to the speed.) Oh, and Derleth, there’s no need to uninstall the Gnome stuff…just have all of them installed and choose which session you want to use at login (and set whatever you prefer to be the default). As mentioned, Gnome, KDE and XFCE are all installed on my Ubuntu machine, and I can easily switch between all three with no problems. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/15 "2009-02-04T03:36:43Z")
[Here’s a website that picks what distros you might want to look at first based on a short series of questions.](http://distrogue.awardspace.com/) It’s slanted towards people who already basically know what Linux is and how it works (it asks you about which package management system you like, if any, and which desktop environment you want) but it knows about more distros than the average geek and it’s a good way to narrow down the field a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/16 "2009-02-04T05:15:42Z")
No mention of openSuSE? For the Word Processing, OpenOffice. But if she’s used to Win98, why not XP? ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/17 "2009-02-04T06:26:10Z")
I can’t stand Ubuntu myself, but I think it’s your best bet. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/18 "2009-02-04T08:42:32Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > No mention of openSuSE? It isn’t different enough from Fedora or Mandriva. > [@](#): > > For the Word Processing, OpenOffice. That’s an application. All Linux applications can be used in all distros. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/19 "2009-02-04T09:04:41Z")
Puppylinux is worth checking out. Very small (less than 100 megs) and looks similar to windows. The one strike against is that it’s not easy to install new programs on it if you’re a n00b, and if you go with the default apps installed, some of them might not be as up to date as they could be. Still, with it be Linux, it’s very secure, and the speed of it is amazing. I had it running on a 1.7ghz machine while running XP on a 2 ghz machine. The machine running Puppylinux was **dramatically** faster. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189/20 "2009-02-04T12:53:31Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > But if she’s used to Win98, why not XP? Math. $0 \< $130 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-distribution-recommendations-for-my-moms-pc/484189.md?page=2)