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Best linux distro for a netbook

DooMMooD

Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 9, 2009
Messages
819
Location
New York/Boston
First and foremost background on my capabilities: I am fairly computer savy. I do not know coding specifics, as I flunked my last coding class (ha) but I was studying Computer Engineering for awhile. I am great on the hardware side of things and fairly strong on the software side, although software is my weakness as I am no coder or CS major, and aside from being able to look at code and understand it to an extent, I have few skills in it, short of debugging, which I probably am only somewhat decent at because its easy to see syntax errors in an already written piece of work; kinda like editing a book: I have no creativity to write one, but give me a book and i'll edit the SHIT out of that grammar ;)

I used to use ubuntu on my eeePC, but I got a new netbook (hp dm1z) last Xmas and am finally putting a linux distro on it, although I am open to ANY FREE OS!

I want to do so for a slew of reasons, including starting to teach myself some python, in addition to going back to school and I would like a OS that is faster and does less for more so to speak. I generally speaking intend to the linux distro on my my netbook productivity items (web browsing, word processing, now SCEs since i hope to teach myself python, etc), although I do do some some light emulator and steam gaming, which aside from compatibility issues, is the #1 reason I intend to keep windows 7 on a separate partition.

I obviously intend to keep Windows 7, but I'm basically looking to once again put a linux OS on that will be better on my batter and e450 fusion. Although I am keeping windows because this netbook can GAME! Its crazy I can run tf2 at the 1366x768 res with all low and get a solid 20-40fps average (drops during intense fights).

As I said: i want another OS to use as my primary productivity one on my netbook, considering I will be doing mostly typing/internet browsing for the semester.

And yes, I know at a point its mostly preference, and to "try them on live cds before you pick" but I want YOUR input. I'm already downloading Kubuntu to try on a live CD because the plasma desktop seems pretty solid for netbooks. But i want YOUR input people!

Linux distros I have tried in the past:

+ubuntu - I believe release 9 was the primary one i used, finally updating to 11 right before my eeepc broke

+knoppix - live cd for computer crashes, solid for that but i have no intentions of using it reuglarly

+openSUSE - first linux distro i tried; very comprehesive but not as simple as ubuntu which is actually something i'm looking for now, considering I want this to be for productivity reasons, however I last used openSUSE YEARS ago, well before the current release. Probably back in 08

***kubuntu*** - making a live cd of this as I type


What I am looking for:

+HARD DRIVE/processor/ram efficiency - ie lower usage, but I do not NEED it to be. This fusion can handle quite a deal more than an atom, and with 4gb ram its solid. However I am lacking a SSD, which means obviously the HDD is my limiting factor in speed. this in turn limits my...

BATTERY EFFICIENCY - self explanatory. I get ~4 hours on my netbook web browsing/typing currently with windows 7 and wifi on. Without wifi, probably closer to 5. This drops significantly if i am gaming or watching movies obviously

+BOOT TIME! - One big reason I want linux (again)! HDD limits my boot time, and win 7 is annoying to deal with its boot

+security - although this is pretty comparable across distros as I know how to work safely on linux, unless the distro you suggest is vastly different in terms of security maintenace, like fedora or slackware or something. Basically I know you have to be a HUGE IDIOT to make a linux install 'unsecure' and that you basically have to give root access to everything vs sudo or lower level privileges

+simplicity - I like simple linux distros because although I have decent experience with it, i am first and foremost a WINDOWS user. So I like things to be easy on my head! Teaching an old windows dog new linux tricks can get annoying, although I am a big computer guy.


Thanks for help anyone! Would like to get a list of distros to try out and their benefits/drawbacks so if you take the time to give some input my kudos go to you!
 
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Whichever one gets power management to work properly. I'd start with Ubuntu.
 
Power management was a kernel issue I believe that's already been resolved. Kubuntu is a terrible choice. Ubuntu is bloated and KDE takes up a fucktonne of space and resources, although I hear it's been refined a bit with the latest version. If you want lightweight then you should grab a barebones distro add a windows manager instead of a desktop environment then add the stuff you need as you go along. Personally, I recommend Arch for that because it's got an amazing package manager and has easily the best and most comprehensive Wiki of all distros out. Full install is only ~500MBish IIRC, vs. Ubuntu which comes in at over 2000MB from all the garbage it comes with.
 
Power management was a kernel issue I believe that's already been resolved.

That was a problem. The problem with power management is it needs to touch all the hardware to make it work. If there's a single device that has incorrect drivers or requires edge case logic it can break suspend or not utilize power saving modes. Ubuntu does a lot of quality assurance in this area.

Optimal use of RAM and CPU hasn't been a problem. I have dozens of browser tabs open and my system remains snappy.
 
Ubuntu didn't lift a finger to fix it, much like the other distro vendors. I'm reading about the issue now it had something to do with PCI-E bus settings in BIOS. Anyway, I see now the last part about wanting something Windows-like so I guess I will agree then Ubuntu is the top choice for that.

Oh, wait, PCLinuxOS is supposed to be pretty awesomely noob-friendly from what I've heard and I believe it's based on Mandriva
 
Ubuntu didn't lift a finger to fix it, much like the other distro vendors. I'm reading about the issue now it had something to do with PCI-E bus settings in BIOS. Anyway, I see now the last part about wanting something Windows-like so I guess I will agree then Ubuntu is the top choice for that.

Oh, wait, PCLinuxOS is supposed to be pretty awesomely noob-friendly from what I've heard and I believe it's based on Mandriva

That's a particular problem. The challenge with ACPI is an ongoing effort. There is always more new hardware that needs a non-generic driver to make power management work. Ubuntu "just works" and provides an easy way to install software. That's 95% of what I need from an OS. I'm sure there are other distributions that are adequate as well.
 
http://samwel.tk/laptop_mode/
I used this to turn the 'heat' down so to speak, works a treat.
Could also have used the mandriva precompiled laptop-kernel or recompiled the kernel myself to optimize it for laptop use, suppose it must be a non modular one?
 
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