Which is the best Linux Distribution for you?

Choosing a right linux distribution is depend on your taste, requirements, and availability of internet connection. Here I am summarizing the idea of a best linux distribution suited for you.

For Desktop users with latest hardware:
1. Fedora: Many will not be agree with me in this choice. I choose fedora because it provides you latest software and latest version of kernel. You need to do a little hard-work after installing Fedora, but afterwards it works very fine. The other reason is its games spin. You will get a plenty of games. Moreover Fedora is up-to-date with latest hardware. To install proprietary drivers you need to do a little work but in fedora you will get best replacement drivers for those proprietary drivers.

2. Mageia: This is an awesome distribution with a nice way to manage all your drivers and softwares. It has a lot of features and support for printing and scanning out of the box. It realeases a new version after a long time of testing.

3. Ubuntu: This is most used linux distribution out there. It has nice integration of software center and terminal apt-get. The best thing about it a very large user community and a lot of forums to help you out with your problems.

For Desktops with old hardwares:
1. Fedora LXDE: Again here is Fedora because it provides best support for old hardware. Instead of GNOME use LXDE desktop environment for installation.

2. Puppy Linux: It is another good way to use you old PC. It is extremely lightweight and run like butter with your old PC.

3. LUbuntu: It is Ubuntu based Linux distro but uses LXDE desktop environment instead of Unity.

For No or slow Network connectivity:
1. LMDE: It is Linux Mint Debian Edition. This edition comes all the media codec required and very less software updates.

2. Linux Mint: Use it if you have little access to internet. This also come with all the media codecs out of the box, so no need to install media codecs and flash-plugin after installation.

3. Debian: Use debian which comes with media codecs out of the box. Hence your PC is ready to use after installing Debian

For Laptop Users:
1. Fedora: Now again many users will not be agree with me in this choice, but believe me this is the best distro for laptop users. It is the best in detecting your mobile broadband connection via 3G or 4G dongle. The dashboard is awesome using GNOME3. Using Fedora there is very less time when you need to touch your touchpad. Press the window button and you will see all your open windows there and then you can type any application name to access that app.

2. Ubuntu: With its nice and elegant look it looks superb with a laptop. Sometimes you may feel frustrated with Unity desktop but you can learn the shortcuts and then it will just fit in your requirements.

3. OpenSuse: This is again one of the best Linux distro for wireless connection management. Very stable and nice one to use with your laptop.

4. Linux Mint: The Cinnamon desktop environment is really excellent and easy to use. It gives you a nice feeling and a lot of desklets. Your laptop will work awesome as it uses Ubuntu software base.

Things to DO after installing Ubuntu 14.04

As Ubuntu has released its latest version 14.04 and many more community driven desktop environments. Ubuntu has not come with complete set of application out of the box like Linux Mint. You need to install some codecs and apps to work it out.

Here is what you can do after installing Ubuntu 14.04. After first step you can download the file and proceed as given in the file.

1. Enabling Canonical Repo.....

Go to dash board and type software and click on Software and Updates. A window like this will appear.

Now choose canonical partners from the tab "Other Software". It may ask to reload.

Now you can download the file from here. It is an .sh file. All the following commands are listed in this file. You just need to execute the file using ./ubudate.sh and it will do rest of the things. Before that you need to make this file executable using command chmod a+x ubudate.sh Otherwise you can install manually these software as your choice.


2. Now run command to update the system.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

3. Install Multimedia Codecs...

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

4. Install VLS and SMPlayer for video playing

sudo apt-get install vlc smplayer

5. Music players and xbmc

sudo apt-get install banshee rhythmbox minitube xbmc

6. install compression stuff

sudo apt-get install p7zip-rar p7zip-full unace unrar zip unzip sharutils rar uudeview mpack arj cabextract file-roller

7. Install filezilla

sudo apt-get install filezilla

8. Install flash-player

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer

9. Install Chromium(I suggest Chromium instead of google-chrome)

sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

10. WGET

sudo apt-get install wget

11. Google talk plugin

wget -c --tries=0 "https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-talkplugin_current_amd64.deb"

sudo dpkg -i google-talkplugin*.deb

12. tweak tool

sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool unity-tweak-tool

13. Skype

sudo apt-get install skype

14. Java

sudo apt-get install icedtea-7-plugin openjdk-7-jre

15. GIMP

sudo apt-get install gimp

16. compizconfig-settings-manager

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

mmm.... there are many more but these are enough...

Ubuntu 14.04 Installation Guide with snapshots and Review

Ubuntu released first version of its 2014 year last month. It is Ubuntu 14.04(year.month). It is fantastic version with improved dash board and decent graphics. However I prefer GNOME 3 over Ubuntu's Unity desktop but it seems like a lot of people like this interface. It is built on GNOME 3 only.

To install Ubuntu on your desktop or laptop you need to download the

Here is step by step guide to install Ubuntu 14.04.

1. First burn the downloaded image to a DVD or make bootable pendrive. Now boot your PC with the bootable drive.

2. After booting a screen like this will appear. Click on install Ubuntu if you wanted to install it now, or you can try it with try Ubuntu. After testing there will be a Install ubuntu button on top left. Click it to install Ubuntu.

3. These screens are self explanatory. You can go through these and see the options.

4. If you wanted a custom partition then choose option "Something else". You can refer other post like "Linux Mint Installation Guide" for this partition example.

5. The installation of Ubuntu is complete. Now you can restart the system to use your latest installation.

6. After restart a login window will appear. Enter the password and enjoy your new Ubuntu installation.

 Enjoy your Ubuntu and keep your system updated. See my other post for the things to do after installing Ubuntu.

Install Ambiance theme in Fedora 20

Ambiance in default theme in Ubuntu. The look and feel of Ubuntu is very simple and pleasant. Their Humanity icon set is also catchy and default purple terminal is different from other linux distributions, which differentiate it from others. However latest Adwaita theme is also catchy and simple and improved a lot in terms of finishing from there previous releases.

If you want to install Ambiance theme in fedora then you need to install light-theme-gnome and gnome-tweak-tool. The theme is there in light-theme-gnome and you need gnome-tweak-tool for setting.

Become superuser by running command su on terminal before running these commands

yum install light-theme-gnome
yum install gnome-tweak-tool

After this run application Tweak-tool by searching tweak in application and go to Appearance. Now select Ambiance for Window and GTK+, Humanity for Icons and Dmz for Cursor. It will give you Ubuntu like appearance in Fedora. Below are 2 snapshots for the feel.

 Tweak-tool settings to set appearance to look like Ubuntu

Desktop screenshot with Ambiance theme.

How to make bootable pendrive

A lot of linux distributions are there to choose and they releases every day. So it is difficult to choose one without testing first. You can not burn a CD or DVD every time to check the live image released of a distribution.


For Windows Users:
Well there are plenty of tools available there. If you are using windows then there is a great tool called YUMI - Multiboot USB creator. As name suggest you can make a pendrive multi-bootable with YUMI. You can download the tool from here and start testing it.

For Linux Users:
If you are using linux then most of the popular distributions are providing there own tool to make bootable pendrive.

On Fedora install liveusb-creator using

yum install liveusb-creator

and run the application. It is very interactive.

On Ubuntu run the program Startup Disk Creator which is used to create bootable pendrive.

There are a lot of other distributions and there programs. But there is one command for terminal which run on all distribution and is very easy to use.

dd command:
Open the terminal and become super user(su for Fedora or sudo before command for user more linux like Ubuntu, Mint).
Before running the command check the device partition of your USB pendrive by



ls -la /dev/disk/by-label

This command will show the label of your partitions and the disk vol. like sda1, sdb3. Your pendrive might have only one partition and there will be adb1 or adc1 only for that. Whatever it is use that sdc or sdd or sdb without the number in below command instead of sdX.
Please be carefull before using the below command. make sure you are using right partition before running command. dd is very strong command and it will destroy entire partition and write the iso file there. It will not show any warning or ask you to confirm once press enter.
 

sudo dd if=/home/user/directory/diskimage.iso of=/dev/sdX

Here dd is command, if means input file and of means output file.  

Linux Mint 16 XFCE installation guide with snapshots and Review

Linux Mint released XFCE Desktop Environment of its Version 16. Its an extremely fast and wonderful Desktop providing a lot of lot of softwares like media codecs and flash-plugin OUT of the BOX. XFCE is a lightweight environment and good if your system hardware are not up to mark as latest core i series or higher RAM.

Here we will see how to install Linux Mint 16 XFCE on your desktop or laptop.

1. First download you Mint 16 XFCE from here and  burn it to a DVD or make bootable pendrive. Now boot your PC with the bootable drive.

 2. After booting a screen like below will be seen. On top left there is an CD icon labeling "Install Linux Mint" Double click on it and a window will ask for language. Select your language.

3. If everything is fine then it will allow you to click "Continue" on the window below.

4. If you have nothing else on your Hard drive and just want Linux then select first option or if you want to install it along with :Windows OS" then select "Something Else".

 5. It is easy here to create your own partition table unlike Fedora. If you are having free space then just click on "+" sign and add partitions. otherwise select partitions and click on change. In any case you have give mount-point and format. There are only two partitions which are necessary. /(root) and swap. But I would like to suggest four.

If you are having a Hard-drive of more then 500 GB then I would like to suggest these partitions with suggested size:
(i) / of 30 to 50 GB   ext4 format (Minimum 10 GB)
(ii) /boot 1 to 2 GB ext4 format (Minimum 200 MB)
(iii) linux-swap 4 to 10 GB (Remember .. swap is not mount point.. You have to select format as SWAP instead of ext4)
(iv) /home 20 to 50 GB ext4 format

 6. After continue select you location, keyboard layout and create your User account while Mint is installing in background.

 7. Linux Mint installation in progress.

 8. Installation completed. You can explore more on live CD but any change will be discarded as soon as you reboot. So reboot the system to fresh installation.

 9. Login screen. click your login name and give password.

 10. Various snapshots of the screen with different applications and arrangements.

 

Linux Mint 16 XFCE is a good combination of packages from Ubuntu repo and there own developed desktop interface on top of XFCE environment. It is really easy to use if you are first time using linux as it has Windows like bottom panel with fast response. Easy to use Software Installation utilities and automatic updater with information providing on safe to install giving rating from 1 to 5. 1 being extremely recommended and 5 being on your  risk.

Pros:

1. The desktop interface on top of XFCE which is easy to use and gives fast response.

2. Contains packages from XFCE group which are faster for old systems.

3. Most of the media codecs and flash-plugin are available out of the box.

Cons:
We have found none but we would like to mention that Mint is supported until the next release and they do not have a upgrade method. However you can still upgrade by first changing the repo to newer version and then running

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get upgrade

But it is riskier.

Verdict: Linux Mint is awesome distribution and one should go through it. If you are newer you will be amazed by its speed and if you are using Linux for a long then just give it a try., It will not let you down.

Step by step guide to install fedora 20 with screenshots

Hi All,

Fedora 20 released on December 17, 2013. Its an awesome distribution with a lots of cutting edge features. I will start the guide with some screenshots and explain each step.

1. First of all Download Fedora 20 from the site. I have downloaded desktop (Gnome) format but the procedure is same for all the formats. Burn the image to a DVD or CD or make a bootable pendrive. Boot the system with the bootable pendrive. You will see a the screen shown as below.

 

2. Press enter to Start Fedora Live.

3. It will ask you to try Fedora before installing or install to Hard Drive.

4. If you choose to try the it will inform you where the install option will be for future reference to install.

5. If you choose to install on Hard Drive or later clicked that switch then it will ask you for language selection.

6. Then it will show you a screen where you have to set your location for date/time and keyboard layout, Installation destination and host-name(Network Configuration). REMEMBER the DONE switch is top left on every screen.

7. Clicking on installation destination it will ask you to select the disk. Click DONE. If you have empty Hard Drive and want to install only fedora then choose automatically, otherwise select manual partition option.

8. Please read it carefully. You may end-up corrupting your existing windows installations. do not choose any partition about which you are not sure. Go back to window and see the labels and then come back again here.

8.1 Here is the tricky part. It is not simple to understand for first timer. But it is fairly easy. It does not show you the disk layout in a graphical cylinder, so you need some information about your disk before installation. If you have free space that there is no problem. Just click on "+" sign and add the partition for fresh fedora installation. You need to specify the size, mount-point, file system to format.

8.2 Or if you have some partitions which you want to use for fedora installation then click on that partition specify the options on right side as mount-point, and reformat as ext4(preferred).

8.3 If you have hard-drive of 500GB or more then I would like to suggest the partitions as
/boot (2GB) as ext4
/ (35 GB) as ext4 === root
linux-swap from 4 GB to 10 GB -- for this you have to select reformat as swap
/home (20 GB) as ext4

 

9. Click Begin Installation.

10. You will see a screen where fedora installation is going in background and asking you to set root and users.

11. Set root password. If password does not match it will warn you like the yellow line below.

12. Then Set the user. Here user Aishwarya Rai and her password is set. if password is too weak like abhishek here then it will warn you like yellow line below. You have to click on DONE again at top left.

13. The installation is going on.

14. Click on Quit as installation completed. You can use live session user as long as after quitting also. You need to restart the system by clicking top right.

15. After rebooting, log-in with your user name. Here are some of the screen-shots of the fresh fedora installation. However I have installed some shell extensions and cairo-dock so it looked more attractive. I have also changed desktop background to one of my favourite pic taken by me.

Enjoy the ride and see other posts for doing more. fun with fedora after installation.