SharkFin

Hey all, looking for a lightweight OS for my netbook, decided that linux might be worth a go, since its free I have nothing to loose!

I have a compaq mini 700, which is basically a HP mini 1000, which I have read should work quite happily with all the linux distro's in my thread title.

I am quite drawn to Kubuntu due to its appearance, but Fedora due to the integrated programs.

I need:
.avi video player (movieXplayer or similar)
.mp3 player
.mp4 player
Firefox or similar
Decent firewall/AV
Light games (through WINE?) - such as world of goo.

Which distro of the 3 I have listed will offer these things or are there other "plugins" which can offer these things on any Ubuntu/Fedora install?

I am new to Linux but it looks exciting for a Netbook, which I dont really want to spend £65 on windows 7 for.

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nathris

http://www.canonical.com/projects/ubuntu/unr

Netbook version of Ubuntu, its probably your best bet as everything should work perfectly right out of the box.

Kubuntu is bloated and cramped. Even at 1440x900 I felt I didn't have enough space.


You could also try Linux Mint, it comes with support for a lot of things right out of the box.

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cytrik

out of the ones you have listed, i would go with Kubuntu

Ubuntu is bloated for a netbook, and Fedora, is just well,hope you like RPMs/Gnome

if you are looking for even more alternatives, as of lately i have been "trying out" many Linux Flavors and i found one that i would find perfect for this

http://www.linuxmint.com/

it is very light, and runs very well, and has "decent" support, it is a Debian Based distro so it's pretty solid, and overall i've liked it and had very few problems with it

T3h_Ch33z_Muncha

for ubuntu-like linuxes i'd go with mint... but i think gOS or Puppy would be awesome on a netbook.

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Please don't call me Muncha, as cheese is not the only insinuatable munchable object; Ch33z will suffice. Oh, and i almost forgot to express my love for Heru
Planned upgrades (kind of in order): 22" Monitor, Goliathus Omega (mousepad), new chair, Windows 7, CM 690, new desk, Ideazon ZBoard MERC, Sennheiser HD201, bong, DX 11 card(s)+necessary PSU
Epic things happening in 2010: Toy Story 3, new H.I.M album, Supreme Commander 2, MechWarrior, The Elder Scrolls V, Mafia II, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Bioshock 2, Crysis 2, Iron Man 2

nathris

So wait... you say that Kubuntu isn't bloated, Ubuntu is, and that Linux Mint, which is literally Ubuntu with even more bloat isn't?

I tried Kubuntu 9.10 and it was horrible! Sure it was fairly speedy, but at 1024x600 you aren't even going to be able to see your wallpaper through all of the crap they pile into KDE 4. You're better off going with Gnome, since thats what KDE will eventually look like after you're done removing the crap.

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T3h_Ch33z_Muncha

i find that interesting, because virtually every linux is "bloated" with programs and services you don't need. Nothing to cry about imo.

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Please don't call me Muncha, as cheese is not the only insinuatable munchable object; Ch33z will suffice. Oh, and i almost forgot to express my love for Heru
Planned upgrades (kind of in order): 22" Monitor, Goliathus Omega (mousepad), new chair, Windows 7, CM 690, new desk, Ideazon ZBoard MERC, Sennheiser HD201, bong, DX 11 card(s)+necessary PSU
Epic things happening in 2010: Toy Story 3, new H.I.M album, Supreme Commander 2, MechWarrior, The Elder Scrolls V, Mafia II, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Bioshock 2, Crysis 2, Iron Man 2

rfjunkie

I've been using Linux Mint on my little Dell D400 for quite a while now. I like it... It takes less time to boot up compared to XP.

Lord Xeb

Ubuntu Netbook Remix!!!

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cytrik

mint isn't bloated at all, there is even a lite version that fits on a CD, it's like 400 meg,kubuntu can be as bad as ubuntu yes, but out of all the linuxes out there ubuntu and opensuse to me seem to be bloated down with a ton of god awful crap

i usually stick with Debian/CentOS, for servers, or sometimes Ubuntu, but with gnome, and no extra crap,server install

-iceblade^

i agree here. doesn't KDE use more system resources than GNOME?

if your netbook plays well with Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

there are plenty of apps to handle your tasks. videos will play through VLC, Banshee, Mplayer, Totem, and several other players. on the audio side you have again all of those, as well as Rhythmbox, Amarok, Sonata, Songbird, and others. all those (dunno about sonata though) are very very good at handling ipods as well as other media players. firefox is included in most distros but there are others like Epiphany, Midori, Opera, and others. as for gaming, dont expect the world from wine, but for older games it should do pretty well.

fyi there is a native linux client available for world of goo. dunno where you get it.

put simply you'll be surprised as to how much familiar software comes with it out of the box

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