Linux... another convert!

[Johnny Robbo]

I know 64Guitars has told us all, many times, how great Linux is. But I thought I'd just add my voice to his & say I'm blown away by it! I picked up a cheap little HP netbook in Cash Converters (for anyone outside the UK this is a nationwide chain of pawn shops).

It was running on a fresh install of Windows 7 Starter & it was OK-ish. Not owning a smart phone or tablet, I just wanted something I could do a bit of web browsing, word processing & email with when I wasn't near the office PC. The netbook would run really slow on start-up & get quicker the longer it was switched on. After it had been running for an hour or so, it would be pretty quick, but at switch on you could (literally) go & make a cup of coffee in the time it took to launch a browser window... that spinning "doughnut of doom" as it girded it's loins to get on with the "heavy lifting" of opening up Google in Firefox.

Anyway, I had already used Linux on my old PC a couple of years ago, just booting up from a USB drive, as a way of getting into my computer when it was hit by a virus & Windows XP wouldn't boot. So I did the same trick again, booting the netbook from a version of Linux on a memory stick and it absolutely flew! It was like Usain Bolt compared to Windows. The only problem of booting like this was that every time you switch off, you lose all your settings & have to re-install things like wifi drivers the next time you switch on. So yesterday, I took the plunge & installed Linux Mint on the netbook & now it's faster than my wife's brand new Toshiba Windows 10 laptop which cost over four times as much!

There were a few little niggles getting the wifi to work, but thanks to 64 Guitars advice, I soon got it sorted out. Now I can switch it on & within 2 minutes I'm surfing the web... no more waiting for it to "warm up" like an old valve amp.

Since I've still got my old office PC with WinXP on it, I'm going to see how that goes with Linux this week & try some of the free DAWs available. Just to see how it'll work as my main recording PC. I'll keep you posted!

[Groundy]

I might try it on my old XP, Cheers John....


Alex

[Flash Harry]

Nice one John, rosegarten isn't a bad little DAW, I'm sure 64G will agree, hydrogen is a nice drum sequencer too. Have fun!

[Johnny Robbo]

Nice one John, rosegarten isn't a bad little DAW, I'm sure 64G will agree, hydrogen is a nice drum sequencer too. Have fun!

Thanks mate. Just browsing the forum on the little Linux netbook now. The other thing I'm noticing is the increased battery life since I made the switch. Yup...Linux is the daddy!

[Flash Harry]

You just gotta bring your own chair...

[Lurker]

There are quite a few versions of Linux out there.  Which would you guys recommend?

[64Guitars]

There are quite a few versions of Linux out there.  Which would you guys recommend?

According to DistroWatch.com, the top three Linux distros (distributions) at the moment are Mint, Debian, and Ubuntu. Mint is based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian, so they have a lot in common.

There are some distros designed specifically for music and video. Here are a couple that are worth checking out:

KXStudio - based on Ubuntu but uses the KDE4 Desktop Environment.

Ubuntu Studio - an official Ubuntu flavour.


There is also a KXStudio Repository. This allows you to use a standard, popular distro such as Ubuntu or Mint and install any of the music programs from KXStudio.

I tried the KXStudio repository a couple of years ago and I loved it except for one thing. Since KXStudio uses the KDE desktop environment, a lot of the programs in the repository are dependent on KDE code libraries. So I found that I was always having to install updates for these KDE libraries -- often several dozen at a time! I finally got fed up with it and removed the KXStudio repository.

From what I've read in the KXStudio forums, I think the repositories are not so dependent on KDE anymore, so you'd probably be okay to use the KXStudio repository with a current version of Ubuntu, Mint, or Debian.

Most Linux distributions come on a "Live DVD". What that means is that you can download the DVD image file, burn it to a DVD, then boot your computer directly from the DVD. This allows you to check out the distribution without installing anything on your hard drive. It runs completely off the DVD. The only trouble with that is that it takes quite a while to boot from the DVD, and loading programs is slow too. Also, everything's held in RAM, so if you change some settings or install a program, they won't be there the next time you boot from the DVD. Still. it's a great way to evaluate different Linux distros without committing to anything or affecting your current (Windows?) operating system at all. Then, when you finally decide that you'd like to make a particular Linux distro permanent, you can install it to your hard drive from the same Live DVD.

You can also install many Linux distros to a USB stick instead of burning a DVD. This would be more convenient to use (and faster), but it might be a bit trickier to install on the USB stick than it is to burn a DVD.

If your main goal is to create a Linux system for music production, I'd recommend that you try the Live DVDs from KXStudio and Ubuntu Studio in the links above. On the other hand, if you just want to update an old computer so you can use it to surf the web and read email, then try the Live DVDs from Mint or Ubuntu. You can always add some music programs later. The standard Ubuntu repositories include Audacity, Hydrogen, Ardour, Rosegarden, and many more. So you don't necessarily have to use the KXStudio repositories.

[Groundy]

Well I have finally converted, Thanks to John for the help he gave me, First I loaded Mint and the usb app on to usb, but then when I came to  boot it my old laptop would not accept USB, only CD rom and would you believe it, Floppy disc, anyway I found 4 discs on ebay, Mint,Ubutu,Vector6 gold, and Freespire, all for £5. I tried them all but problems on them all, anyway I decided to try Freespire again this morning and Bingo we have lift off, my old XP has never been so fast since it was new 15 years ago, I  may convert my windows 7  after repair I dropped it yesterday the screen never broke but I have 2 black lines down each side and a huge black spot in the middle, the insurance will collect it today to see if it can be repaired if not I will get a new one, Thanks again to John and 64 for their help.....Alex

 

[bruno]

Over to the dark side - or is this away from the dark side?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhllo1xQer8

[Groundy]

Nice one Bruno..