Advice

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MadOne

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I am just returning to the Linux world. A friend had suggested I get back into using and "playing" with Linux again. I started with Slackware back in the old 9 or 11 (forget which) 3 1/2" installation disks. The days when it took a day to setup a system that you scrounged a bunch of parts together to build. I had also used debian and a few others.

With so many distros out there nowadays, I'm looking for a couple suggestions to help narrow my search. The system will be used as a standalone system with internet access. Other then standard internet browsing, office software (star office), email, etc... it won't be doing a lot. It is going to be a play system to see how much I remember and whether I want to invest the time again. I know all the above is easily done by probably 100% of the distros but I like to run things lean since I use to do some Linux security back in the day. (one reason I hated RedHat back then since it was like windows, wanting to install lots of extra crap)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 


Welcome to the forums!

You're right, most of today's distros will include many things you may not want or need if you go that way. The nice part is that they usually work well out of the box, especially to make wireless work. BTW, today's go-to office product is LibreOffice, and it is included in most of the the more fully developed distros.

But there are still plenty of options to roll your own. Slackware (now at 14.2) is still going strong. Debian also has a minimal install. And one of today's most popular is Arch Linux. Arch is not for the faint-of-heart though, but it may be just what you're looking for.

Good luck! But I think you'll be fine.
 
Thanks for the advice.

I think the biggest struggle will be looking into what apps are most popular, good example is StarOffice. Thankfully I have forgotten the names of most of the ones I use-to-use so I won't have any preferences/biases on which to use. It's an exciting situation to be in but the downside will be figuring out what I still remember and not shaking my head when I struggle on something that use to be as easy as breathing.
 
Well, things are always changing, that's for sure... but you will also still find many old familiar favorites among applications. And WINE is always improving (with variations like PlayOnLinux and CodeWeaver) if you want to bring any Windows apps with you. You'll probably hit some snags along the way, but that's why you're returning to Linux... to learn, right?

Cheers!
 
One suggestion if you decide to go with Slackware. Write down everything you do as you set it up(everything that works that is!) and keep it all in a document. Add to it every time you make a new discovery. That way, when your drive suddenly crashes:eek:, like mine did a couple days ago, :( you won't be searching through all your many scribbled notes on various lips of paper. The better your notes are, the easier it will be to recover. Never mind how I came up with that idea. :D:D
ciao for now
Paul
 
Write down everything you do as you set it up (everything that works that is!) and keep it all in a document. Add to it every time you make a new discovery.

Good advice, indeed! But also be sure to backup that document to a 2nd (or even a 3rd) location, or print a hard copy on paper. You also don't want that document to be lost in the system that fails! :eek:

Sorry to hear of your trouble Paul... hope it is better soon!
 
Oh, yeah! that too:D:D. It is a mucho good idea not to keep the document on the same drive. Thanks for keeping me straight, Stan. I actually meant to say slips of paper (lipso_O), but sometimes my keyboard drops a bit here and there. (that's my lie, and I'm sticking to it!:D I reached into the closet, and pulled out another old drive. I have it loaded, and now comes the fun part, modifying and getting all the updates. I work on it in my spare time. In the meantime, I just slap another drive caddy in to do what I need, or just use one of the other computers in the shack. Not to worry, mate:).
ciao for now
Paul
 

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