I need a new distro!

B

bonewits

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I've been using computers since 1984. I've used PCM, DOS1.0 thru Win10. I've used CICS, PuppyLinux, Kenoppix, Slax, Mandrake, and now Ubuntu since 2014-07-30. It has crashed windows style twice and I promised myself there isn't gunna be a third.

I'm lazy and don't wanna have to screw around with "configurations." At my age this stuff should be easy. Don't get me wrong here; I like playing around with my info & data. I use Conky for multiple things. I'm not afraid of compiz. I just want a stable os that can take a bit of pounding. A decent browser wouldn't be bad either :)

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have some physical attributes here;
HP Pavilion g7 - 2269wm
AMD Quad-Core A8-4500M Accelerated Processor
17.3" diagonal HD+ BrightView LED Display
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Trinity [Radeon HD 7640G]
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Trinity HDMI Audio Controller
Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
500 GB HDD
DVD A DS8A9SH ~ already toast, using an Asus external DVD/CD
6144 MB DDR3 SDRAM
DVD Optical Drive
since 20140730-22:58 ~ Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS Trusty Tahr
Kernal 3.13.0.88-generic x86_64 ext4

Apps onboard, used often and many times concurrently;
Audacity, HandBrake, Transmission BitTorrent, Bluefish, Gedit, CompizCofig Settings Manager, Conky, gimp, hTop, Libre suite, Wine and others :)

IDK: is this stuff just too much for my box? Or will a new distro help?

So, I'm asking for suggestions. Why you would use it? How it is currently in use by others? Why would I want to use it?
 
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Sounds to me like your hardware is sufficient for any distro you want... and so is your knowledge. Ubuntu and its variants are the usual go-to recommendations, but since you're looking for something different I guess I would suggest Debian, openSUSE, or Fedora. All are very solid and prominent distros, but who knows if they will suit your needs. Give one (or all) a try and see what happens! Though you may need to tweak some configs at one time or another. Good luck!
 
One of my laptops has that chipset and RAM amount. It's fine hardware and might handle about any distribution without hassle.

However, I noticed that Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and its variants are crashing like a b**ch on it. Maybe the latest LTS will do a better job but I'm considering skipping it altogether.

I favored Trusty Tahr over Arch(-based) for the promise of a rock-solid production OS stability... Oh how I regret that decision. Android Studio will always freeze the system to inevitable reboot at some point, and I wish sheer web-browsing didn't do the same... No matter how huge and well optimized the swap partitions are.

Besides the great distros @atanere suggested, I'd add Manjaro as a nice alternative, considering you want it as out-of-the-box-ready as possible.
 
I would strongly recommend Debian! I have been using it on everything from Servers, to Desktops, to the Lenovo Thinkpad I am writing on right now. I have tried many different major Distros, including Ubutu, and have been most happy with Debian.

Install it initially with a wired connection. I use the Netinst C/D. You will need a little work to setup the WiFi, but not too much.

Personally, I would NEVER install another version of Ubuntu, or any of it's derivatives ever again.
 
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