

Ask HN: Transitioning to Linux - pedalpete

Last year I downloaded the Windows RC, and it is about to run out, but I've got a new laptop with Win7 coming in a few weeks, so thought I'd load linux onto the machine currently running Win7 RC.<p>Any advice about transitioning to Linux?
What distro do you recommend? 
I'm a php dev, I do my own design work, I'll need an email client, and the usual tools. 
Any advice?
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pbhjpbhj
When I got my new computer I tried Gnome, the desktop environment (DE) that is
default in UBunutu, for a few weeks. I had been using KDE3 prior and KDE4 had
just surfaced and was practically unusable.

I tried really hard to like Gnome but I just couldn't get anything done with
it. I find it very easy to switch between XP/Vista and KDE4 (which I went to
instead of Gnome). YMMV.

What app are you using for your PHP development? I've tried about a dozen
different ones (Kate, Eclipse, jEdit, Notepad++, Dreamweaver, ...) and am
happy at the moment with Quanta. Unfortunately it's now going through the
transition to KDE4 and is under resourced with devs so I'm considering moving
to KDevelop.

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pedalpete
I wasn't familiar with KDE4, I'll take a look. I like Eclipse for my dev, but
I'll take a look at Quanta, I'm not familiar with that one either.

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benedwards
I'd recommend Ubuntu. Good software, good community.

~~~
Ernestas
+1

I'm using it for about half a year now. I was surprised how easy it was. Most
software you can get in debian packages and it installs similar like in
windows.

For php I use gEdit, very lightweight Gnome editor with plugins. If you want
full IDE eclipse PDT is the way to go.

For images I like GIMP.

I've 1GB of ram and Flash seems to be really heavy on the laptop, fan is on
max when viewing flash.

~~~
CyberFonic
Have been using Ubuntu on HP notebook exclusively for the past 2.5 years.
Programming with GCC + Python + several browsers and multiple web servers.

Apt manages all the upgrades, patches fine. Upgraded from Ibex to Jaunty to
Karmic without having to re-install anything. Just follow the release
information.

Although the HP has only 1.5GB RAM, single 1.8GHz Celeron. I run the notebook
screen and an external 22" LCD without problems across 4 desktops and
typically have 10+ apps running concurrently. Gimp & OpenOffice are fine for
typical uses. With more up to date hardware you won't be disappointed.

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revorad
Just go with Ubuntu, don't even think about it. Most things work right out of
the box, there's a ton of help out there and the package management is ace.
Installing anything pretty much only takes: sudo apt-get install anything.

(Confession: As far as the desktop experience is concerned, I do miss XP.
Ubuntu has come a long way but there are just these little things in the
UI...)

~~~
rbanffy
> I do miss XP

Oh boy. I am an Ubuntu user and I have been using Windows for a year now
(corporate policy - don't ask...) and in the first 6 months it drove me crazy.
The first thing I did was to install Cygwin and Emacs in order to have a
proper terminal and a text-editor, but, still, the seemingly random slowdowns,
moments when even the mouse pointer wouldn't move... More memory reduced the
pain, but, still, I miss select-copy and middle-click-paste.

If you can read Portuguese, I wrote about it on
[http://www.dieblinkenlights.com/artigos_pt/vivendo-no-
window...](http://www.dieblinkenlights.com/artigos_pt/vivendo-no-windows) and
[http://www.dieblinkenlights.com/artigos_pt/o-windows-esta-
pr...](http://www.dieblinkenlights.com/artigos_pt/o-windows-esta-pronto-para-
o-usuario-experiente)

~~~
kilian
select-copy and middle-click-paste lacking are one of the biggest annoyances
for me whenever I have to use windows or osx.

Linux/Ubuntu/Gnome have a lot of small things like that that dramatically
improve usability. It annoys me to no end when people complain about usability
on linux and then gloss over such things.

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motters
For a first timer, probably Ubuntu or Linux Mint.

~~~
bootload
_"... Ubuntu or Linux Mint. ..."_

but not debian (hardest technically to install).

~~~
mahmud
Linux From Scratch, and I put it on a Game Cube. Nothing like researching for
2 months and then realizing your TV and couch made for a lousy hacking
terminal.

------
Tichy
You'll be fine.

