Best Linux Distro to replace Windows 7?

[Scarpozzi]

I know this thread comes up every couple of months, but figure I'll ask the same question again for kicks!

I'm fed up with Windows and its security flaws. I'm going to reinstall *something today and am offloading about 100GB of files to back them up.

I've been running Ubuntu 12 in VirtualBox from Windows 7. I'm thinking about switching to Ubuntu 12 and running Windows 7 in VirtualBox instead.

Are there any other distros I should consider? I work mostly with RedHat (RHEL) and CentOS.

I've got a lot of experience with SuSE, but haven't touched it in 4-5 years.

I would like to stick to a distro that's got good driver support and is somewhat future-proof. I don't want to have to reinstall something in 6 months because what I picked doesn't meet my needs.

I plan on running Outlook and some basic windows apps in a virtualbox and anything else for messaging software, Remote Desktop for windows servers.... I've never installed Mint, but have heard good things about it. What all should I look at or consider?

 

[crashtestdummy]

Mint is probably your best bet. It has all the repository and driver support of Ubuntu, but with more of a desktop-style UI.

The only downside is that the LTS release for Mint is a bit long in the tooth. The OS has developed a lot since Maya. Ubuntu is releasing it's next LTS this spring, and Mint will be following suit this summer. If you don't want to think about re-installing your system for a while, it might be worth waiting for those.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Mint is probably your best bet. It has all the repository and driver support of Ubuntu, but with more of a desktop-style UI.

The only downside is that the LTS release for Mint is a bit long in the tooth. The OS has developed a lot since Maya. Ubuntu is releasing it's next LTS this spring, and Mint will be following suit this summer. If you don't want to think about re-installing your system for a while, it might be worth waiting for those.

I'm not as worried about doing a reinstall as long as I can keep functioning in the office.

I can just park my files somewhere for a few months and work off VMs for a bit. I'll check Mint out in a vm before committing to it on hardware and see how it compares to my Ubuntu VMs.

Thanks.

 

[meloz]

I vote for Xubuntu 13.10.

Since all these OS are free, you should play with them and see what fits you best.

 

[lxskllr]

Suse should be fine since you're familiar with it. I'd recommend something with KDE. I think that looks most like Win7. You could also try Kubuntu. You'll have more support options staying close to the Debian/Ubuntu ecosystem.

 

[TheRyuu]

I would argue it's extremely hard to replace Windows on a desktop machine because linux just doesn't do desktop very well, from my experience anyway (font rendering that makes me want to stab my eyes out). Clearly the correct thing to do here is install Windows 8.1 </trollolol>. Lets be honest though, it does have some security improvements over 7. 😛

But with that being said, since you've been using Ubuntu you can just keep using that if you like it, otherwise Linux Mint should also be pretty decent.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I blew my system away and installed Xubuntu. I'm using Remmina Remote Desktop and will write a script to import all the 2008 Servers I run. I'm still trying to decide if I want to run my Linux systems from the terminal emulator or get another ssh app to store server groups and credentials. I run password changes pretty frequently on these boxes and it takes a good hour or so to work it all out.

I'm running Outlook, Media Player, and some old junky help desk software in VirtualBox. (we have a limited web instances, so I use a client)

I'm struggling with a few small personal things.... Mostly, I have a Kinivo Bluetooth dongle and bluetooth headset that I used with Windows. I miss it already because I like being wireless and having tunes. I can get it connected, but can't get it to stream audio. I've tried a few bluetooth packages and can't get it to work...I'll keep trying.

The only other complaint I have now is with Windows Media Player... I ripped all my CDs over the years to WMA because its compression was great and the WMP app was pretty good. I can't get it to index a mapped drive as I moved the data folders to my Linux hard drive. I don't want any important data to reside on the VM itself to keep its footprint small. When I get time, I'm going to play with the indexing service to see if I can get that fixed too.
***--Just fixed the Indexing problem by following this guide: http://www.karanik.gr/2013/02/unc-windows-7.html It looks like it's just an issue with Windows 7-64... ----EDIT - SCRATCH that. Something updated and the index reset and was lost. It worked for like 10 minutes.

I've setup Banshee again in Linux and got the codecs installed for WMAs (had been a while since I've run it, but it imported my library). I think I'm going to use my virtual machine to rip music using Windows Media Player when I need to and copy it over. I'm in the process of setting up Google Music Manager for Ubuntu...so I don't have to run that in Windows either. I'm not 100% happy with firefox in Linux and still have the bluetooth headset issue, but things are working well.

 

[jaydee]

If you're familiar with RHEL, CentOS, then Fedora would be a pretty easy transition.

 

[Scarpozzi]

If you're familiar with RHEL, CentOS, then Fedora would be a pretty easy transition.

Fedora's lost to the eye candy the other distros are shooting for.

I'm on Xubuntu 13.10, so I'll likely switch again in the next few months. Until then, I've worked out all the bugs.

What was the funniest of all was setting up office printers yesterday. I installed Windows 7 in a VM and tries setting it up there....The printer wasn't listed, so I had Windows search for the driver..... While it was searching, I switched to the Linux side and had it probe the IP of the printer...it detected and installed the printer in 2 clicks and was done. Windows searched another 4 minutes before it returned with a generic HP driver.

It's just good to see how far a lot of this stuff has come. I've been using Linux desktops on and off since 1995... Ubuntu 12 was decent, but I had too many issues with the menus, so I'm really liking Xubuntu... I'm having more issues with peripherals and some Firefox browser weirdness.

This is actually about 86% bug free.(Windows isn't that good)

 

[nk215]

Hi

Why not do the other way around? Have a basic Windows setup and run Linux in virtual environment. Since most linux are lighter on computing resources, run it in VM is quite fast.

Many linux softwares run well in VM. Many windows softwares don't like VM much especially those with intensive graphic/video usage.

A basic windows setup as host is very secure.

 

[jaydee]

Fedora's lost to the eye candy the other distros are shooting for.

I'm on Xubuntu 13.10, so I'll likely switch again in the next few months. Until then, I've worked out all the bugs.

Have you tried Fedora 20? Looks pretty slick to me.

As far as Debian based, I like Mint better than Ubuntu.

 

[ultimatebob]

Fedora's lost to the eye candy the other distros are shooting for.

What's wrong with using the CentOS 6 desktop environment? It seems pretty solid to me, and you can quickly install some extra repos to get most of the desktop software that Ubuntu has.

 

[lxskllr]

What's wrong with using the CentOS 6 desktop environment? It seems pretty solid to me, and you can quickly install some extra repos to get most of the desktop software that Ubuntu has.

CentOS looks pretty crusty. Debian stable looks bleeding edge by comparison :^D

Fine for a server, but I don't know I'd want to run it as a desktop.

 

[KlokWyze]

CentOS looks pretty crusty. Debian stable looks bleeding edge by comparison :^D

Fine for a server, but I don't know I'd want to run it as a desktop.

Indeed.

Linux Mint or Ubuntu is what I would recommend, but TBH they are all the same except for their look and everything can be altered to your tastes, depending on how much tweaking and learning you want to do of course.

And BTW, you will find many things you miss when switching from Apple or Microsoft. Just be mentally prepared to deal with some dissapointing losses of functionality, compatibility, etc. But if you can tolerate those and make it work, you should be fine.

 

[mikeymikec]

I'm fed up with Windows and its security flaws.

I assume you realise every modern, respectable operating system has security flaws and updates coming in all the time?

 

[Scarpozzi]

I assume you realise every modern, respectable operating system has security flaws and updates coming in all the time?

True...but when you have to reboot every other week, it gets old. I totally get that any application that listens to a port that happens to be open on your firewall can get hacked.

I just wish they would do a better job at managing how these things update and do away with mandatory reboots. With linux, you can restart just about anything without having to bounce the system. With Windows, it's the opposite because they want to clear memory, env variables, and background processes when registry changes are made....I get it. I just don't like it. My linux box boots within seconds.....when it was running 7, it would sit on the login screen for quite a while with the Windows Vista/7 Donut (used to be the hourglass) before presenting the Ctrl+Alt+Delete screen. It took a solid 2 minutes to boot....

This is way more efficient.

 

[Scarpozzi]

CentOS looks pretty crusty. Debian stable looks bleeding edge by comparison :^D

Fine for a server, but I don't know I'd want to run it as a desktop.

I'm actually a little scared about CentOS as a server. Do you remember the scare a few years ago when the project lead when MIA?

I run a mix of Red Hat(35) and Cent(15) and could always switch from Cent to Red Hat, but Red Hat isn't free....even with subscription server only and self support.... ($300 a pop adds up when you're running 50 systems) I just hope there are more people working on the Cent Project....it's really a solid distro.



BTW....I'm on week 2 and Linux has replaced windows for me on most of what I was doing in Windows. I'm not regretting it at all. I've not got a lot of experience with different vnc servers and have had a little trouble figuring out which one is best with this distro. It's not a big deal since most of what I need from this box is ssh anyway. If I need RDP, I just connect direct through the VPN. I just like having the option to connect remotely when working from home.