Looking for a very basic Linux distro

[nitrous9200]

I want to switch my desktop over from Win7 to Linux and I'm looking for something that looks like an older Ubuntu version (without the horrible new user interface) and preferably without the tons of unnecessary programs that come preinstalled. I could just download a few-year-old version of Ubuntu, but I want to make sure I'm getting all of the necessary updates.

Anything is fine as long as it is fairly easy to setup and has a standard looking desktop interface. I use Chrome, VirtualBox, Audacity and VLC (and a few Windows only programs which should work fine in Wine). I've looked around but there's nothing quite like what I'm looking for - everything seems very busy compared to the older distros with the old Gnome interface, which is all I want. Is there anything like that available?

 

[cdr]

Give Mint a try. They fork Gnome 2 (Mate) or Gnome 3 (Cinnamon) for the desktop UI, but it's Ubuntu underneath. Basically Ubuntu without the horrible new user interface. If you like Gnome 2 you'll probably like Mate.

You could also try something like Xubuntu if you want a really old fashioned fugly looking desktop.

 

[theevilsharpie]

Is there anything like that available?

Use Ubuntu 12.04 with Gnome Classic.

 

[Jodell88]

Give Mint a try. They fork Gnome 2 (Mate) or Gnome 3 (Cinnamon) for the desktop UI, but it's Ubuntu underneath. Basically Ubuntu without the horrible new user interface. If you like Gnome 2 you'll probably like Mate.

You could also try something like Xubuntu if you want a really old fashioned fugly looking desktop.

Mint is not in control of the MATE desktop nor have the forked Gnome 3. Cinnamon is just a different desktop shell.

Also XFCE 4 is not fugly.

 

[cdr]

Cinnamon is just a different desktop shell.

Cinnamon is a fork of Gnome 3. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Introducing-Cinnamon-The-GNOME-3-Replacement-244107.shtml

Cinnamon is from the same people as Mint.

You're right that Mint is not directly responsible for MATE, but they are a big supporter of it.

Also XFCE 4 is not fugly.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. XFCE seems to be for people who liked Win95's aesthetic.

 

[ultimatebob]

I'd try Lubuntu... It's the latest version of Ubuntu without the bloated GUI.

Or, you could try CentOS 6 if you want something with long term support.

 

[Jodell88]

Cinnamon is a fork of Gnome 3. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Introducing-Cinnamon-The-GNOME-3-Replacement-244107.shtml

From your own link.

Highlights of Cinnamon:

· Based on GNOME 3 and Mutter, and forked from GNOME Shell;

GNOME Shell is not GNOME 3.

If I forked Kwin can I claim that I forked the entire KDE project?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. XFCE seems to be for people who liked Win95's aesthetic.

I really don't know how long you have been using Linux but XFCE 4 looks NOTHING like windows 95.

It's amazing that if you throw in a little bit of transparency in a DE people will think everything else looks like windows 95.

 

[lxskllr]

I'd use Xubuntu. In fact, I kind of am. I use Debian with the Xfce desktop. That's pretty similar to Xubuntu.

 

[Paperlantern]

I'll vote for mint as well, 9 is an LTS release if you don't want something super pretty, though I like 11 and 12. I think 13 has also been released and is also LTS.

 

[cdr]

Mint 13 has been out a few weeks and is a LTS.

It works like a charm for me, other than the ATI fglrx drivers not working well with my Cinnamon + multimonitor setup. The open source drivers do everything I want flawlessly though, so no complaints. Cinnamon is a great blend of looks and functionality so far for me - I was using Mate pre-13.

 

[mv2devnull]

Looks are all about desktop environments (DE), which are a legion. There is a thread about those nearby: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2248180

What is "preinstalled" depends on how one does install. I have "unfortunately" used only installers/distros that let me choose during install.

Be it DE or other necessary program, you can add them later. That is easy as long as some software repository has them packaged for your distro. Source installs should be avoided.

Current distros do have current security fixes. Older, deprecated, non-supported distros don't and won't. The choice should be clear.

A long term support (LTS) distro is clearly preferable, because it should support the packages you want for quite a while.


I won't name a distro, for whatever I use is probably not suitable for this thread and the rest I don't know.

 

[unokitty]

Mint++

Uno