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New to Linux.

M

moneer

Member
Hey guys, I'm new to Linux and everything. I wanna learn programming languages and become a developer but haven't found the right distro for me yet. I want a light and fast distro which I can run off a 16gb flash drive. But I like to have frequent updates. Any recommendations?
 
I think you should try Xubuntu. For what you are planning to do though you should setup a dedicated system disk or dual boot.
 
BizHat said:
Try Ubuntu, better stay with most popular destro.
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I tried ubuntu. It wasn't very smooth, and after a few reboots. The desktop stopped showing
ArisVer said:
I think you should try Xubuntu. For what you are planning to do though you should setup a dedicated system disk or dual boot.
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My pc only has 1 hd. A 160gb one. And it's a family pc, not just mine. But I do have a spare hdd. Is it possible to add a sata power cable to the psu? Or can I use an hdd with only a data cable?
 
First, Xubuntu is a lightweight distro based on Ubuntu.

Second, you don't add the SATA cable to the PSU. You add it on the mainboard. If you are not familiar with opening a computer, adding disks, or dual boot, better find someone who is.

Third, booting of a flash drive is not bad and it has the advantage that you can use it at another computer. It will be slower than a dedicated disk (not sure about the usb 3 flash disks). You should also be carefull while installing, to point the installation at the flash drive so you don't erase your normal operating system disk.

I am also surprised that Ubuntu was not working. On a single core AMD XP1600 it was working okay, although a bit slow (I had also Debian Xfce, Mint, and Zorin installed on that machine). Posting your computer specifications will be a good idea.
 
ArisVer said:
First, Xubuntu is a lightweight distro based on Ubuntu.

Second, you don't add the SATA cable to the PSU. You add it on the mainboard. If you are not familiar with opening a computer, adding disks, or dual boot, better find someone who is.

Third, booting of a flash drive is not bad and it has the advantage that you can use it at another computer. It will be slower than a dedicated disk (not sure about the usb 3 flash disks). You should also be carefull while installing, to point the installation at the flash drive so you don't erase your normal operating system disk.

I am also surprised that Ubuntu was not working. On a single core AMD XP1600 it was working okay, although a bit slow (I had also Debian Xfce, Mint, and Zorin installed on that machine). Posting your computer specifications will be a good idea.
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Well, I have a dell optiplex 755 small form factor. I added ram to it so now it's 6gb ram and a core 2 duo processor clocked at 2.33ghz. I would like to add a second hard drive if possible but idk where to place it... Which is why a flash drive is the only way to use Linux for now...
 
If you have the small form factor, and not the ultra small form factor, there's extra sata ports inside. You could get a ssd, then stuff/tape/screw it somewhere in the case. ssds don't have the movement of platter drives, so mounting is less of a problem.

Not trying to discourage you from using a flash drive. They work fine, and are economical, but kind of slow when you need to read/write from disk. Not a big deal. You just need to be patient. A nice thing about running from a flash drive, is you can plug it into another computer, and it'll probably work. You can carry your familiar environment in your pocket,
 
lxskllr said:
If you have the small form factor, and not the ultra small form factor, there's extra sata ports inside. You could get a ssd, then stuff/tape/screw it somewhere in the case. ssds don't have the movement of platter drives, so mounting is less of a problem.

Not trying to discourage you from using a flash drive. They work fine, and are economical, but kind of slow when you need to read/write from disk. Not a big deal. You just need to be patient. A nice thing about running from a flash drive, is you can plug it into another computer, and it'll probably work. You can carry your familiar environment in your pocket,
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There actually isn't any extra sata cables inside. But there is a non used molex cable. And idk where to place my second hdd.
 
moneer said:
There actually isn't any extra sata cables inside. But there is a non used molex cable. And idk where to place my second hdd.
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Not a cable, a port. You'd have to supply the cable...

GnOiDgQ.png


I don't have one of those systems, so I don't know where to put a drive. If there isn't room inside, there's no law that says you can't mount it outside of the case.
 
lxskllr said:
Not a cable, a port. You'd have to supply the cable...

GnOiDgQ.png


I don't have one of those systems, so I don't know where to put a drive. If there isn't room inside, there's no law that says you can't mount it outside of the case.
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I think in my situation, a molex to sata would be better since its close to the outside. Thank you for your help by the way.
 
You want a SATA cable to plug one end where it says "6" on the motherboard and the other end on the disk. You will also have to connect a power cable from the PSU to the disk. Make sure you have that cable from the PSU. Otherwise you can find a splitter cable to share a single power connection to two items (two disks, a disk and a DVDROM), as long as your power supply is adequate. Disks do not use much power anyway especially SSDs.
Molex cable connects to the older style IDE disks (for power) and it is not suitable in your case.
 
ArisVer said:
You want a SATA cable to plug one end where it says "6" on the motherboard and the other end on the disk. You will also have to connect a power cable from the PSU to the disk. Make sure you have that cable from the PSU. Otherwise you can find a splitter cable to share a single power connection to two items (two disks, a disk and a DVDROM), as long as your power supply is adequate. Disks do not use much power anyway especially SSDs.
Molex cable connects to the older style IDE disks (for power) and it is not suitable in your case.
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Can't I get a molex to sata cable and connect that to the drive?
 
I think he understands that a SATA HDD requires a SATA data cable, but that his PSU (which is a stock Dell PSU and thus quite limited) doesn't have any spare SATA power connectors. Is that correct, moneer? If so, then yes, you can get a molex to SATA power adapter and it should be fine.

Can I ask why you want to use Linux? There is plenty of development you can do in Windows that would avoid the issue of installing a second hard drive in your family computer. I wouldn't consider booting from a USB drive to be a real option. It'd be slow enough to hinder any real productive work.

Oh, to answer your actual question instead of just being an ass who says "WHY DON'T YOU DO DIFFERENT THINGS????" Slackware and Arch Linux are both very lightweight distributions, but Arch is updated far more often (weekly/monthly, I think). I've never been a big fan of Ubuntu. It's bloated and filled with poor imitations of Windows/OS X features.
 
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wicka said:
I think he understands that a SATA HDD requires a SATA data cable, but that his PSU (which is a stock Dell PSU and thus quite limited) doesn't have any spare SATA power connectors. Is that correct, moneer? If so, then yes, you can get a molex to SATA power adapter and it should be fine.

Can I ask why you want to use Linux? There is plenty of development you can do in Windows that would avoid the issue of installing a second hard drive in your family computer. I wouldn't consider booting from a USB drive to be a real option. It'd be slow enough to hinder any real productive work.

Oh, to answer your actual question instead of just being an ass who says "WHY DON'T YOU DO DIFFERENT THINGS????" Slackware and Arch Linux are both very lightweight distributions, but Arch is updated far more often (weekly/monthly, I think). I've never been a big fan of Ubuntu. It's bloated and filled with poor imitations of Windows/OS X features.
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Thank you very much, this is the answer I've been looking for. And I need a new hdd to build android roms from source, since ntfs and Linux aren't good friends.
 
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