On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 7:19 AM, Basil Chupin wrote:

On 17/07/13 13:08, Duaine Hechler wrote:

...

I am currently working with a guy that is interested in switching to Linux from Winbloze.

Since most of my experience is with KDE, I thought I would suggest openSUSE or Mint (with KDE).

For a new user, what would be the "better" and/or more "stable" distro ?

TIA, Duaine

For my money I would suggest openSUSE if for no other reason than YOU are using it and therefore can readily help him with any problem he may encounter during the 'learning' curve while he is weaned off M$. You both will be "talking the same language", so to speak, when he wants to know something.

He will also have a massive amount of knowledge in this mail list to fall back on for any help (I have seen some of the other distro mail lists and none compare to this one).

Don't forget the forums as well. I'd hazard to say that a LOT more new users are helped on the forums than the mailing lists (the MLs being more or less the tool for us old farts that have been tinkering with openSUSE for ages). Seconded for going with openSUSE for the same reasons Basil stated. Ultimately it matters little if someone uses openSUSE, Mint or whatever. Where supporting people becomes challenging is when you're used to one distro's way of working and have to try and help people on another. You know openSUSE and KDE, so for making the transition for the guy you're working with easier... going with what you know is the best choice. C. -- openSUSE 12.3 x86_64, KDE 4.10 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 07/17/2013 02:39 PM, John Andersen wrote:

With Kubuntu, 1) You can click one option at install time and it goes and finds everything you need for a complete and competent multimedia system. No scary language.

2) You can start with the latest LTE release and expect it to be maintained for at least 5 years.

I've found that new users to Linux are baffled by this need to essentially do a major upgrade every 18 months (or what ever it is these days). After 5 years my Wife's Kubuntu finally nagged her to click that single button to upgrade to the next Long Term Release, and it was painless.

3) Kubuntu configuration seems limited and locked down by comparison to Yast, but on the other hand new users don't need to do that much other than install packages of interest.

With Kubuntu there are a few things that you have to do right off as soon after install as you can. 1. Open a terminal and install Synaptic package handler. The KDE handler is almost worse than useless. 2. Install Firefox. Konqueror is pretty much trashed and Rekonq is in about the same state as the package handler. 3. Once Firefox is installed, and while the terminal is open, got Medibuntu and add the repository. While your there you can copy/paste the script to install all the basic multimedia stuff you'll need. I usually cruise over to WineHQ and add their repository also. [ I have a few old Windows programs that I use a lot and they work just fine under Wine. ] 4. Open Synaptic and add everything else you think you might want. Thunderbird, games, whatever. -- “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” -Albert Einstein "A great moral force is a bayonet on a gun and a web-belt full of cartridges." -Colonel John S. Poland, U. S. Army - 1894 "In all border lands a certain class of men have to be killed to insure the welfare and safety of the peaceably inclined." - Judge William L. Kuykendall - 1917 _ _... ..._ _ _._ ._ ..... ._.. ... .._ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 07/17/2013 03:21 PM, John Andersen wrote:

Agreed. (There are always some things I forget, but that goes for any distro).

To that list I might add the Google Chrome repository. (Also I think Firefox is installed by default in Kubuntu these days).

If I remember correctly the last time it was just a "Firefox installer" that was installed from the disk. -- “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” -Albert Einstein "A great moral force is a bayonet on a gun and a web-belt full of cartridges." -Colonel John S. Poland, U. S. Army - 1894 "In all border lands a certain class of men have to be killed to insure the welfare and safety of the peaceably inclined." - Judge William L. Kuykendall - 1917 _ _... ..._ _ _._ ._ ..... ._.. ... .._ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

The way I made the conversion many years ago was to set up a dual boot. When I had some spare time to kill I would reboot into Linux and play around. I broke it a few times while I learned a few things not to do. After a short time I found that I was spending more and more time in Linux until I was seldom booting into Windows any longer. On 07/19/2013 11:26 AM, Duaine Hechler wrote:

Thank you all for your responses.

As soon as the other guy is ready, I'll know what to do.

Duaine

-- “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” -Albert Einstein "A great moral force is a bayonet on a gun and a web-belt full of cartridges." -Colonel John S. Poland, U. S. Army - 1894 "In all border lands a certain class of men have to be killed to insure the welfare and safety of the peaceably inclined." - Judge William L. Kuykendall - 1917 _ _... ..._ _ _._ ._ ..... ._.. ... .._ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org