Easy Linux distribution for coffee pots from Windows
Choosing a lightweight and fast OS based on Linux
With Windows, I have been around for a long time and therefore you want, you don't want, but you get used to what you use every day. After I noticed that for work in 90% of cases I have enough Opera + Google Docs + Skype bundles. In Windows, I was increasingly annoyed with the loading and unloading times (when shutting down). The overall speed of the system.
Therefore, I set myself the task of finding a lightweight OS that would satisfy the following parameters:
- quickly loaded and unloaded
- easy to install, as for teapots
- immediately pick up a WiFi card and network (hidden Wi-Fi network with WPA encryption)
- be able to install Opera without any problems (or out-of-the-box)
- support for Russian out-of-the-box (or with simple installation)
')
Additional advantages would be (out of the box):
- installed Skype
- PDF viewer.
- clean and minimalistic interface (In Windows, instead of Explorer, there is a Blackbox port - BBlean)
In Windows, I am guided well, and I have almost never come across it, so the phrases of the style “Choose a file system: Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, ReiserFS, XFS” introduce me to a light trance.
At first I went to Distrowatch and for a long time could not understand what I needed. Distry "for weak computers" did not like the fact that it was often still complete systems, but with cropped programs. Those. not Opera | Firefox, but a simple browser, etc. Distra for USB | LiveCD also did not like, because they were focused on working with removable media. Then I came across the corresponding section of Torrents.ru, where I also drew some interesting projects. But what happened?
Our development. Here is a description from the site:
“After all, this is what is needed,” I thought, and took the swing.
In fact, it turned out like this: it is easy and understandable to put on a flash drive. For those who do not know how to make flash drives bootable do not need to wise anything - everything is already invented by the developer. Then begins "... with sausage" ... Although the flash drive is fast enough, the boot time from it is 5-7 minutes. When the desktop is loaded, each movement of the mouse causes a zealous blinking of the flash drive activity indicator. Opening the menu takes 5-10 seconds. I never got to the installer on the screw, although I hoped that when installing on a screw, everything would be quick and easy.
Discarded: Surprisingly slow. Really failed to get work. I went further.
According to the description, everything suited me too:
It was also attractive that Opera and IM clients were in the basic installation.
During a short acquaintance with the Live version, she refused to see the wifi adapter. A little slipping on the menu, I did not find how to cure it. (
The speed of work with the disk, of course, also depressed and I decided to install on the screw.
This is where the tundra for a Windows user began. I got, as I understood later, into the standard installer Unbuntu 9.04, which immediately asked me which file system to choose (from about 5 options), then started swearing that there was no swap disk and so on. After reading the How-To online, I reached the cherished “Install” button and began to wait. Ended minutes after 10 phrases that he does not have enough space. Although a pure 3.5 gig volume was allocated. Strange.
Discarded: difficult installation, not picked up by Wi-fi. I went further.
That was interesting! The system is installed without repartitioning the disk, just like a program in Windows. Loads seconds in 10-15, turns off instantly, seconds in 5. In terms of the speed of loading / unloading, nothing that I have tried can compare with it.
Discarded: a) paid b) programs can be taken ONLY from the online repository for this system. There is no opera, of course. c) does not connect well to the wireless network
On many sites, including in runet, VectorLinux was advised as a quick distr. Decided to try.
Hats off to the man who wrote the texts for the installer. This was exactly what was required:
No trimmed functionality, but each menu was accompanied by a very simple and understandable explanation of what to do there: “Hello, in order to install the Axis, you will have to allocate a section on the screw to it. Usually you need about 1.1 GB to put a basic set of programs, or up to 3 GB, if you want to put a little more, choose it yourself. Even Linux uses swap disk. Usually it is twice the size of RAM ”(tried to keep the original style :). It seemed that you put the system with a good friend while drinking beer from a can. Even the choice between VT-hot and HAL was described quite clearly.
I put it without problems, in parallel understanding the installation of Linux. And the system has booted.
Ok, we have Opera.
Ok, how to connect Wi-fI?
So found a hidden network and? How to connect to it? You can specify a password and encryption type, and where can I find the SSID?
As a result, I found another utility in the menu that still connected me to the network.
Half of the tasks completed.
A separate topic, as I updated Opera from the old version in the distro to the new one. How to choose from 10 versions of Opera under Linux, how to find out that Vector Linux is Slackware-based, how to make it install a package not from the repository ... well, it happens.
But the stumbling block was found: having run through the forums, I didn’t know how to make her speak Russian. On the contrary, the forums were full of themes from dances with tambourines around encodings and fonts. Then I realized that for the second hour I’m drinking with this distro, but this does not meet my criteria and ...
Discarded: there is no Russian, not very intuitive interface. I went further.
Since I didn’t manage to finish the topic, but it was published instead of going into drafts (hello to the unstable browser build), I now decided to try Xubuntu and KNOPPIX 6.0.1 Live CD / USB 2009-02-08 BETA RU. If it is interesting, I will add.
UPD
Since I have already managed to understand the basics of the installation, there were no problems here. The choice of basic options, 20 minutes of waiting and the system is already running.
Everything is quite nice and beautiful. Only the Wi-Fi network does not connect, even kill. (
Russian installed, but to switch the layout, you need to understand. After searching the network, I found a script that attaches the switch layout to the Win-key. Eh, where is the Punto-Switcher ...
The systems selected for the test are both quite exotic (MiniOS, SimpleX) and popular in the tips “advise a quick distr” (Vector Linux, xUbuntu). We should also note Xandros Presto, which is widely advertised as Instant-on OS.
And the result is depressing. Not a single “out of the box” system could at least provide a minimum: Russian + connecting to a Wi-Fi network .
UPD2
After the advice in kamentah and even a small search, I wanted to try further, and more specifically:
Full weights:
Linux mint
Runtu
gOS - well, I don’t like the minimum space requirement for installation: 4GB
Instant-on OS
xPUD - promise readiness in 3-15 seconds
Moblin
UPD3
- We are talking about the usual office laptop Acer. Celeron 1.6; 512 RAM
- in most cases, a wi-fi card (the usual Broadcom) was determined, but it did not work to connect to a specific network (hidden WPA).
With Windows, I have been around for a long time and therefore you want, you don't want, but you get used to what you use every day. After I noticed that for work in 90% of cases I have enough Opera + Google Docs + Skype bundles. In Windows, I was increasingly annoyed with the loading and unloading times (when shutting down). The overall speed of the system.
Therefore, I set myself the task of finding a lightweight OS that would satisfy the following parameters:
- quickly loaded and unloaded
- easy to install, as for teapots
- immediately pick up a WiFi card and network (hidden Wi-Fi network with WPA encryption)
- be able to install Opera without any problems (or out-of-the-box)
- support for Russian out-of-the-box (or with simple installation)
')
Additional advantages would be (out of the box):
- installed Skype
- PDF viewer.
- clean and minimalistic interface (In Windows, instead of Explorer, there is a Blackbox port - BBlean)
In Windows, I am guided well, and I have almost never come across it, so the phrases of the style “Choose a file system: Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, ReiserFS, XFS” introduce me to a light trance.
At first I went to Distrowatch and for a long time could not understand what I needed. Distry "for weak computers" did not like the fact that it was often still complete systems, but with cropped programs. Those. not Opera | Firefox, but a simple browser, etc. Distra for USB | LiveCD also did not like, because they were focused on working with removable media. Then I came across the corresponding section of Torrents.ru, where I also drew some interesting projects. But what happened?
MiniOS Fire
Our development. Here is a description from the site:
Description: A full-fledged operating system that works with USB-Flash with the ability to install on a hard disk. It includes everything you need for home and work, can work on any computer that supports booting from USB. Optimized for use on powerful machines as well as on weak netbooks. Contains drivers and settings for working with GSM, CDMA modems, Yota WiMAX modems, software for working with phones and communicators, as well as many other useful programs. With MiniOS Fire many tasks for you will become doable!
Base: Mandriva Linux 2009.0
Kernel: 2.6.27.24
Graphic Shell: Gnome 2.24.2
Office: OpenOffice.org 3.0.1
OpenOffice.org Pro 3.1.0 from Infra-Resource
Virtual Machine: VirtualBox 3.0
VMWare Server 2.0.1
A full list of programs can be listed for a long time, but it is better to try once.
“After all, this is what is needed,” I thought, and took the swing.
In fact, it turned out like this: it is easy and understandable to put on a flash drive. For those who do not know how to make flash drives bootable do not need to wise anything - everything is already invented by the developer. Then begins "... with sausage" ... Although the flash drive is fast enough, the boot time from it is 5-7 minutes. When the desktop is loaded, each movement of the mouse causes a zealous blinking of the flash drive activity indicator. Opening the menu takes 5-10 seconds. I never got to the installer on the screw, although I hoped that when installing on a screw, everything would be quick and easy.
Discarded: Surprisingly slow. Really failed to get work. I went further.
SimpleX
According to the description, everything suited me too:
We position our SimpleX as a distribution for newbies in the Linux world. Many MS Windows users also try various Linux distributions, but fearing a new, unknown interface, unknown program names are lost and drop out of business. We have put together in our distribution the analogues of the most frequently used programs so that users who have switched from MS Windows feel used to themselves. SimpleX is built on the base of the Ubuntu distribution and is 100% compatible with it.
The name SimpleX stands for Simple X (Simple Simple; X (X)), so called the GUI drawing system in Unix. With this name we want to show that our distribution is easy to use.
It was also attractive that Opera and IM clients were in the basic installation.
During a short acquaintance with the Live version, she refused to see the wifi adapter. A little slipping on the menu, I did not find how to cure it. (
The speed of work with the disk, of course, also depressed and I decided to install on the screw.
This is where the tundra for a Windows user began. I got, as I understood later, into the standard installer Unbuntu 9.04, which immediately asked me which file system to choose (from about 5 options), then started swearing that there was no swap disk and so on. After reading the How-To online, I reached the cherished “Install” button and began to wait. Ended minutes after 10 phrases that he does not have enough space. Although a pure 3.5 gig volume was allocated. Strange.
Discarded: difficult installation, not picked up by Wi-fi. I went further.
Xandros Presto
That was interesting! The system is installed without repartitioning the disk, just like a program in Windows. Loads seconds in 10-15, turns off instantly, seconds in 5. In terms of the speed of loading / unloading, nothing that I have tried can compare with it.
Discarded: a) paid b) programs can be taken ONLY from the online repository for this system. There is no opera, of course. c) does not connect well to the wireless network
Vector linux
On many sites, including in runet, VectorLinux was advised as a quick distr. Decided to try.
Hats off to the man who wrote the texts for the installer. This was exactly what was required:
No trimmed functionality, but each menu was accompanied by a very simple and understandable explanation of what to do there: “Hello, in order to install the Axis, you will have to allocate a section on the screw to it. Usually you need about 1.1 GB to put a basic set of programs, or up to 3 GB, if you want to put a little more, choose it yourself. Even Linux uses swap disk. Usually it is twice the size of RAM ”(tried to keep the original style :). It seemed that you put the system with a good friend while drinking beer from a can. Even the choice between VT-hot and HAL was described quite clearly.
I put it without problems, in parallel understanding the installation of Linux. And the system has booted.
Ok, we have Opera.
Ok, how to connect Wi-fI?
So found a hidden network and? How to connect to it? You can specify a password and encryption type, and where can I find the SSID?
As a result, I found another utility in the menu that still connected me to the network.
Half of the tasks completed.
A separate topic, as I updated Opera from the old version in the distro to the new one. How to choose from 10 versions of Opera under Linux, how to find out that Vector Linux is Slackware-based, how to make it install a package not from the repository ... well, it happens.
But the stumbling block was found: having run through the forums, I didn’t know how to make her speak Russian. On the contrary, the forums were full of themes from dances with tambourines around encodings and fonts. Then I realized that for the second hour I’m drinking with this distro, but this does not meet my criteria and ...
Discarded: there is no Russian, not very intuitive interface. I went further.
Since I didn’t manage to finish the topic, but it was published instead of going into drafts (hello to the unstable browser build), I now decided to try Xubuntu and KNOPPIX 6.0.1 Live CD / USB 2009-02-08 BETA RU. If it is interesting, I will add.
UPD
Xubuntu
Since I have already managed to understand the basics of the installation, there were no problems here. The choice of basic options, 20 minutes of waiting and the system is already running.
Everything is quite nice and beautiful. Only the Wi-Fi network does not connect, even kill. (
Russian installed, but to switch the layout, you need to understand. After searching the network, I found a script that attaches the switch layout to the Win-key. Eh, where is the Punto-Switcher ...
Conclusion
The systems selected for the test are both quite exotic (MiniOS, SimpleX) and popular in the tips “advise a quick distr” (Vector Linux, xUbuntu). We should also note Xandros Presto, which is widely advertised as Instant-on OS.
And the result is depressing. Not a single “out of the box” system could at least provide a minimum: Russian + connecting to a Wi-Fi network .
UPD2
After the advice in kamentah and even a small search, I wanted to try further, and more specifically:
Full weights:
Linux mint
Runtu
gOS - well, I don’t like the minimum space requirement for installation: 4GB
Instant-on OS
xPUD - promise readiness in 3-15 seconds
Moblin
UPD3
- We are talking about the usual office laptop Acer. Celeron 1.6; 512 RAM
- in most cases, a wi-fi card (the usual Broadcom) was determined, but it did not work to connect to a specific network (hidden WPA).
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/67215/
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