release for an alienware r17 r3?

[[e-mail] [linuxham]]

anyone have a good release for an alienware r17 r3?


i sick to death of windows.

[Michael Coslo [e-mail] [linuxham]]

Post by kd5foy-***@public.gmane.org [linuxham]
anyone have a good release for an alienware r17 r3?
i sick to death of windows.

Welcome!

I’ve run Ubuntu, Linux Mint 15 through 17, Chrubuntu (for Chromebooks), and Lubuntu.

I’m inclined toward Linux Mint, and I think Windows users can adapt pretty easily to it.

Lubuntu is a great way to breathe new life into older things like Netbooks, I have an eePC that used to run XP, and it screams on Lubuntu

For Ham radio uses, there are sometimes a few tweaks that need to be made, most of us are happy to help with them.

What I always suggest to newbs is to start off using Synaptic software manager at first to install programs, then shift over to building programs from source. There are some arguments for starting off building from source, (and you’ll hear them soon enough) But I think that Linux transplants from Windows need a slow walk away from Windows in order to start thinking like Linux.

In the group, there are several users with a lot more experience than me, and on different distros. Lotta good info coming your way.

- 73 Mike N3LI -



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[[e-mail] [linuxham]]

I think that to answer your question, we'd need to know the apps you're running on it. Since alienware is basically a gaming computer, if you're running games you'd probably best stick with Windows, though I hate to suggest that, since most games on the market are targeted to the Windows platform. There are a good many games published for Linux but the choices are much narrower. I have no experience with the Mac and games.

If you're looking to use the alienware machine for general applications, I'd suggest Linuxmint 17, MATE version. It worked out of the box for me. I added a few apps, like Synaptic, Adobe Reader, Skype, etc. If you're looking for a good ham radio application based platform, I can suggest Andy's Ham Linux Version 16. It is based on Ubuntu 1404, Debian, so it will stick around for a while. It runs pretty well on older machines. Comes with lot of ham apps already installed. Linux versions, of course. I installed it on a pretty decent machine so I converted to the MATE desktop and added a lot of apps he left of like Skype, synaptic, Adobe Reader, etc. Works really well.

I'm sure that there are others out there that folks like for one reason or another but these two work for me.

73

K4TQL

[David Ranch [e-mail] [linuxham]]

I agree with K4TQL that trying out Andy's HAM radio CD (based on Ubuntu
10.04 LTS) at http://sourceforge.net/projects/kb1oiq-andysham/ is a good
way to see if all of your hardware is compatible. I've been recently
researching new laptops and it it seems that Gaming laptops use more
esoteric hardware which isn't always supported (MSI GP60 comes to mind)
. Andy's Live CD can run from a CD or USB Pendrive (recommended)
without touching your hard drive will let you know if the hardware works
but it doesn't have the prettiest GUI. If things do work, you can have
Andy's ISO install to your hard drive and you can then install any GUI
you want be it Cinnamon, KDE, MATE, etc. Lots of options are available.

--David
KI6ZHD


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Posted by: David Ranch <linuxham-fld-***@public.gmane.org>
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