New Netbook, looking to Linux for first time (never used before help)

[Stylis10]

I have come the point where i needed to buy a netbook as splash-top streaming from home desktop to my ipad is no longer an option. I have the Hp Mini 210-4125sa, and i would like to know what Linux distro i should install on it to get the fastest boot time possible and to use microsoft office and a web browser.

Those are my only 3 needs.
Fastest possible boot time, Microsoft Office (Word and Excel) and Web browsing .... maybe dropbox too if possible

[Bluecube]

MS Office on Linux? That's almost a joke... Libre Office will probably cover your needs there though. Chrome and Firefox are available on Linux too as is Dropbox so you're OK there.

As for which Linux. Going by the fact you thought that you'd get Office on Linux, you're maybe a bit of a beginner (no offence intended) so try Linux Mint. It's based on Ubuntu so is rock solid yet doesn't have Ubuntu's Unity interface which can be difficult. Ubuntu also invested a lot in speeding up boot times so it's a good bet for your fast boot time requirement.

[Stylis10]

MS Office on Linux? That's almost a joke... Libre Office will probably cover your needs there though. Chrome and Firefox are available on Linux too as is Dropbox so you're OK there.

As for which Linux. Going by the fact you thought that you'd get Office on Linux, you're maybe a bit of a beginner (no offence intended) so try Linux Mint. It's based on Ubuntu so is rock solid yet doesn't have Ubuntu's Unity interface which can be difficult. Ubuntu also invested a lot in speeding up boot times so it's a good bet for your fast boot time requirement.

Thanks for that, there are so many types I didn't know which would suit my needs best. Yes I've never used Linux before (I tried to indicate that in the title). But I was told its much faster than win 7 starter at booting, which is really what I need, plus a good word and spreadsheet program.

[GeorgeStorm]

If you want something Windows like, then I would recommend Linux Mint.
It's what I'm currently using on my laptop, having used fedora and crunchbang as my main OS's before that.
It's a very polished distro, nice and easy to use etc Boot speeds I can't compare with W7 since I've never used it on the laptop, but it's not overly slow.
Best thing you can do would be to try various distros, see which you like best.

[aidanjt]

Ubuntu Linux (the most widely used distro afaik) has a good hardware certification list here: http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/

Netbooks are getting a bit thin in the market these days since the rise of smartphones and tablets. Acer Aspire One and Asus EeePC still seems to be selling.

[Stylis10]

I have just found out from HP that I am unable to upgrade the RAM in the netbook to 2GB from 1GB. Does Linux have a feature that is like readyboost for windows? If I have read up on Linux distros correctly instead of page files, it uses swaps and so would it be possible to turn say a 4gb sd card to prioritise swaps as I'm. Assuming the reads on an sd card would be much faster.

or as I got the netbook for a cheap (it had cosmetic damage), should I just invest in an ssd?

[Bluecube]

If you've only got 1Gb memory to play with then try PuppyLinux. Although Linux is frugal with memory compared to Windows, the bigger distros can be real resource hogs if their window managers have all the bells and whistles turned on.

Page files are just another name for swap files. Don't get hung up about them. Given your level of experience I wouldn't start messing with moving the swap file anywhere particularly as the benefits will likely be minimal.

SSDs are great but try a Linux distro first before making a decision and maybe spending cash you don't need to spend.

[Stylis10]

I managed to find out that i am able to upgrade to 2GB of RAM, so will be doing that shortly.
I just made a multiboot usb stick containing Ubuntu Netbook Remix and Easy Peasy (couldnt find Linux Mint Netbook Edition on YUMI)

How much do the live CD versions actually differ from when you install them on the hard drive? Also, if i do decide to install Linux which is most probably going to be the case as W7Starter, is just a pain (and ive only used it for 3 hours!), should i completely remove W7Starter?

EDIT: Found Linux Mint on YUMI, however whih shell is most suited to Netbooks? Cinammon, Mate, KDE or XFCE?

[Zerox]

I also have a netbook with windows 7 starter (toshiba NB-550D), and I am just about to get rid of win 7 starter (which is the german one ) and put on Windows XP and a linux distro.

In terms of Desktop Managers, you are able to change between them. I would say that Mate is probably the best option for us as it uses roughly the same layout as windows uses. For your convenience here are some screenshots from a website found via google.

http://gnuman.com/linux-mint-13-rc-m...shots/?pid=531

Win 7 starter may be a restricted, bloated, piece of trash which doesn't allow you to change the friggin' wallpaper, but it may be useful to keep around in a small partition should you ever need to call on it. Or you can nuke it, your choice.

As for the software that you require, Libreoffice (as somebody else has already mentioned) should suffice for text documents, however I have used an excellent Excel-substitute which is known as "Gnumeric", and I cannot recommend it enough - I actually use it on my windows machine over the trial copy of excel the OEM bundled with my machine.

[chrestomanci]

MS Office on Linux? That's almost a joke... Libre Office will probably cover your needs there though. Chrome and Firefox are available on Linux too as is Dropbox so you're OK there.

It is possible to run MS Office on Linux, provided you are prepared to pay some money for aditional software (and the cost of a windows licence)

I use Crossover linux which is an upgraded version of Wine to run MS Office 2007. Word & Excel work nicely, I have heard that some other apps in the suite don't work so well, but in general I find it a perfectly viable solution for office compatibility. You can also use older versions of Office, which generally work better.

[Stylis10]

Well ive been using ubuntu 12.04 LTS on my netbook for about a week now, and windows 7 starter is just a chore compared to the speed of ubuntu, its so much QUICKER!

However, im really not a huge fan of the unity interface or the xfce or lxde interfaces either (i tried those out to speed up ubuntu). Is there any interface that looks like that of ubuntu netbook edition, or anyway i can load that interface onto ubuntu? I like it so much better!

[aidanjt]

The Ubuntu Netbook Remix was unity. If you want something more Gnome 2 like (like vanilla Ubuntu 10.04, which is still supported btw), you can install gnome-session-fallback.

[ben1066]

Lubuntu is Ubuntu based and very lean on RAM as it uses the LXDE desktop environment, Xubuntu is also good and a bit more supported. Crunchbang Linux is also Ubuntu based and uses Openbox, again very low RAM usage.