[svlug] Fw: Re: Fedora or Ubuntu for novis

[Joel Seidman]

My response below -- initially failed to include the list:

--- On Thu, 9/11/08, Joel Seidman <joel_seidman at yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: Joel Seidman <joel_seidman at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [svlug] Fedora or Ubuntu for novis
> To: "Don Marti" <dmarti at zgp.org>
> Date: Thursday, September 11, 2008, 10:10 PM
> --- On Thu, 9/11/08, Don Marti <dmarti at zgp.org> wrote:
> 
> > From: Don Marti <dmarti at zgp.org>
> > Subject: Re: [svlug] Fedora or Ubuntu for novis
> > To: "Ron Jackson"
> <rjacksonhi at yahoo.com>
> > Cc: svlug at lists.svlug.org
> > Date: Thursday, September 11, 2008, 10:25 AM
> > begin Ron Jackson quotation of Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at
> > 10:17:08AM -0700:
> > 
> > > I am setting up a computer for someone who only
> uses
> > it for mail, web and light word processing. This
> person is
> > not skilled with computers generally speaking. I am
> putting
> > it on an old Linspire machine, so hardware is probably
> OK.
> > > 
> > > Which is better, Fedora or Ubunto?
> > 
> > Either one will do fine.  The main question in this
> > situation is: who will the new user ask when he or
> > she has a question?  And which distribution does this
> > support person know and have easily available to try
> > things on?
> > 
> > -- 
> > Don Marti                                             
>  +1
> > 510-814-0932
> > http://zgp.org/~dmarti/
> > dmarti at zgp.org         Linux device driver
> unconference:
> > http://freedomhec.org/ 
> > 
> We use our two computers basically the way you are
> describing, and I agree completely with Don.
> 
> I've been using Kubuntu for 2 years on one machine, and
> Fedora and Red Hat before that on the other. I finally went
> with Kubuntu on both due to minor annoyances with FC6 (maybe
> not issues with the latest version), so I have a slight bias
> toward Kubuntu. I find it exceptionally easy to keep up to
> date, which is one of the biggest areas of difference (but
> FC6 was easy, too). The user software is basically the same
> stuff on either. (Both provide KDE and Gnome. I slightly
> prefer KDE, but could use either.)
> 
> If the hardware is older, you might also consider Xubuntu,
> which supposedly runs better on older hardware with less
> memory. I put that on an old 350 MHz PII. It's also
> eminently usable.
> 
> As an aside, although Open Office, which comes with Fedora
> and Kubuntu,  is very powerful, it is pretty sluggish on my
> not-quite-new computers. I've tried Abiword, which I
> think comes with the ubuntu's and maybe Fedora, and it
> seems quite capable for basic stuff and is much quicker. And
> it can generate word-compatible files.
> 
> -- Joel