innerslytherin: (confused)
innerslytherin ([personal profile] innerslytherin) wrote in [community profile] linux4all2012-05-11 01:32 am
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Help out a newbie Xubuntu user?

Hi everyone! I've read through the entries about Linux and netbooks, and thanks to everyone who has shared their knowledge.

I have a post at my personal journal about my Acer netbook and having just installed Xubuntu. I'm hoping I can get tips from people in this community as to how I can, well, prettify my system a little.

I'm also interested in your recommendations for word processing apps. Xubuntu came with Abiword, which I have used a handful of times. Are there other programs that are better? (Background: I've been a Windows and Microsoft Word ever since I left DOS and PFS First Choice as a high schooler, and I am, generally speaking, a fan of Microsoft Word, in that it's never given me problems.) I don't want to bog my system down with more program than it can handle, given that I have 1 GB of memory and a 1.66 GHz processor, but I definitely want to know my options.

And while we're at it, what about blog clients? I'm using DW, LJ, and WordPress, so something that can handle all of those would be great, but any of the three would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance! So far I'm loving my Linux experience, and I'm already planning to fix my mom's laptop by installing Ubuntu on it for her. :)
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momijizukamori: Young Vergil from the Devil May Cry doujinshi Bless. The text reads 'Turn you into stars' (kid!Vergil | turn you into stars)

[personal profile] momijizukamori 2012-05-11 10:46 am (UTC)(link)
OpenOffice (now possibly known as LibreOffice?) is sort of the big name one - it's very MS Office-like, and will read and write at least the old MS file types (can't recall if I've tried it on .docx or any of those yet). I don't have any suggestions for blog software, but maybe a quick search in the Software Center? That's usually my go-to when I need a tool for something and don't know one off-hand.

For themes - http://gnome-look.org/ has GTK themes (which builds some of the basics of Xfce, the windowing system - you'll want ones that come in both GTK2 and GTK3 for max pretty, as apps are still mixed between the two systems), and http://xfce-look.org/ has some tweaked specifically for Xfce and it's window manager. You can also look in Synaptic for 'theme' - I've personally found I really like the Shiki series of themes and icons (not yet ported to GTK3, which means some apps look ugly, but the GTK2 ones are pretty). Gnome-Look also has icon sets which are compatible with Xfce, iirc.

And welcome to Linux! I just switched to Xubuntu from regular Ubuntu (didn't want Unity when I upgraded) last week, and it's been fun.

And welcome
amianym: A small boy, with the head of a squid behind him. (Default)

[personal profile] amianym 2012-05-11 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)
LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice and it's what I use (unless I'm in the mood to fight with Calligra...) I haven't used OpenOffice recently enough to recommend one over the other; either should work well enough for your situation.

Also wow *buntus are *so* not what I'd pick for a netbook but oh well :U
kerravonsen: colourful circles: "Cool" (cool)

[personal profile] kerravonsen 2012-05-12 12:59 am (UTC)(link)
Xubuntu isn't bad, it's more lightweight than the other *buntus because it uses Xfce4 as the default desktop environment.
innerslytherin: (Default)

[personal profile] innerslytherin 2012-05-12 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
:P Honestly, I went with a friend's suggestion of Xubuntu because of the XFCE mention, and because when I looked into the *buntu distros, they seemed easy enough for a noob to learn on. I did enough research to figure out Linux wouldn't make me tear my hair out, and then jumped in blind.

Out of curiosity, what would you suggest for a netbook and why? So far I'm pleased with Xubuntu, but I'm definitely open to learning new stuff, and now that I know Linux doesn't have to be terrifying, I'm willing to experiment more! :)
amianym: A small boy, with the head of a squid behind him. (Default)

[personal profile] amianym 2012-05-12 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
On my netbook I'm using Chakra Linux. I'm a big KDE fan, but for KDE to be practical on a netbook the base has to be veeeery lightweight, as with Chakra. Gentoo or Arch would of course be lighter, but I'm not up for such an involved installation. I've previously recommended LMDE to people who do not share my tastes, but I haven't tried it myself. When I used Ubuntu, aside from hating Unity and GNOME, I got some really bizarre bugs and it felt sluggish.
kerravonsen: Eighth Doctor's legs sticking out from underneath TARDIS console: "tea, tools, Tinkering" (tinkering)

[personal profile] kerravonsen 2012-05-12 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
I found that ArchBang is much easier to install than Arch, and you end up with a system that is Arch-compatible. And I use Fvwm as my window-manager, because I like having total control over everything. And it is lightweight too.
innerslytherin: (Default)

[personal profile] innerslytherin 2012-05-12 03:58 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I had seen mention of LibreOffice but didn't know what that was. I have used Open Office in the past, so I would probably be comfortable using either of those. :)

I had a look at http://xfce-look.org earlier, but I kept getting all kinds of error messages when I attempted to download things. I'll give them another try tomorrow.

I've seen all kinds of cussing about Unity while researching Linux. :) I confess, I don't know enough yet to understand, but I also completely get not wanting to have a change forced on you when you don't like it.

Thanks for your suggestions! I really appreciate it!
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