Recently I’ve gave up Windows for Linux and installed Ubuntu with KDE Plasma desktop on my pc and laptop from 2007. It’s an i7 Intel processor with 8gb ddr ram so I thought it would be fine, but it seems quite sluggish. What distro could I use that would be faster and still fully functional? Thanks for your help in advance.

  • cujo@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    1 year ago

    If you’re married to Ubuntu, I’d suggest Xubuntu. It’s Ubuntu using the XFCE desktop environment. XFCE can be a little… hard on the eyes by default, but it’s super lightweight, very stable, and very customizable. It can be a very aesthetically pleasing DE with a little theming and an icon pack.

    Outside of Ubuntu, Id suggest Linux Mint with XFCE. I know, I know, Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu so why bother? Well, it’s not Canonical. They’ve done some great things over the years, but recently… I just tend to stay away.

    Personally, I use OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. Love it, I’ll never leave it. It’s amazing. But without knowing your personal preferences or use cases, and with the info in your post, I have to recommend Xubuntu or Linux Mint XFCE. Also I agree with the other commenter, you’d benefit a lot from an upgrade to an SSD.

    • UnknownQuantity@lemm.eeOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Well, I’ve ordered ssd and installed openSuse tumbleweed. I like it and it’s much snappier too, but the command line is different to ubuntu and I don’t think i want to learn two sets of commands. I guess I’ll have to decide which way I want to go.

      • cujo@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        You won’t go wrong no matter which you end up choosing. I am personally a huge fan of the way OpenSUSE runs their ship, and some of the tools there are incredible.

        YaST, for example, is a system management tool that provides the most extensive GUI for managing your system settings I’ve seen on a Linux distro period. Yes, all the settings can be managed from a terminal, but it’s nice to have a graphical option sometimes.

        Just play around with it since you’ve already got it installed, and see how you like it. There’s a strong and friendly community surrounding the distro, so reach out if you’ve got any questions! You’re also welcome to ask me. I may not have all the answers, but I’m pretty certain I can find someone who can help lol.

        • UnknownQuantity@lemm.eeOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          I’ve tried a few distos, but as for you, opensuse is the way to go for me. I got a new ssd to replace my old hdd and it’s super fast. The new OS is like a shiny new toy that will keep me entertained for awhile. In the end, I’m just a normal person and won’t need most of the features, but it’s nice to have them.

          • cujo@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            If you haven’t yet, I would run the following commands:

            sudo zypper install opi

            opi codecs

            This will enable the Packman repositories (repos will commonly used non-free software, like multimedia codecs) and install multimedia codecs for watching videos and playing music and the like.

            Anyway, I’m glad you’re enjoying OpenSUSE! It’s a delightful distro and community.