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Ask Slashdot: Linux Distro For Hybrid Laptop?

Posted by Soulskill on from the half-man-half-penguin dept.

Steve Parrish writes: I needed a new laptop and found a great deal on an Asus Transformer TP500L. It's one of the laptops where you can flip the screen back and use it as a tablet. I'd like to replace Windows 8.1, and I'm having a difficult time finding a Linux distro that will work on it. I'm familiar with Mint, SolydX, and older Ubuntu versions. I tried the latest Ubuntu with Unity and didn't like it, but the OS installed with only a few minor issues. Has anyone tried any other distros on a hybrid laptop with a touchscreen? I've used Linux for several years, but I'm no guru -- I'm not comfortable with the command line or other advanced workings. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

130 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. Advanced Workings.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Does anyone else remember a time when getting the X Window System to work properly was considered advanced? And now the command line is considered advanced... I guess I'm getting old.

    1. Re:Advanced Workings.... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Does anyone else remember a time when the rolling own your kernel modules for devices to work properly was considered advanced? And now almost everything works out of the box. I guess I'm getting old.

    2. Re:Advanced Workings.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Does anyone else remember a time when getting the X Window System to work properly was considered advanced? And now the command line is considered advanced... I guess I'm getting old.

      I was thinking the same thing. I remember when installing Debian GNU/Linux required either downloading a set of diskettes and then everything else was apt-get install package_name. Installing X Windows and a basic window manager was considered the trial-by-fire in advancing from command-line to graphical user environment. Oddly, I still prefer working at the command-line although it tends to be within a terminal session these days.

      CAPTCHA: barbaric (sense of humour /. doth have)

    3. Re:Advanced Workings.... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Funny

      I remember when installing Debian GNU/Linux required either downloading a set of diskettes

      You had diskettes? We used to dream of having a diskette. Why, we even considered using a Hollerith card reader to be a luxury. Most of the time we had to toggle in the boot instructions on a punch down block.

    4. Re:Advanced Workings.... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Does anyone else remember a time when the rolling own your kernel modules for devices to work properly was considered advanced? And now almost everything works out of the box. I guess I'm getting old.

      Thast was great when just getting the thing to work at all was the goal.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    5. Re:Advanced Workings.... by sensei+moreh · · Score: 1

      Those old 029 card punchers were no luxury

      --
      Geology - it's not rocket science; it's rock science
    6. Re:Advanced Workings.... by wmelnick · · Score: 1

      BSD 2 ran on a PDP-8? I used to toggle in the loader then boot up TSS/8.24 from paper tape after loading the bin loader from paper tape forst!

    7. Re:Advanced Workings.... by Celarent+Darii · · Score: 1

      If you using a lot of terminals, I would suggest using a tiled window manager like i3. New terminal is only a key press away and it is very efficient once you master it.

    8. Re:Advanced Workings.... by theshowmecanuck · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Exactly... it all depends on the audience. Early on the audience was a bunch of uber geeks who enjoyed playing with low level code and devices. Now the Linux audience are people who have everyday jobs to do and want an operating system and bundle of programs to help them do that. They don't care about building tools, just using them. And it gives them an option from MS and Apple products. Server or Desktop.

      --
      -- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
    9. Re:Advanced Workings.... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Thanks. I'll give it a try.

    10. Re:Advanced Workings.... by ArhcAngel · · Score: 1

      If you're that nostalgic you can still do it the old fashioned way.

      --
      "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
    11. Re:Advanced Workings.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Does anyone else remember a time when the rolling own your kernel modules for devices to work properly was considered advanced? And now almost everything works out of the box. I guess I'm getting old.

      Does anyone remember when people were polite to each other, and tried to educate someone who asked a question?

    12. Re:Advanced Workings.... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I try installing Linux From Scratch every now and then. Works best in a Linux host virtual machine. I was never successful using the live CD on bare metal hard drive. If you ever read "Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution" by Glyn Moody, this was how Linus Torvalds built the early Linux while using Minix as the host operating system.

    13. Re:Advanced Workings.... by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Or just one terminal running tmux to multiplex virtual terminals as tabs and panes is another option. A bonus is you can connect to it from multiple endpoints so that you can see your work desktop from home without the overhead of VNC or X.

    14. Re:Advanced Workings.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Linux needs to be focused on people who put a dollar value on their time. I could spend 100 hours getting your buggy, poorly documented POS to work, or I can buy a Windows/OSX box and have it just work.

    15. Re:Advanced Workings.... by servant · · Score: 1

      You had an 029? Woosie. We had 026's without interpreters. Had to submit cards to get the printing putt on the tops!

      --
      ... "When you pry the source from my cold dead hands."
    16. Re:Advanced Workings.... by dl_sledding · · Score: 1

      And there's the troll.... Knew the little fscker was lurking here somewhere.

    17. Re:Advanced Workings.... by Phoghat · · Score: 1

      Does anyone else remember a time when the rolling own your kernel modules for devices to work properly was considered advanced? And now almost everything works out of the box. I guess I'm getting old.

      We all are

      --
      Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
    18. Re:Advanced Workings.... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Linux needs to be focused on people who put a dollar value on their time. I could spend 100 hours getting your buggy, poorly documented POS to work, or I can buy a Windows/OSX box and have it just work.

      How odd. That's exactly why people move to OSX and Linux.

      I've had a couple people think they had ot give up on cusing a computer (including my wife) because of W8. Six months now of Linux Mint. The only "problem" is Docky doesn't wake up from suspend.

      Contrast that with her W8 Machine bitching up many programs, resetting a lot of them with forced updates, and all it's other problems. And a lot of Windows machines don't wake up at all from suspend.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    19. Re:Advanced Workings.... by Mister+Null · · Score: 1

      Worked on a PDP-8 with toggles and an advanced feature punch tape. My first program was to increment the counter for memory input which cut the time to load the tape by half. I'll leave it to you youngsters to figure out why.

    20. Re:Advanced Workings.... by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      I've had a couple people think they had ot give up on cusing a computer (including my wife) because of W8.

      The wife is going through this at the moment. One day she might look beyond windows, but at the moment she just spits and swears at the damned thing.

      Microsoft's Marketing division's best move ever. For non-MS operating systems.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    21. Re:Advanced Workings.... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      The wife is going through this at the moment. One day she might look beyond windows, but at the moment she just spits and swears at the damned thing.

      The most amazing marketing thing that Microsoft has done has been to get so many people to believe that the computer they use has to be problem filled and hardly work at all

      I know people who are overjoyed if they can get their computer to print in landscape mode.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    22. Re:Advanced Workings.... by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      I'd be overjoyed if windows 8 on the wife's machine would print to our 13 year old laser printer two days in a row without needing the printer drivers re-installed.

      (I'd also be overjoyed if the wife would have let me install a proper network in the house when we moved in, because I can't get the printer to work at all over the wifi, but that's probably a separate issue.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    23. Re:Advanced Workings.... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      I'd be overjoyed if windows 8 on the wife's machine would print to our 13 year old laser printer two days in a row without needing the printer drivers re-installed.

      Side note. I've found that Linux has much better driver support (how ironic) than Windows does for any legacy machinery. I had a dual-boot machine with a USB to serial dongle Worked perfectly in Mint. Then wouldn't in Windows> So after manually (more irony) searching for the driver on the Windows side. I found out the dongle wasn't supported and no drivers were forthcoming. Turns out the USB-Serial dongle was one made for an old Palm Pilot. So I had to buy a new one for thw Windws side. A perfectly good device, but seriously old. So your printer might just work on the Linux side of things

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  2. Touchscreen + Linux... by __aardcx5948 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Put Android on it (seriously), or Ubuntu, or a distro with KDE4 geared towards tablets.

    The Linux userland support for tablets is really abysmal.

    1. Re:Touchscreen + Linux... by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      Android-x86 might be an option but is built off AOSP and includes none of the proprietary Google services such as Play - if that bothers the OP.

    2. Re:Touchscreen + Linux... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You can download all the Google services. Google doesn't seem to care if consumers download and install, it's only when manufacturers distribute them on devices without either joining the Open Handset Alliance or signing a custom agreement with Google that there's issues.

      So you're right, they don't come with AOSP, but they're easy to find.

    3. Re:Touchscreen + Linux... by wisnoskij · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I have been using Android for over a year now, and that is a horrible idea. It is a seriously broken OS. Completely unstable, with horrendous updates that break and completely change functionality every month or two.

      And that is not even mentioning how that would completely ruin the hybrid aspect of it. You could never use it as a fully functioning laptop, and everything about it would be designed for a screen 10% the size.

      --
      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    4. Re:Touchscreen + Linux... by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 3, Informative

      You mean like these?

      http://forum.xda-developers.co...

      Google doesn't care if end users download and install them, they just don't want OEMs to do it without properly joining the OHA.

      Though in all honesty, I'd just leave Windows intact and install bluestax (which is free.) Getting drivers and shit working on that is going to be a royal PITA and probably won't be worth the time you spend on it. Just install something like Start8 and ignore that piece of shit called metro -- it won't bother you if you don't bother it.

    5. Re:Touchscreen + Linux... by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      Those files are arch-independent and work on x86? My understanding was it was ARM-only but I'm happy to be corrected.

    6. Re:Touchscreen + Linux... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Android executables are platform-agnostic as a general rule. IIRC, they're distributed as bytecode, then the target device creates a compiled version tailored to its own CPU and operating environment.

    7. Re:Touchscreen + Linux... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      So run android and windows in a vm to switch between them. Disable updates if you don't want new functionality. Finally realise that large android tablets exist, are perfectly usable with no design issues, run perfectly stably, and no updates dont
      't break things despite what you believe. 'm wondering if actually installed and used the OS we are talking about.

    8. Re:Touchscreen + Linux... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Whoa - this is going to be HUGE news to the millions of people who use Android all the time.

      I myself had no idea that it was broken or unstable or that it completely changed functionality every month or two. It must be doing all that in the background, because I haven't noticed a single thing wrong with mine. How did you even find out about it in the first place?

      Mine's just a big phone, though. I don't use a physical keyboard with it. Imagine how all those people with Android tablets and notebooks will feel when they find out that they haven't even been fully functional for all this time!

      Now how can we blow the lid off this thing?

    9. Re: Touchscreen + Linux... by Threni · · Score: 1

      I'd use one of my android phones or tablets to help but the functionality keeps completely changing so as soon as I relearn how to run a program or get on the internet they change it again, and I'm unable to do so. But one day they'll slip up and leave it long enough between completely changing the functionality for me to figure it out, at which point I'll be right with you.

    10. Re:Touchscreen + Linux... by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      You can get gapps for just about any architecture. I linked that one because those are the modular packages, so you can get whatever apps you want sans the ones you don't want. I don't know if x86 is linked in there, but you can google search e.g. "gapps x86" (no quotes) to find them if not.

    11. Re:Touchscreen + Linux... by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      Not necessarily. There are different ways to build Android apps. The most common way by far is using java. Versions of Android 4.4 and above compile that as you say via the ART runtime, but prior to that they use a JIT interpreter called Dalvik (except prior to 2.2 where it doesn't use JIT and is slower.)

      You can also just compile binaries in just about any language of your choice (commonly with C or C++) or even include your own interpreter for another language bundled with your app (such as Python for Android.)

    12. Re:Touchscreen + Linux... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Put Android on it (seriously), or Ubuntu, or a distro with KDE4 geared towards tablets.

      The Linux userland support for tablets is really abysmal.

      My wife's Asus touchscreen laptop has Mint installed on it, and works well. Installation was drop dead simple, and she just uses it.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    13. Re: Touchscreen + Linux... by cyber-vandal · · Score: 1

      Or buy a Nexus phone.

    14. Re:Touchscreen + Linux... by JThundley · · Score: 1

      I'm going to second the recommendation of a KDE4 distro. I installed the latest Kubuntu to an external drive recently. When I booted it on a touch-screen laptop, the touch-screen worked great out of the box with 0 configuration! I was shocked!

  3. Which one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Any of them, so long as you don't mind your touchscreen, wifi, video or power management not working. Pretend you're stranded on a desert island with no wifi or electricity. Have fun with it!

    1. Re:Which one? by AqD · · Score: 2

      to work for 90% of functions, sure. But when I bought a new computer, I want 100% of it to work, not 90%, not even 99%.

      There are still a lot of vendor-specific things that require Windows - ex: every of new laptops we bought at work last year need Intel XTU to configure and stabilize turbo boost, and custom windows-only utility to switch the fan to manual control. Running Linux on them would mean 60-80% of performance, because Intel and laptop firmware makers thought people don't need to keep their laptops at highest running speed for 24/7. Then comes the nVIDIA Optimus, which is only partially supported since 2013, 3 years after its official release and support on Windows.

      You can blame the vendors for all their closed specs and ignorance of OS market, but it wouldn't really help anything. No matter the popularity, the situation will remain until Linux stops being hostile toward commercial/closed drivers and starts to keep binary-level compatibility for kernel modules, or Windows dies.

  4. Ubuntu 14.04 by tommeke100 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have Ubuntu 14.04 running on an 'older' Acer aspire one (a pretty shitty machine, but actually works okay with SSD disk and Ubuntu).
    . It's probably easiest to install, you get used to the Unity interface after awhile really. The things it doesn't install correctly I just googled with mostly easy fixes (apt-get this and that).
    There are actually ways of not using Unity but the old Gnome interface for example. Again, Google is your friend (in this case).

    1. Re:Ubuntu 14.04 by AchilleTalon · · Score: 1

      For touch screen, basically whatever the underlying distro the GUI choices are latest versions of Gnome, KDE or Unity. Otherwise Android may be an option. I believe the OP get lost with the distros, the choice doesn't revolve around a specific distro, it is rather than which GUI do you consider the best for you? Then check all your hardware is supported. If none of the GUI satisfies you, stick with Windows 8.1.

      --
      Achille Talon
      Hop!
    2. Re:Ubuntu 14.04 by jones_supa · · Score: 2

      From a guy that actually has used Unity.

      1) The user experience is consistent and comfortable, and very close to a classic Windows or Mac desktop.
      2) It is the last desktop which still has a cool appearance instead of a bland and flattened look.
      3) Unity uses a lot of hardware resources, and things quickly become choppy on low-end hardware.

    3. Re: Ubuntu 14.04 by Threni · · Score: 2

      Unity is nothing like classic windows otherwise I'd not have dumped it for Linux mint like everyone else. It's looks like a mac user's attempt to do a tablet friendly version but on a device without a touch screen, which is retarded. Plus they released it while it was unfinished.

    4. Re: Ubuntu 14.04 by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      What is tablet-like about Unity? Tell me specifically.

    5. Re: Ubuntu 14.04 by Threni · · Score: 2

      It was specifically designed to target tablets, because there was already a perfectly good ui for the desktop, but which was not considered suitable for tablets (and phones). So they created one which was equally unsuitable for desktop, phone or tablet. It's quite telling that you question whether they even attempted this; Google for yourself if you don't believe me.

      They believe that they're going after regular computer users rather than traditional Linux users, but nobodies heard of unity or Ubuntu outside of the Linux community and, in the uk ar least, there's zero marketing that I'm aware of for Ubuntu phones/tablets, if any devices actually exist, so canonical have next to nothing to show for this 5 year experiment apart from a massive exodus of previously happy Ubuntu users to mint.

    6. Re: Ubuntu 14.04 by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      I know the backstory, but Unity is still perfectly usable with mouse and keyboard. However I agree with you that Canonical's mobile efforts have not been terribly successful.

    7. Re: Ubuntu 14.04 by creepynut · · Score: 1

      You didn't really answer the question - what is tablet-like about it? Sure, it's got larger icons in areas but that's about all I can see.

      Unity was not specifically designed for tablets, it was originally designed for netbooks which were all the rage when it was released. I recall using Ubuntu Netbook Remix on my old 7" ASUS EeePC 701 and Unity was definitely a more efficient default layout.

      From Wikipedia.

      Unity debuted in the netbook edition of Ubuntu 10.10. It was initially designed to make more efficient use of space given the limited screen size of netbooks, including, for example, a vertical application switcher called the launcher, and a vertical space saver multipurpose top menu bar.

      I definitely prefer GNOME Shell myself, but like Unity it too gets accused of being too tablet like. I simply don't understand, I can't imagine using either on a tablet.

    8. Re:Ubuntu 14.04 by tommeke100 · · Score: 1

      I didn't really want to discuss the Unity interface since there are other options even if installing Ubuntu.
      However, the things that work for me are that I have a netbook with a 10" screen, that I really only use for browsing, ftp, torrent, ssh and some light gaming emulators. Movies in 720p and above are already too much for it.
      So I put the applications I use most on the left pop-up bar (terminal, Firefox, FileZilla). And all other applications installed are just easily found through the Unity button which gives a search box. So if I need my snes emulator, I just type nes and it will pop-up. Same for torrent etc...
      The menu on top will automatically take the running program menu (same as Mac I think), so it's pretty good at maximizing the screen's real-estate for the application. It also runs much smoother than the Windows 7 that was originally installed.
      That's pretty much it.

  5. Fedora 21 works ok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I had the same issue with a Lenovo Ideapad Yoga 13". Tried several distros (ubuntu, mint, fedora 19 then 20 then 21) and the one that gives the best hardware support overall was fedora 21. Touchscreen works, flipping the screen and rotating the laptop also rotate the screen. The touchscreen works so/so, better than a mouse (ubuntu and fedora 20) you can now scroll and paginate chrome, however more advanced use of the touchscreen (gestures) would require advanced tweaking. Fedora 21 also recognized wifi and BT out of the box, as well as power management.

    1. Re:Fedora 21 works ok by Clived · · Score: 1

      I have been using Fedora (19, 20 and now 21) on a third hand cheapo HP laptop. Never had any problems.

      --
      Clive DaSilva Email: clive.dasilva@gmail.com Ubuntu 18.10 Kernel 4.18
  6. If ubuntu installed by Culture20 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Then "apt-get update && apt-get install xubuntu" or "apt-get update && apt-get install kubuntu"
    Don't give up just because the default GUI blows chunks.

    1. Re:If ubuntu installed by PReDiToR · · Score: 1

      +1

      As a fan of Gentoo and Arch I would still say that for your requirements you can rip out Unity, Lens (is that spyware still installed?) and a raft of other things you don't like/need then fill the gaps with things you do like whilst still keeping the base system that Canonical have made very easy for people who want to carry on learning.
      As with all of these "I don't like the GUI" SlashAsks it comes down to which front end you like and trying them all won't hurt a bit. Once you find one that you like you're free to install it on every machine you use.

      apt-get update && apt-get remove unity lens && apt-get install kde lxde xfce gnome2 screen ratpoison w3m
      The list goes on ...

      --

      Do not meddle in the affairs of geeks for they are subtle and quick to anger
    2. Re:If ubuntu installed by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 2

      Mod up. If the hardware is working, it doesn't make sense to re-installing from scratch without first exploring the alternative desktop environments available from the login manager on startup.

      (Let's not turn this into an Ubuntu vs [random poster's fave distro] flamewar - the user already has Ubuntu installed on the device)

    3. Re:If ubuntu installed by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      why not flame, it's possible to move from Ubuntu to Mint just by changing repos, and Mint is Ubuntu minus the suck.

    4. Re:If ubuntu installed by tylikcat · · Score: 4, Informative

      My housemate is running a Thinkpad Helix - a somewhat similar hybrid - with Kubuntu, and the plasma desktop appears to work fairly well (we were discussing this recently in some depth, as I'm in the pre-contemplation phase of the next laptop). I would at least look into it - it appears to be functional, and avoids the Unity issues.

      (I'm currently on vacation, so cannot easily consult with said housemate.)

    5. Re:If ubuntu installed by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      Well if one can 'upgrade' to mint by switching repos then fine.

      I was just advising against going to the trouble of wiping an ubuntu install (with working hardware) to clean installing fedora/opensuse etc only to find something didn't work.

    6. Re:If ubuntu installed by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 2

      Nice try but I run debian on my home system.

      The poster said they didn't like Unity. Ubuntu runs other desktop environments - trying them out might be an easier migration path than downloading a new ISO media of a completely different distro.

    7. Re:If ubuntu installed by jones_supa · · Score: 3, Informative

      Then "apt-get update && apt-get install xubuntu" or "apt-get update && apt-get install kubuntu"

      If I remember correctly the metapackage names are xubuntu-desktop and kubuntu-desktop.

      XFCE is kind of problematic as the development is slow. The last stable version is almost 3 years old, although it generally works just fine. You may want to turn off the integrated compositor (as it causes tearing) and replace it with Compton.

    8. Re: If ubuntu installed by Threni · · Score: 1

      But windows has a better interface than Unity. And it's trivial to surf the Mint site and choose which ui is for you. No sane person would chose unity over any of them, and I'm at a loss as to what canonical was thinking when they imposed it on all the previously happy in l Ubuntu users without any option to revert back if they didn't like it.

    9. Re:If ubuntu installed by umafuckit · · Score: 1

      Indeed. You're a linux user, so spend at least some time trying other desktops before giving up on a distro. IMHO the biggest problem I've run into with some distros I've tried isn't choice of default GUI, systemd or anything like that, but the availability of packages. If a distro has a poor package selection then this becomes a big time waster.

      --
      soylentnews.org
  7. Your use cases by stephanruby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let your uses dictate your choice. What are you going to use this device for?

    Email? Browsing the web? Programming? Watching movies? Games? Making the best of your time in a subway? What other devices do you already have? Is this going to be your primary computer? Is power consumption a consideration? Etc.

    I'm afraid that there is currently no good one-size-fits-all solution. Whatever you decide, it will have to be a compromise.

  8. Fedora by lucm · · Score: 4, Informative

    I don't know about transformers, but I have tried a lot of distros lately on Lenovo convertible laptops, and my best experience has definitely been with Fedora. The setup is almost as easy as Ubuntu and the touch screen works well.

    I'm not a Debian fan and I typically pick CentOS, but I was surprised to see how Fedora is more polished and convenient.

    --
    lucm, indeed.
    1. Re:Fedora by EkriirkE · · Score: 1

      I have my touchscreen on fedora21 and find it unusable. The screen acts as an absolute mouse pad rather than a tablet, so scrolling and text editing takes surgical precision

      --
      from 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
      to 45 2F 6E 40 3C DF 10 71 4E 41 DF AA 25 7D 31 3F
    2. Re:Fedora by griffjon · · Score: 1

      I have a Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga (similar form factor) and after some tweaking I'm pretty happy with Ubuntu 14.10 on it, but you're going to have to get comfy with the command line. Some immediately useful tips: Chromium has much better touch support than chrome or firefox. If you're a chrome user, chromium is the open source core of it. The OnBoard screen keyboard is a lifesaver. There are a ton of scripts you can find to help with screen rotation, which you can then map to any custom keys you have. Good luck!

      --
      Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
  9. Or just leave Windows on it by SailorSpork · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How about leaving Windows 8.1 on it? The device you have is the very device 8.1 was designed around. Linux will be clunky compared to it.

    1. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      u r so right
      what the op is saying is:
      I just got a good deal on hardware, and now I"m gonna spend 1,000s of dollars in my time to put on a different OS that wasn't designed for the hardware, won't work as well, has much less support, but I won't have to look at those horrible, horrible, horrible windows default menus

      I have a great deal for the OP:
      keep 8.1, and for 500 dollars I'll give you therapy: each time you are revolted by windows, call me up, and you can curse me out for 2 minutes.

    2. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by syockit · · Score: 1

      Less funny than dropping a clunky OS for another clunky one. Which one expends more effort?

      --
      Democracy is for the people; you only vote once per season and we'll do the rest of the work for you don't have to.
    3. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Let's see, you forgot Millennium Edition, because you're 13 years old, you were born after 9/11, and Obama is the greatest Prez of ALL TIME. Isn't that right, kid?

    4. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      It's his hardware, time and effort, it is his choice, why should you care? You can either help him do what he wants or just ignore him altogether if you don't have some underlying reason to care.

      Personally, I just avoid anything with windows 8.X preloaded on it altogether. But that's my choice. You should get into this free and open source software sometime and you will find that you have choices too. Of course staying with windows is a valid choice you can make also.

    5. Re: Or just leave Windows on it by LLKrisJ · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why?

      The consensus here seems to be that none of the OS/Linux alternatives seem to be terribly good on these kinds of hybrid devices.

      Maybe 8.1 is not perfect, sure... But maybe MS didn't do such a bad job either trying to find middle ground or a reasonable UX on such a large group of devices, from full desktop machines to hybrids to phones.

      The definitely did a better job scaling their OS than Apple for instance.

      For that, in spite of some of their shortcomings, I think MS deserves some credit.

      Of course, it is always easy to say that product X or Y from company so and so is s**t but if you are so clever and opinionated, why not come up with something better then?

    6. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by jones_supa · · Score: 1, Troll

      How about leaving Windows 8.1 on it? The device you have is the very device 8.1 was designed around. Linux will be clunky compared to it.

      To me it seems that the trend of forcibly replacing every Windows device with Linux is still alive, even though Linux does not offer big benefits anymore.

      It did offer big benefits in the past: UNIX workstations were expensive, and Microsoft software worked like garbage (slow, unsecure, crashy). This was from late 90s to early 00s. The situation looks very different today.

      I just don't see the point in replacing my OS with something that is technically inferior. The Linux desktop is super glitchy, power management is worse, suspend / hibernation can be flaky, and there might be an odd hardware device that does not work to its full extent.

      Linux's largest remaining advantage is that it is a fully open environment.

    7. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by unixisc · · Score: 1

      How about leaving Windows 8.1 on it? The device you have is the very device 8.1 was designed around. Linux will be clunky compared to it.

      Problem is that in laptop mode - when you are typing on the keyboard, Windows 8.1 is ugly. I had it for a few days, and the charms bar would come up every time my cursor got near the right of the screen. It was a pain to use. Also, unlike Windows 7, the touchfreeze option didn't seem to work. I later replaced it w/ PC-BSD 10, and now it works reasonably well. Only thing I miss on this is WiFi, but other than that....

    8. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Millenium Edition may have been buggy and crashy, but it had no UI changes that were radically different from Windows 95 or 98. Windows 8.1 totally makes you relearn everything from scratch, and so it richly deserves its title of worst Windows to date. 10 seeks to fix that by at least putting back a 7 like interface in laptop mode.

    9. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by by+(1706743) · · Score: 1

      I won't argue about technical superiority of Windows vs. Linux, but for me, I actually love the Linux "desktop": I use a tabbed window manager, and I love the fact that it's decoupled from the kernel. That is, I know that the user interface I want is orthogonal to the kernel I'm running, and one can be updated without the other. Want to run the Windows 8 kernel, but dig the XP interface? You're entirely at the mercy of Microsoft. Want to run the Windows 8 user interface but the Windows 10 kernel? Well...good luck.

      This is clearly my personal experience and preference, but it's very important to me. And, although it's clearly just my experience, Linux runs perfectly on my newish (built last year) desktop, without any tweaking. Different strokes.

    10. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by dbIII · · Score: 1

      They used to say linux was for people with far too much spare time to fiddle with things to get them to work - but now MS Windows 8 fills that niche. I've had to do a few "downgrades" to MS Windows 7 for people and waste a lot of time on the care and feeding of a very small number of MS Win8 machines. I've never seen MS Office crap out on MS Win7 but I'm getting used to having to do reinstalls of it on MS Win8.

    11. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by dbIII · · Score: 1

      To me it seems that the trend of forcibly replacing every Windows device with Linux is still alive, even though Linux does not offer big benefits anymore.

      On low end hardware it does. Current versions of MS Windows require significantly more powerful hardware than a current linux distro assumes is going to be available.

    12. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      Are you joking? Windows runs smoothly on Atom hardware, but if you put a typical Linux desktop on that machine, the desktop becomes super choppy. You have to downshift to something like XFCE to get it working properly, but then you have to give up all desktop effects. Windows 10 Technical Preview is still a free download, you should give it a spin to see where Windows is these days. It's not the same bloated pile of garbage that it was 10 years ago.

    13. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by dbIII · · Score: 1

      With respect, it is vastly more bloated than it was ten years ago which is why I still have win2k on one small special purpose machine where the memory is glued in - and linux on other things that would like to be an Atom when they grow up. I suggest you comment on topics that you know about instead of spouting guesses into the page and add meaningless noise to what should be a sensible discussion.
      It's fine being a cheerleader making noise about something you like but do not know much about, but I really think the discussion has moved beyond that point - the mindless cheerleading section looks like it's elsewhere. I think we're in the "best tool for the task on limited hardware" section instead of the mega gaming rig phallic showdown section.

    14. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      Meeh. I'd still like to whine a bit. This discussion is clearly about typical desktop usage, not about tailored embedded systems.

    15. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by dbIII · · Score: 1

      not about tailored embedded systems

      Such as a tablet where large performance sacrifices have been made in the interest of battery life and weight reduction. Your silly cheering while far out of your depth is annoying - there are obviously some situations where one tool is good and others where another is good but you clearly just want to pretend otherwise with a bit of mindless "go team go" bullshit.

      I suggest you discuss something where you can feel at least an equal to others in the discussion instead of just inflating all our egos by acting as the idiot we can all feel superior to.

    16. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by dbIII · · Score: 1

      your responses are typical

      So you find the consensus view depressing? What does that tell you about yourself?

    17. Re:Or just leave Windows on it by basecastula+ · · Score: 1

      What the fuck are ypu talking about? Have you install any linux distr other than Ubuntu on low power hardware lately?

  10. I did the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have the exact same laptop model, and am currently running Ubuntu 14.10. Not saying it is perfect, but it runs well enough. The laptop is new enough that current drivers for the WiFi hardware are not included with Ubuntu (I have tried a few things, with marginal success, currently using a WiFi USB dongle). The touch pad (not screen, that works well off the bat) settings needed to be tweaked in order to be used as well. One other thing I have noticed is that sometimes during certain operations, the cursor and/or tooltips can flicker.

    Overall, it runs well with those things being the only issues.

    Link to wifi workaround:
    http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1796

    Link to touchpad workaround:
    http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=179238

    Good Luck!

    1. Re:I did the same by SteveParrish · · Score: 1

      Thank you. Finally I got someone who wants to help rather than bitch!

  11. laptops are a commodity by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    buy cheap but buy often.

    1. Re:laptops are a commodity by gwolf · · Score: 1

      I don't know where do I fit in the statistics, but I believe I am way off your data point :)

      I used to buy "good" laptops, as much as my budget would allow — I had two very nice Dell computers, both bought for ~US$1,000. But in 2008 I bought an Acer Aspire One netbook (one of the first, 9" models) for ~US$400. I loved it. Even if it was so underpowered, it was comfortable to just take along anywhere. Granted, I don't do heavy compiling, but did work on it (even with its tiny keyboard). While on vacations, it was my main computer, and I never felt too size-cramped on it because of the keyboard — The screen size, 1024×600, was too small, but workable.

      After five years with it, I bought another Acer Aspire One. The newer models are 11", but still very very light. Not much of a workhorse, but works very nicely. I bought it for US$350, and just added 4GB RAM (for 6GB total). It is a very nice work machine now. I don't know what I'd do with more power, but I do know that my back thanks me for having a small machine.

      And, of course: One of my Dell machines was eventually stolen. It hurted. But were this one to be stolen as well, I would be much less angry about having to replace it.

    2. Re:laptops are a commodity by Zedrick · · Score: 1

      Okay. And how exactly does that "fact" help the OP pick a distro for the one he has now?

    3. Re:laptops are a commodity by stooo · · Score: 1

      >>$800-$1200 price point are cheap garbage

      Yep, motre or less.
      But there's a trick : buy a used buisness laptop, 2 years old. Will cost 200 Euros, and will last 5 years more, inclusive battery
      Lenovo or lifebooks are a good place to start.

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      aaaaaaa
  12. Linux Mint 17.1 by steveha · · Score: 5, Informative

    I just put Linux Mint 17.1 MATE 64-bit on a Lenovo IdeaPad S415. Everything just worked out of the box, and that includes both the multitouch touchpad and the touchscreen. Also the network, wifi, sound, and graphics. Everything.

    http://notebookplanet.blogspot.com/2013/12/lenovo-ideapad-s415-specs.html

    That IdeaPad is a year old. A year ago, no Linux that I tried worked out of the box with it; graphics didn't work. X always got confused by the fact that the machine has two graphics adapters (one built-in to the AMD APU chip, and a discrete one).

    I've really been enjoying Linux Mint 17.1; it seems to be a big improvement over Linux Mint 16. You can easily and non-destructively try it, just by booting from a USB flash drive that has Linux Mint on it. (You can use UNetBootIn to make the USB flash drive.)

    While I can't guarantee that Linux Mint 17.1 will work on your hardware, it worked great on mine so I think it's worth your time to try it out.

    --
    lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
    1. Re:Linux Mint 17.1 by ggpauly · · Score: 1

      Kind of agree. I use mint (cinnamon?) On my newish little hp touch laptop, out of box touch and wifi worked.

      Still not fine: slow operation. Needs either native/proprietary graphics driver or compile to machine or both.

      If these prove difficult with mint might try gentoo.

      --
      Verbum caro factum est
    2. Re:Linux Mint 17.1 by Pope+Hagbard · · Score: 1

      I've got 64-bit Mint 17.1 Cinnamon on an older (Ivy Bridge-powered) Lenovo Ideapad Yoga 11s. Everything worked immediately except the wireless*, which was easy enough to fix after I downloaded one third-party package plus dkms to auto-rebuild the module during kernel upgrades.

      Cinnamon's UI isn't designed around touchscreens, but it works with them, much like MATE. I prefer the good old keyboard and touchpad myself.

      https://wiki.debian.org/Instal...

      * and some fancy power management stuff that's handled by a utility on the Windows side, such as restricting the battery to 60% charge to prolong life. It can still be toggled in the UEFI.

  13. Fedora updates frequently vs Ubuntu by raymorris · · Score: 4, Informative

    A couple of people have mentioned success with Fedora. That doesn't surprise me because Fedora is supposed to have all the latest packages, with the latest in touchscreen features and the newest version of drivers for the newest hardware. However, balance that against the other side of the coin. Because Fedora is based on the latest and newest, they don't provide the type of long term support for older versions that Ubuntu and some others do.

    If you choose Fedora, realise that pretty soon you'll have to decide to either a) upgrade to the next version of Fedora or b)stick with the versions you have of all the software. Don't plan on installing the 2017 version of a program on a 2014 version of Fedora. Plan to either upgrade the whole OS or upgrade nothing in a few years.

    Ubuntu and CentOS are more about long term stability. The current version of CentOS will be getting updated packages by years from now, so you can keep using the same version of CentOS and update packages as needed.

    The downside to the more long term stable distros is that they may not have the latest and greatest touch screen features - they'll have well-tested packages that have already proved themselves in Fedora for a year before they are added to CentOS (debranded RHEL).

    1. Re:Fedora updates frequently vs Ubuntu by EkriirkE · · Score: 1

      Other than being able to recognise the hardware as a mouse, I see no support for my toshiba touchscreen laptop (élan hardware) working fundamentally different than an absolute mouse pad (ie no contextual gestures, swiping). I'm required to have surgical precision finger placement to manage scrolling via scroll bar and text editing, not very useful.

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      from 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
      to 45 2F 6E 40 3C DF 10 71 4E 41 DF AA 25 7D 31 3F
  14. Re:Mint by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    Unless you work for a Fortune 500 company that can afford a Red Hat license, the distro is Fedora. Been there, done that.

  15. Trivial question not deserve a discussion post by AchilleTalon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Is /. becoming some kind of stackoverflow.com? I mean, this kind of question doesn't deserve to make its path to /., it is a trivial question with a very limited number of choices and not really distro related, rather than GUI related with three choices.

    --
    Achille Talon
    Hop!
    1. Re:Trivial question not deserve a discussion post by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I don't know. Why not post it on Ask Slashdot and see if the users can help?

  16. Keep Windows, VM Linux by Fencepost · · Score: 1

    This may turn out to be a situation where your best way to run Linux reliably is going to be full screen under VMware. No driver problems, etc.

    --
    fencepost
    just a little off
    1. Re:Keep Windows, VM Linux by stooo · · Score: 1

      People don't care about windows. People love linux.
      Heck, even microsoft loves Linux.

      --
      aaaaaaa
  17. I use one of these by BitwizeGHC · · Score: 2

    I keep hybrid tablet-laptop around as an art PC. It used to be an old Toshiba Satellite; now it's a Sony VAIO Duo 11. I run Slackware on it, like I do nearly all my machines. Slackware will run fine if the digitizer part is supported by the kernel (since new Wacom and N-Trig parts come out from time to time, sometimes kernel support may be missing or naff if the laptop is too new). Otherwise you will see reduced functionality, but that is true of any distro.

    Using a stylus you can drive most aspects of a WM or DE. It gets tricky using your finger.

    --
    N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
  18. Best advice by fnj · · Score: 1

    Constructively speaking, the guys telling you to try the latest Mint are the smart money. Do it before giving up. It is a better bet than anything else.

    But seriously, you've used Linux for YEARS and are not "comfortable" with the command line? Really? I am really not sure linux is a good idea for you if you won't make the investment in learning. It's not a criticism. Getting any really good results out of linux requires either a friend who is an expert to set it up and occasionally support it, or requires a serious commitment to learning, and that's not for everybody.

  19. Re:Mint by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    Never seen RH Desktop or CentOS in the wilds.

  20. Arch Linux is your friend by conan1989 · · Score: 1

    Arch Linux and a few tweaks and you're good to go https://wiki.archlinux.org/ind...

  21. Have you tried some live linux images? by LesFerg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Are you able to boot from a USB stick? I found this tool quite useful for trying out a variety of live-linux iso's on a usb drive:
    yumi

    It provides some useful links to download what is needed to try out a whole bunch of different distros. You can also stack a number of different distros on the same usb drive and choose which one to boot from at startup.

    Personally I have been using Debian for quite a few years now, gave ubuntu a brief try but wasn't too happy with it.
    I have installed Mint on virtual recently and it really does look as good as people here have stated. Mint would be my final recommendation too.

    --
    If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
  22. google it.... but not now by lkcl · · Score: 1

    normally one would google that and it would come up with instances where people have installed GNU/Linux OSes on the specific hardware in question, and the older the hardware and the more popular it is, the larger the chance of finding someone else who has done exactly that and created a report (or five). unfortunately however, at this very moment, the search engine results show a huge number of interfering references to a site known as "slashdot", as well as RSS syndicated links to the same.

    so you can either just risk it and try it, then get on one of the popular forums, or you can wait for things to calm down a bit and the google searches which include slashdot syndication of its front-page drop off the pagerank a bit (should take a couple of days).

    that having been said: it looks like it's a standard laptop with an x86 chipset, so it should almost certainly boot. touchpanels tend to use all the same chipsets, and those have been supported in the linux kernel for some time due to GPL compliance, so you should be fine.

    1. Re:google it.... but not now by inflamed · · Score: 1

      at this very moment, the search engine results show a huge number of interfering references to a site known as "slashdot", as well as RSS syndicated links to the same.

      add -slashdot to the search terms and google will exclude pages related to slashdot

  23. Re:oh for fucks sake by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

    Wow and I thought the RTFM N00B neckbeard stereotype was a myth.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  24. Re: nope by Threni · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Yeah, big Linux fan but they all suck for one reason or another. I'd actually rather like a windows xp/7 interface over Linux. But really I'd take anything stable and where all the apps look sane under it.

  25. Re:oh for fucks sake by Psychotria · · Score: 1

    its linux make it fucking work or deal with windows you lazy shit for brains retard who bought something before you even knew if it would work for you

    gawd

    Such eloquence! The way you've constucted that sentence is absolute perfection and I doubt it can be improved upon. Maybe correcting some spelling mistakes and grammar would help. Possibly adding punctuation would help. But these are minor points and in no way detract from your masterful prose.

    I'm altering my Slashdot relationship with you (to friend) so that I can keep up with your posts. Hopefully if I keep studying your writing one day I will also be able to craft solid messages with comparable clarity.

  26. Crunchbang Linux ? by rootless_rooter1106 · · Score: 1

    http://crunchbang.org/

  27. Ubuntu on ASUS Transformer Book TX300 by lippydude · · Score: 1

    Feb 2004: "Ubuntu 13.10 on Windows Tablet - ASUS Transformer Book TX300 - Dual Boot with Windows 8.1"

  28. install android by Karmashock · · Score: 1

    best of both worlds

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
  29. Ubuntu 14.04 with KDE, XFCE or LXDE by kbahey · · Score: 1

    You are not alone in your dislike for Unity.

    I did install Ubuntu 14.04 Server edition on newer (2014) PCs that require UEFI, and it works fine.

    But you have options: kubuntu (KDE desktop, which I am using now), xubuntu (XFCE desktop) or lubuntu (LXDE desktop). If you use the 14.04 from any of those, then you probably wouldn't have any issues compared to older versions.

    --
    2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
  30. Linux Lite by spaceman375 · · Score: 1

    Linux Lite is what Mint wants to be. All the right stuff, none of the useless fluff. It's the only distro that I can start using right after the install without spending an hour or more personalizing and reconfiguring. And yes, it is ubuntu/debian based. It uses the ubuntu repositories, so you CAN reconfigure it and install what you want easily, if you are so inclined.

    --
    On the one hand you take life too seriously, and on the other, you do not take playful existence seriously enough. Seth
  31. gnome-shell by davydagger · · Score: 1
    either ubuntu gnome-remix or Fedora.

    actually, I'd just go with Fedora, its got a nice easy and installer and gnome shell.

  32. Re: nope by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

    I would like if Windows (even 7) had an XP-like interface. I just hate the Windows 7 file manager. In fact I feel at home with Mate now (Gnome 2), its file manager is what I think is best and the "scrollwheel focus follows mouse" is a very useful feature lacking on Windows.

  33. Re:Mint by greg1104 · · Score: 1

    If companies are really hooked on using RedHat's management tools to help keep everyone's computer up to date, with things like security updates, they can buy a RedHat license for each system to make that easier. I've only actually seen that in action at a university where they had cheap academic licenses for all of them.

  34. Re:Not comfortable with command line? by unixisc · · Score: 1

    A lot of Linux advocates here often post how they got non technical family members into Linux, and had no issues. Like the grandmas who just needed Chrome/Firefox and Thunderbird. In fact, that's the main reason why Ubuntu became #1 - the CLI crowd already had RedHat/Fedora, Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, Arch and a whole bunch of other distros, and wouldn't have gone Ubuntu. Not every Linux user is a CLI whiz.

    And like he said, Windows 8.1 drove him to it. It drove me to PC-BSD. I too don't know much about BSD CLIs, but so far, PC-BSD has been working fine for me, since I can do any administrative work from the Control Panel, and other than that, use Chromium/Firefox, Thunderbird, Calligra and play FreeCiv. Pretty much works for me.

  35. The KDE solutions by unixisc · · Score: 1

    Actually, what I was wondering - couldn't he install something like Kubuntu or Mandriva, and then, install Plasma Active on it? How difficult would that be? In the KDE ecosystem, they did the sensible thing - make Plasma for laptops/desktops and Plasma Active for tablets. Maybe the OP could try that?

  36. Re:Or just put linux on it by stooo · · Score: 1

    you can also install a good linux distri, and have a windows VM for occasionnal use, when vwndors give you that shitty config utility that is win. only.
    After 2-3 years, you can usually delete the windows VM, and free afew GB of HDD.

    --
    aaaaaaa
  37. Re:DistroWatch! by stooo · · Score: 1

    This is the only advice which will still be valid in 4 years :)

    --
    aaaaaaa
  38. Re:Keep Windows by stooo · · Score: 1

    >> 8.1 is the best OS they have done
    you must have been sleeping the last two years.

    --
    aaaaaaa
  39. Re:Best of a bad bunch KDE openSuSE. by stooo · · Score: 1

    Windows 8 desktops, are just irritatingly ugly and not practical to do your work on. Non-crisp looking misty Windows icons, hidden away in icons. If you work with a Windows 8 desktop, for more than a couple of years you will end up with bad eyesight. If you are determined to make the Windows 8 desktop, work then you will spend hours on it customising it to make it usable for a work environment. Once you have achieved that and get used to it you will be told you need to update, it to the latest version which will make it look ridiculous again it will drive you fucking mad! You will spend even more time trying to make it look like a work environment again to the point where you are so sick of it you won't upgrade and you end up not using it. They all want to be a smart phone OS on a desktop.

    --
    aaaaaaa
  40. Classic Shell may help. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    Classic Shell may be of help to you. It's free. Used with Windows 7 and 8.

    It is interesting that people sometimes offer free solutions for the huge mistakes Microsoft managers make.

  41. Re:oh for fucks sake by Osgeld · · Score: 1

    thanks professor, glad you found time to grade my rant on the internet, now go find something useful to do for humanity

  42. Re:Mint by dbIII · · Score: 1

    CentOS is pretty well the default if scientists are in the building.

  43. Need to stay on the treadmill by dbIII · · Score: 1

    Fedora isn't bad, but it's almost bleeding edge with frequent releases and if you get a few versions behind the current one it's hard to get packages.

  44. openSUSE GNOME by Shadowolf7 · · Score: 1

    I use openSUSE 13.2 with GNOME. It has proper multitouch for the screen.

  45. Distro Inferno by Christopher_T. · · Score: 1

    I would suggest looking at the Ubuntu derivatives for one simple reason: Most of them support running from a USB stick, and you can try a few different ones to see if it's got the support you want. Several have mentioned Kubuntu. There's also Mint. And Knoppix, not Ubuntu-derived, while it's usually used as a rescue disk, can be installed. It'll run on most things with a CD player. When you've narrowed your choices down, or at least at some point, check out the user forums for the distro. How large are they? How friendly are they? How technical do they get? Find something you're comfortable with. Secret note #1: If you find an Ubuntu-based distro, Ubuntu's forums are available. Secret note #2: Most "command line" things these days are cut and paste. Quite often BASH scripts are posted that can help you with things (if you're not familiar with them, think Windows batch scripts). Start8 has been mentioned if that silly Modern interface is the problem. There are others. Good luck!