On 30 October 2013 14:05, Laurie Brown laurie@brownowl.com wrote:
I am now convinced that you want the moon on a stick, and that you seem unwilling to compromise in the face of reality. That reality is that you will not find a distro that you can install and forget, that your users will think is XP, and that will be so trouble-free they will stop thinking Windows is better.
Hmm.... I don't think I've said things quite this strongly but just in case:
- "Install and forget": LTS releases give me that - updates provided by the distro until 2017, way past what a non-LTS release gives me. - "think is XP": A question of extremes. All I want is workable to someone used to XP. Having a start menu (preferably at the bottom where XP puts it) is pretty much the only request I've made here in that regard. - "trouble-free": No worse than Windows would suffice. Having to re-install every 9 months does not qualify. Doing an upgrade every 9 months does (it's not ideal) as long as there's a reasonable expectation that support for the existing hardware won't break (which I am not convinced about).
Windows XP is a rolling update system. The rolling updates stop next year, at which point you will need to upgrade to W7 or W8.
So: XP: 2003 -> 2014, with a mixture of minor and major (service pack) upgrades but no forced re-installs. Compared with Mint: Oct (Nov?) 2013 -> July 2014, includes minor upgrades but then re-install needed.
My research for the best replacement for XP has persistently led me to Linux Mint. Like XP, LM 15 is a rolling update system, with base support for 9 months from release (until January 2014). At this point, an upgrade to the next version is "required", just like Windows. The difference is, however, that the rolling upgrades don't immediately stop, and the distro doesn't suddenly stop working...
Not sure what you're saying here. XP won't "stop working" in April. With Mint, "rolling upgrades" do immediately stop (as I understand it?) after that 9 months. Incidentally that also means that "apt-get install <something I don't have but was available in my version of the distro>" also stops working at that point, as the repos disappear (correct me if I'm wrong on this?).
That's why I'm leaning towards LXLE - released 2012-04 and updates available to 2017, with an upgrade (not reinstall) to the next LTS version available from 2014 if I want it.
The next version of LM (16, Petra) is due out at the end of November 2013, and will include the much-improved Cinnamon 2.0 (which is already out). This will be back-ported to the LM LTS version (13, based on Ubuntu Maya and supported until April 2017) soon after LM 16 is released.
This bit is news to me. Cinnamon 2 on LM13 would also suit me (I don't like that LM13 -> LM17 will require a reinstall but I don't need to worry until 2017 so its not a big deal). As stated in this thread, my concern in choosing LM13 was getting an old version of the (newcomer) Cinnamon. You appear to have found be a solution to this that does not require me to wait until April/May for the next LM LTS.
As I see it, you have 2 choices:
Forget Linux and give them W7, hoping it will run on their hardware. or Give them LM16 when it comes out, and deal with the work in keeping it up-to-date.
With regard to option 2, it's a rolling update distro. I suspect you're making too much of LTS...
I'm confused about this "rolling update distro" phrase. Are we talking about LM13/16/etc or LMDE (which I though was the only rolling LM distro, but which is described on their website as being very unsuitable for my needs here)? I feel like we're talking at cross purposes somewhere...
Whatever, good luck!
I think I'm going to need it! Thanks for your input, it's very valuable to me.
Mark