Windows user friendly Linux ???? Suggestions please

A friend of mine has a PC that had a fried hard drive. The PC is too old and not upgradable enough to put Vista or 7 on. I don't have a valid XP copy (I have every version to reimage but don't have code). This is for a non-IT person so I'm looking for a windows user friendly Linux to put on this PC. I considered easy peasy as I've put that on a couple netbooks but was wondering if there was a better one for a desktop.

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Comments

lsud00d

Ubuntu is the most mainstream-friendly Linux OS, so I would recommend that

paulgswanson

I second Ubuntu

nosoup4u

Ubuntu or could try the latest Mint Linux (similar to Ubuntu)

earweed

Any particular version I need to have a non-IT user friendly windows style desktop experience. That's all they've ever used (XP).
One that I hopefully won't be called upon to do a lot of follow up with. I'm not making any money off this as it's for a family friend.

lsud00d

Here's a thread on skinning Ubuntu to look like Windows:

[gnome] Windows XP Theme - Ubuntu Forums

The OS itself will be fairly hands-off as long as you enable automatic updates and explain to your friend that it's not Windows so he can't download whatever he wants and expect it to install.

nosoup4u

The KDE interface is similar to a windows experience

Kubuntu | Friendly Computing

The Linux Mint Blog » Blog Archive » Linux Mint 13 “KDE” released!

boredgamelad

I believe Zorin was designed with Windows 7 aesthetics in mind. Maybe give that one a look (I haven't used it).

YFZblu

earweed wrote: »

Any particular version I need to have a non-IT user friendly windows style desktop experience. That's all they've ever used (XP).
One that I hopefully won't be called upon to do a lot of follow up with. I'm not making any money off this as it's for a family friend.

With Ubuntu it should be fairly straight forward. If that person can learn how to use Wine, the package installer, and knows 'sudo apt-get install [x]' he/she will be in solid shape. Google will become their best friend.

Qord

Mint, PCLinux-OS, Puppy, Fedora....really most "bigger" distro's have the support behind them to make them pretty user-friendly. Check out DistroWatch's top 100 list....the majority of the top 10-20 are pretty user-friendly.

I would steer clear of anything with Gnome3 though, if the PC in question is too old to handle Vista there's a good chance it might have problems with Gnome3.

tpatt100

If the PC is really old, Ubuntu still might run kind of slow on it. I tried Fedora and Ubuntu on a new Netbook and it was dragging.

demonfurbie

mint is the closest to windows .. i prefer it on laptops

GAngel

tpatt100 wrote: »

If the PC is really old, Ubuntu still might run kind of slow on it. I tried Fedora and Ubuntu on a new Netbook and it was dragging.

fedora is the latest and greatest in the linux world.
Ubuntu is just bloatware now.

Death Dream

I support Linux Mint. xfce edition is great for lower end machines too!

WafflesAndRootbeer

A lot of XP era hardware cannot run today's Linux software properly or well. The closer it is to hardware that came out after Vista was released (when they were still selling XP for a while), the more likely it is to work, but they will likely need a video card upgrade and some memory at the minimum because any video card from the XP days is not going to be supported with the current Linux drivers and software. Depending on the audio hardware inside the computer, a soundcard may also be required as many sound chips from the XP days do not have Linux support, current or otherwise.

FrankTh

Hi earweed

If the comp has a dvd reader, I would go for linux mint. It is the closest to windows I have tried so far.
I assume also the comp will be using a wired Internet connection. Wireless can be a little more demanding to configure.
Mandriva is nice also, has some similarities with vista look and need only 512mo of ram to function properly.

This was my grain of salt for tonight, hope it helped a little.

FrankTh

ally_uk

Mint

used to be Ubuntu but I hate Unity lol

jibbajabba

"all" you need is a Linux Distribution with Gnome, then you can add an XP theme to it

Just thought I try that myself again as it has been a while :

"mint" CentOS 6 install with Gnome

After converting the theme

Download: Sourceforge

jmritenour

I was a big CentOS guy (and still am as far as enterprise Linux builds), but I'm now using Linux Mint on my home laptop. I hate the new gnome in Ubuntu (and Fedora for that matter), but I love Mint's Cinnamon shell.

veritas_libertas

If the PC is really old, Ubuntu still might run kind of slow on it. I tried Fedora and Ubuntu on a new Netbook and it was dragging.

Yup. I use to be able to throw Ubuntu on any old machine I had sitting around. If Ubuntu or Mint won't run on it than it's probably time to upgrade. You can't get a desktop very cheaply now. Buy a $400/$500 machine off of TigerDirect/NewEgg and throw Ubuntu on it.

antielvis

Slackware 3

Just kidding.

Drackar

Yeah, try Mint. In my opinion its about as close to the windows xp environment as your going to get.