I can't emphasise enough to this post and the one below it to install PinguyOS 11.04 instead of Mint or Ubuntu. Its a remix of the very best of Ubuntu and Mint, has everything that is good about both, has all the drivers you need pre-installed and has all the codecs you need installed.

It runs on Gnome 2.x and is super stable and super fast even on a netbook. Its causing a real buzz in the Linux world, and is climbing up distro-watch. That's not bad for distro that has only been out a year!

Install in via DVD, and you'll have no problems what-so-ever. I installed on a Nividia machine also, and it works flawlessly. This really is the distro we've all been waiting for, perfectly blended Mint and Ubuntu.... nice...

Mark

You've intruiged me enough to try pinguy now

Nice one, a weekend off away from you're problems with Linux... re you're couple of previous posts, banging head against brick wall and you're back all refreshed and rearing to go.

Glad to see you're not one to give up so easily, i haven't tried Pinguy myself, but i really hope it works for you, and solves you're problems with the Nvidia driver + xserver etc.

Okay, I will add that to my list of Linux virtual machines. I am downloading it right now. Thank you for the suggestion.

I'm having a look too.

Big bloody download! Just finished so i can go to bed.

I have Pinguy 10.10 anyway and run it in VM Ware free.

It doesn't go full screen properly though. Black borders left, right, top and bottom on my 15.6" laptop screen 1366x768.

Anyone know which option I have not setup properly?

Ubuntu/Mint/Puppy all fill the screen without me setting anything. .

I'll have a play tomorrow. Nighty night.

I downloaded it yesterday then realised I didn't have any spare blank disks to burn it.

Created a bootable USB drive to install it from there and realised my BIOS didn't allow booting from USB drives.

Spent 45 minutes looking for a BIOS update, found one and realised I didn't have any blank disks to burn it .. doh ..

Virtual Machines are dirty little things, rarely do they show the true distro they are emulating. I find a Live CD/DVD is always a much more accurate way to experience Linux distro's. And even better is a spare machine to try them out on.

No reason why Pinguy should not show full resolution, it finds everything automatically same as Ubuntu/Mint etc. Try a Live DVD instead, you'll appreciate experimenting much more.

Mark

Thanks Mark. I do run Puppy from CD on my 10 yr old laptop and Ubuntu sometimes from USB on my 18 month old laptop..

Just prefer VM to have a quick play.

To be honest I am not really into Linux (yet?). The learning curve is too large.
As mentioned recently above in the 'rant'. It's a pain in the **** when you have to Google everything to do it.

eg Where is my C drive, directory structure, how to make a short cut (drag and drop works in some but not others) , how to install/unzip stuff not in the Apps Store and where is it anyway? etc etc etc.

Basically unless I can right click/double click (single click for Puppy!) I am stuffed.

I wanted to change the VM date time in Pinguy yesterday and get rid of the System Monitor Overlay from the desktop.
That'll be another Google. There ain't enough hours in the day

And I fully agree about VMs. They are a pain too. I gave up on Virtualbox, but I may reinstall and have another look.

Conky... I love that overlay! To get rid of it simply click on "Conky" in the applications and select "remove Conky from start-up" or "kill Conky".

Mark

Thanks. I'd never have found that on a search. "Conky"! lol

Well i'm fully installed and running pinguy now - reasonably impressed actually.

As expected, what with it being Ubuntu based, my Nvidia card was detected and installed perfectly ok.

Like the bells and whistles it has on it at the moment.

Theme could be a bit darker though, but i'll play around with that.

Not bad at all

Result

As you say its Ubuntu based, and using the same drivers, as is Mint.
Thats what i don't get with Linux at the moment. The main issue seems to be video drivers, and as you and many (including myself) different Linux distros seem to react with different hardware even though they are using the same 'Base' software

I'm a convert to http://peppermintos.com/ Thats supported by the people that help look after Mint and Lubuntu
http://peppermintos.com/2011/05/givi...now-available/
http://peppermintos.com/team/
And a long time user of Mint my hardware doesnt seem to like the changes that have been happening with Gnome But Peppermint so far has cured my distro hoping, been rock solid

Although Ubuntu based, it uses an extended drivers database covering a lot more hardware from graphics cards, printers, TV cards and of course wi-fi. Where as Mint used to be "Ubuntu done properly", Pinguy is now "Ubuntu & Mint done properly with a ton of extras under the hood and even more user-friendly", lol. The guys at Pinguy even tweaked Flash and other stuff that gave some problems, now run silky smooth on any hardware.

Just a quick note to new users of Pinguy, don't forget it has Ubuntu Software Centre and Mint Software Centre to give you an even bigger selection of downloads!

One final thing, I am looking for contributors to my new Linux blog at http://linuxreviewsandguides.blogspot.com/ and would really welcome anyone who wants to help me build the site to make it a haven for new users of Linux.

Mark

Nice site and great Pinguy 11.04 review Mark.
I particularly like the idea of Wine handling .exe downloads automatically.
Not keen on crashes.

I just been playing with 10.10 again prior to trying 11.04 after this post.
I dunno if it crashed, but the Desktop background, icons and Conky vanished.
Docky and upper and lower taskbars OK though.

Also I noticed before that, my main hard drive partitions do not appear in /mnt but on Ubuntu they do.
(VM sharing setup correctly)

I imagine Pinguy 11.04 will be same meaning I will have to mess fixing if I need them, or run from CD as previously mentioned instead of VM.

I'm just going to VM it right now. Then I really must do something else constructive this afternoon.

I installed Pinguy last night. It really is 'Linux Deluxe'. There is just about every application you could every need on there. Including an 'IMovie like' application. The only thing missing is GNOME 3 desktop! Still there are loads of applications on there. It will keep me very busy trying to use all of them.

I'm in it right now. It IS nice.
Changed the background to that blue night scene, Ferris Wheel on Page 3 of the extra backgrounds. (Tivoli Gardens??)

Still can't see my partitions outside VM, but I can browse and Thunderbird works.
What more do I need? Happy enuf.

Flippin' eck .. I want to try Peppermint now

i ultimately found Pinguy a bit sluggish on my machine - might be graphics card related or not. I do only have an Nvidia 7300LE card - which Gnome 3 absolutely hates

I'm running the same graphics card as you, and its the fastest Gnome 2.x desktop I've ever run (thankfully Pinguy has kept away from Gnome 3 and Unity at the moment). It even runs super fast on my netbook.

I won't be distro-hoping for a long time yet, there's so much on Pinguy, and of course its such a customisable distro anyway. The user forums are excellent as well for any problems.

Mark

well not entirely unsurprisingly, peppermint doesn't like my graphics card.

installed the drivers, rebooted. as usual, doesn't offer me 1440x900 resolution so I go back to the saved xorg.conf file that i have that i somehow managed to cobble together a few years ago that works.

rebooted and nothing happens - get some major glitching and graphics at the top of the screen and the whole thing just hangs .. so had to reboot and re-install something else

shame really as it looked quite good in a minimalist vista-like sort of way

i don't know if this is funny or embarrassing

type in "peppermint nvidia 7300le" to google. TWO out of the first four results returned are threads created by ME complaining about not being able to get 1440x900 resolution

Oh no Jason is going to be head banging again soon

As i posted previously, its these dam video drivers, i you and several people i know that have used Linux in it's various versions, and haven't had any problems.

Now i seem to be back to how it was a few years ago when i first discovered Linux.
EG.. couldn't get a live cd\dvd to boot due to graphics issues.

But i stuck with it and as time went on it was possible for me to just boot from a cd, load it and run it(without changing any hardware or settings) to load and run any version of Linux. Me very

But recently i cant seem to load most of them, or if i can get them loaded have issues.
It's still the same hardware

So why this issue over graphics drivers has changed i never had any problems loading sabayon\mint\Fedora\opensuse etc etc. But no luck recently, so something has changed?

hmm and yes it does seem to be since Gnome 3 (or its variations) was introduced
PS im running a ATI3870 Card.

PPS sorry Peppermint didnt work for you.

I am ATI Mobility Radeon 4200 on a Compaq 15.6" CQ61.

Device Manager lists screen as Generic PnP.

I think it was Puppy 525 that reported that my monitor is NOT PnP.
Puppy takes a bit of trial and error with XORG. And it may lose sync in a session or boot up out of sync. (lupusave is working OK(

Pinguy has stable display, but 10.10 has borders all round in 10.10, borders left and right only in 11.04. (both in VM Ware). 4:3 in both too.

I'm not in the mood to burn boot discs just now to try, just gonna give 11.04 a quick whirl in latest Virtualbox not VMW.

http://www.osnews.com/story/25022/Li...Fan_of_Gnome_3

http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=06824

Warning, it is as it says only a Alpha release.

Watch what you're saying about Gnome 3 now!


Same goes for you too Torvalds! I love Gnome 3 and it's been brilliant for me. I'd recommend it to anyone after a new experience (I know I certainly was). Gnome 2 really needed a refresh imho.

Fingers crossed too that the newest Ubuntu offers a decent improvement. I'd like very much to remove my Windows 7 install for it if it turns out good.