Category: Geeks r Us
Hey all,
Lately I've been wanting to use the three different brands of OS's I know about, Windows, OSX, and Linux. I have pondered maybe setting up bootcamp on the mac I have, which would allow Windows and OSX, then making this computer I'm on now Linux. I could also dual boot this machine, but could prove a little more tricky. Any suggestions to what would work the best? I know VM's are an option, but would rather avoid those where possible as they do have to share with the host for processor and ram.
Hi rat,
What Linux distro would you be comfortable with? You do have choices with different desktops. I'll outline some of them below.
Debian Net install, pure command line with Speakup. You need to install Gnome or your desktop of choice afterwords. Supports many Braille Displays.
Ubuntu standard, Unity desktop, Gnome-Orca comes with it. You can update it.
Ubuntu Mate, different faster desktop. You can also update Gnome-Orca.
For the last 2,I'd suggest sticking with 14.04.2 longterm.
OpenSuSE, Gnome version available with Gnome-Orca. One of the few that has a talking boot menu. You can update Gnome-Orca easily.
Fedora, standard distro comes with Gnome. There is a Mate respin of it. Unsure if the respin comes with Gnome-Orca or not. Its installer is overly complicated.
I have thought of Debian or OpensuSE for the two I'd consider, not sure which would be better.
I'd say look at your situation and your level of Linux knowledge. Debian is pure command line. Yes the installer works nicely and is accessible, but you don't get a desktop or Gnome-Orca.
OpenSuSE on the other hand has Gnome 3.14 I believe and Gnome-Orca. It also doesn't work at all in VMWare Player.
So you'd need to install it as either dual boot or replace your copy of Windows with it.
You can install software with both, but the ways you do so are different, but easy enough to get used to.
If you're willing to learn commandline, and only commandline, go with Debian.
If you want most of the work of installing a desktop to be done for you go for either OpenSuSE or Ubuntu Mate, if you want a faster desktop that's like XP in its menu structure.
I have wanted to work with OpenSuSE for a while now, thing that makes me a little jumpy is it's a full migration. I haven't worked with Linux all that much so it's be quite the jump for me.
OpenSuSE is a good choice. I do believe the site has documentation for new Windows users. I also believe I posted the links to OpenSuSE isos a while back. I'll repost them for the Gnome Live DVDs, if you wish. Also, Voxin if you have a copy works for OpenSuSE.
If you could post those links would be great. I'd have to find a way to get the images to boot, that's always been the hassle for me is making disks boot on a windows box.
Here's the link for OpenSuSE 64 bit. It is the Gnome version.
http://mirrors2.kernel.org/opensuse/distribution/openSUSE-current/iso/openSUSE-13.2-GNOME-Live-x86_64.iso
Re booting, if the computer has a BIOS & your comfortable with hardware, you can just unplug the SATA data cable for your hard drive, power the machine on, wait until you hear the CD booting then plug it back in again. Pretty unauthodox I know but I do it frequently and it usually works. If it has a UEFI there's a tool that you can run within Windows called bootnext which lets you select a device to boot from although if it does have UEFI then secure boot may be enabled which is a nightmare from an accessibility standpoint.
I've read online that Windows 10 machines might always have Secure Boot turned on and there will be no off switch.
Here's a link that explains more and how it might affect Linux.
https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-500.htm
It's getting a bit OT, but yes, if Microsoft don't backtrack on this policy then it will be a problem. From the DIY, build yourself a desktop point of view nothing really changes so that's ok, but for people who buy prebuilt and for laptops it will be an issue. For sighted people who want to reinstall their OS one assumes that the signiture/s for Windows 10 reinstallation media will be in the database, but I'm *assuming* that the signiture is computed by taking a hash of all the files on the disk, so if you were to add a file for an unattended install the signiture would be different. Remember also that the signiture rule applies to all boot devices including the hard drive, so kicking the install off on another machine then mooving the drive back once its started will no longer be an option.