Linux Experts- A little advice, please

[ObiWanJenkins]

I have an acquired Dell Latitude CPX H500GT 500MHz Pentium III laptop with 256MB, an ethernet card, and a DVD drive. I am waiting on a Dell bios disc to install a 60GB hard drive. I want to set it up for my girlfriend with a Linux distro, but she loves the Windows environment. I am looking for suggestions for a distro that would provide the same look and feel as Windows, and include much of the productivity software like OpenOffice, but still run fairly efficiently on this dinosaur. Windows is quite the terror on older PCs.

[mudtiger]

Re: Linux Experts- A little advice, please

Ubuntu or Kubuntu.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

[ObiWanJenkins]

Re: Linux Experts- A little advice, please

Ubuntu or Kubuntu.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

I've used Ubuntu before. I like it lots. Will I still get full functionality on a laptop that can barely run Windows 2k?

[mudtiger]

Re: Linux Experts- A little advice, please

Yes, you'll get the productivity software to run fine.

If she really likes the windows environment though, springing linux on her might not be worth it. If she just needs to email, word process, or spreadsheet, or similar, then it will be ok.

You may want to look into kubuntu, the kde version of ubuntu(gnome), as kubuntu has some more eye candy right out of the gate that may resemble windows a little more (plus the best media/mp3 player software out there - amarok).

You can always download and burn an iso bootable version of ubuntu or kubuntu and give it a test drive before you actually install it. You'll need to change the boot order in the laptops bios to check the cd/dvd first if you want to use the bootable cd/dvd.