The Best Linux Distribution 2013: Netbooks and Old Hardware

Welcome to 2013!
It's a new year and this means that your netbooks and old towers are another year older. The eternal struggle to maintain you hardware's relevance has crept on into another long year of recession. Someday you will have bags of money to buy something new, but for now you need to find a way to get that slow old laptop to feel a bit more springy.

Not all Linux distributions are created equal. There are so many options to choose from and so many acronyms that it can be hard to get a straight answer on what the hell you should download!

The first big thing you need to ask yourself:
"Does the computer I want to use have modern 3d graphics hardware?" 
(aka a nice graphics/video card)

If you do not have a graphics card in your computer, as is the case with many low end and older netbooks, then you need to stay away from distributions which use Gnome 3 or Unity. Unity 2d was an option in previous releases of Ubunut, but has been dropped from current releases. You have heard that there are other lightweight distributions, but don't know much about them or you haven't found any that are actually lightweight enough.

Well this year looks a lot like last year's lineup with one exception! A new minimal debian based distribution has stolen my heart and is being recommended as the first choice for linux fans who do not want to build and compile their own Arch distribution.

Read on to see the new year's recommendations!

Three things you are doing wrong on your computer

If you do not know what your Windows registry does specifically, please raise your hand.

If you cannot use your windows command line to format a thumb drive, please raise your hand.

If you do not know how your computer actually works, please raise your hand.

This post isn't about any of these things... this post is about the things average users are doing wrong.

The first step in correcting the things that slow down a computer is to stop the user from causing the issues in the first place. So called "id-10t" or "id-107" or "PICNIC" errors.

Please continue reading for three things that will speed up almost any slow windows computer.

Coaxing a Motorola SBG6580 into “Bridge” mode

Okay, I have covered ATT's modem router combo.

Now we are going to look at putting the new Time Warner high speed internet modem router combo into bridge mode so that you can use your own network equipment with it.

The Time Warner technician who connected my service did not understand what bridge mode was. After some discussion and explanation, he disabled the wifi transmitter but did nothing else.

This left my dd-wrt router being assigned a local ip address... which is useless to me.

Here we go...

Using a dd-wrt router behind an AT&T U-Verse Gateway

This is a unique problem which I felt needed its own post. Many people use routers flashed with dd-wrt the open source linux firmware. This allows you to implement loads of terrific personalized network settings and to turn your basic $30 router into a $200 monster for free!

I have recently moved to an area where AT&T U-Verse is the only internet connection type possible. This means that my old ADSL modem which worked fine with my AT&T hsi account was now useless! In fact, the only available modem is built into the AT&T provided modem/router combo!

The switch from my highly customized dd-wrt setup, to a wireless g only locked down AT&T pile of garbage that cost me $100 was too much to bear! I immediately began working on a way to restore order to my LAN.

Fixing Your Computer - Introduction [Sendables]

Too often I hear people with painfully ill maintained machines complaining that viruses are making their computer slow.

Yeah, it must be a virus...

A computer needs regular maintenance just like a car does! If I were to complain that my engine was running roughly and then seized up for no reason, you might ask when the last time I changed the oil was. If I were to respond "Never", you would probably just shake your head and think I was an idiot.

When a computer literate individual hears someone say:
"I hate ___ operating system! It is so slow and it always crashes!"
"I got a virus and now my computer runs soooo slow!"
"I need to buy a new computer because my laptop I bought last year is too slow now!"
"My _____ computer takes like an hour to turn on! That's why I only buy ____ products now!"
".... blah blah blah... VIRUS.... blah blah blah..."

It sounds just like someone complaining that their engine is ruined because they didn't put oil in it.
For some reason, most people have some type of issue with the idea of working to maintain computers. They would rather say, "Oh well, I don't really need my computer anyways!" and just continue using the pile of crap that they have made for themselves, than learn to do one or two new things.

With that simile in mind we can come up with a few simple rules:

• Computers are not magic. 
• Computers are machines which are tremendously more complicated than your car.
• You should probably work on your computer three times as often as you work on maintaining your car.
• That means on average you are looking at about three big issues a year for your computer.
• Working on computers is just like working on a car.
• You can buy a new car every year rather than replace the tires.
• You can buy a new computer every year rather than replace the hardware.
• You can have a shop work on your car for ten times the cost of doing it on your own.
• You can have a shop work on your computer for ten times the cost of doing it on your own.
• Replacing your water pump is probably going to take an entire day.
• Replacing your boot hard drive is probably going to take an entire day.
• Replacing your wiper fluid is going to take ten minutes.
• Replacing your stock software is going to take ten minutes.
• YOU DON'T HAVE A VIRUS!
• Seriously, this is not 1999...
• If you have anything like a virus, you have malware, and you got it because you installed it without reading what you were doing.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself. If you have trouble answering then you probably need to work on improving your computer literacy.

How long have you owned your computer?

How long has it been since you formatted?

How many "special" programs are running concurrently starting at boot?
(ie. antivirus, backup service client, etc.)(these are usually icons down by your clock)

How long has it been since you cleaned out the inside of your case?

How are you managing heat dissipation?

Are you still using the programs that your computer came with?

Your answers should be:

• 1 year or less for the format
• Less than 10 programs running at boot for a modern quad core system or less than 5 programs for a single or dual core system.
• Less than 1 year since cleaning your hardware.
• Monitoring temperature sensors and maintaining good circulation for heat dissipation.
• No, I removed all the CRAP that my computer came with immediately and used Ninite to install better programs.

I will be posting a series here on how to get started working on your computer, covering many of the most immediate and pertinent skills.

For those of you who are directing others to this series please use the 'Sendables' tag for more!