Hello everyone

I'm new to Linux having installed ubuntu alongside windows xp about a month ago initially everything worked ok I even installed peppermint to an old low spec pc which I controlled remotely via KDRC, then came the upgrade to 11.10 and that ridiculous desktop and it's been all downhill since then first I lost connection to a printer on the network which someone on here kindly helped me sort out now I'm I'm having endless network sharing issues which I couldn't even start to explain on here for help, I don't want to give up on Linux completely I understand that for the most part the problem is my lack of knowledge but my initial experience of it was good and apart from that I despise the monopolistic ethos of Microsoft, but I feel my system is so screwed up that only a re-installation can sort it out, From what I read Ubunto is the best and most user friendly distro but I honestly hate that desktop so I'm looking for some advice as to what other distro my be more suited for my needs any help or advice would be appreciated

Many Thanks

Graeme

If you hate the "desktop" so much, then you could always switch over to using XFCE, KDE, etc..... Lots of information out there on the good old internet to help you along.

I'm not a big fan of Ubuntu either. I would definitely argue with anybody who says its the best distro, but you can't really argue against it being the most "user-friendly", at least when it works.

I have OpenSUSE on my home machine, and Fedora on most of my work machines. I like them both, but they will take a bit more manual setup than Ubuntu.

Hi corp769
Thanks I already did that and tried the XFCE which I much prefer but it seems like i'm running 2 systems now (Ubuntu & Xubuntu) and it's not helping with the sharing issues I'm having in fact the xfce desktop seems more limited in sharing folders ie right clicking on a folder doesn't give the share option as it does in unity, I suppose being a windows user for so long makes the concept of having different desktop environments for the same os difficult to comprehend, I would be quite happy to try re-installing Ubuntu and try again, I was just looking for suggestions from people who clearly know a lot more than I do and I'm trying to learn in the process

Many Thanks

Emegra

If you preferred Ubuntu, I believe Linux Mint hasn't moved to Gnome 3 yet. It is an Ubuntu re-spin.
They might migtate to XFCE in the future however, depending on their users preferences.

Thanks Suicidaleggroll

As you can probably gather from my post I'm not particularly computer literate and Linux has been a bit of a culture shock (although it's one I've mostly enjoyed at least until recently) but if the distros you suggested required more command line input then I would have to pass on them because I don't feel I'm competent or comfortable enough with the terminal as yet for that

Many Thanks

Graeme

I second that, try Mint. And no, they will not migrate to XFCE, they will make Gnome 3 the way users are used to from Gnome 2, as you can read here.

Hi TobiSGD I've been looking at Mint and there is a DVD version and a CD version which has some packages missing (presumably to fit a CD)I can't use the DVD but if I install the CD version can I then install the missing packages once installed ?

Many Thanks

Graeme

If you use the CD to install Mint will launch a script at first boot after install that asks you if you want to install the missing packages, IIRC. Just keep in mind that you need a working internet connection for that.

Whilst I am in no way a unity fan, my general thought is that it is more than likely the upgrade that has messed with your settings. I have yet, to date, been able
to get an update from any previous version to a new one to work out of the box and have found the best solution is a full re-install of the new version. As long as you back
up your home drive you should be able to get back up and running in a short period of time. You can also use the Gnome Classic version to take you back to
a familiar desktop.

Of course this is no reason not to try something new

Linux Mint - Gnome2
Mageia 1 - KDE/Gnome2
Salix OS - KDE/Xfce

Of course you may need to have internet access once installed but getting everything working shouldn't be a big deal and you can use GUI interfaces for updating and installing software. They also offer other desktop environments to choose from.

Thanks to everyone for their help & advice, I took the plunge and installed Mint and very pleased with the result and with Mint in general it's sorted all the file sharing issues I was having and I'm much more comfortable with Mint than I was with Ubuntu (especially since the upgrade to 11.10) there are however a couple of problems I'm hoping someone can help me with, I can't connect to a network printer attached to windows machine,when I add the printer it finds it ok and I can install the driver but it just tells me it cannot connect to cifs share, I'm doing exactly the same thing I did to install it in Ubuntu but it just wont connect, coincidentally the first thing I noticed wrong after the Ubuntu upgrade was that I had lost connection to the printer but it was different in so far as it couldn't find the printer this time it can find the printer and I can install the driver but just wont connect, I tried logging into localhost:613 but I just get page not found and I also tried to install webmin but can't find it the repositories, any help anyone can give me would be much appreciated

Many Thanks

Graeme

I used ubuntu 10.04LTS as my alternitive ubuntu. I agree I don't like where ubuntu is going to 11.x. I hate the new desktop and it doesn't seem as stables and just issues I kept having. So I used ubuntu 10.04 LTS it has support till 2013 so I figured by then I'll probably go back to slackware or get familiar with the new desktop and hope the bugs are worked out.