What is the best Desktop Linux 64 Bit in your opinion in term of user friendly? Please give your reason.

The Distribution must be at least as user friendly as Vista (which is not so user friendly )

Uh

Why are you opening a thread here when you can discuss about it over at the Linux and OSS Section.

Anyway , I would say ubuntu 64-bit would do the trick. Its not that bad , plus you could do lots of desktop customization and pretty much GNOME does a good job. If you want to have Windows like GUI I would suggest you to use KDE !

Thanks for your comment bro. I open it because it just want to be specific with this question and this question only.

As for KDE, I find that its quite a bit different form windows (KDE 4). As for Ubuntu 8.10, I don't seems to find it user friendly enough. Especially for a total stranger to Linux like most of the people.

Actually I want Linux distribution that is simple so that even my dad know who handle it. Heard PCLinuxOS is user friendly but it got no 64 bit version. Any thought?

hmm.... I sure that just recompile kernel with 64 bit support will do the trick

Are you sure its that simple?

Anyway, which one do you think is the best that suit my requirement in this thread?

what about Linux Mint?

What do you like about it and what do you think special about it? Would love to hear you personal opinion. Thanks.

im not really into linux and i just use it for >2 hrs. What i like abt it coz its very very user friendly. all the codecs are installed and you also can play music with only just hover your mouse to the file. for the GUI i think its okay

just my opinion

I also heard that it has one of the easiest GUI. Still waiting for the latest 64 bit version though coz the recently released was 32 bit version.

How about hardware compatibility? Any thought?

I'd definitely recommend Ubuntu 8.04. As far user-friendliness, go for Mac OS X (which I'm currently using ).

Anyone have any thought?

well, for the one who basically grow up with windows, ubuntu maybe is not user friendly. but for my dad, who never touch a computer before, the ubuntu is good for him. btw, why you need a 64 bit OS? 32 bit is good enough actually, and it can run perfectly on 64 bit processor

This post has been edited by xordMeztGeR: Jan 1 2009, 02:41 PM

OpenSuse & Mandriva are the only distros that worked well for me in 64bit. All others had more limitations & stuff missing.
If you insist on 64bit, you WILL have to live with some limitations. How much depends on what you need.

Good question. Its because I want to use all of my 4GB RAM and in turn would make it easier for me to run virtual machine and install Windows in it. In short I want to move to Linux but that Linux must be Windows Like so that the learning curve is not that high. I will only use Windows when its absolutely necessary.

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Added on January 1, 2009, 9:13 pmI believe Mandriva is not 64 bit. But is it easy to use?

As for OpenSUSE, I believe I have briefly tried the latest one but it can't seem to detect my Broadcom wireless but Ubuntu can do it with no issue. Its just Ubuntu is a bit hard to use for me.

This post has been edited by Spade: Jan 1 2009, 09:13 PM

*but that Linux must be Windows Like*
I have to comment on this point.
Linux != Windows. The reason it's good is because it's different from Windows.

Almost every linux distro has got both 32bit & 64bit editions.
There are 64bit versions of Ubuntu, Mandriva & OpenSUSE. They are usually labeled like i386 and x86_64.
Have you tried out the latest OpenSUSE 11.1, it's a pretty good release.

Mandriva is pretty good as a general purpose desktop. I find it friendlier than Ubuntu, but you have to decide what suits you.

Many thanks for your input bro.

I think I need to clear some things up to avoid confusion. What I meant it that sentence is that the GUI is Windows-Like. So that you will feel more at home. I have tried a few of the well-known 64 bit Desktop Linux but have yet to found the one that I like. I don't mine even if I have to pay for it as long as its easy to use. All I want is an alternative to MS Windows. Even after I have found a suitable and easy to use desktop Linux, I will still use my Windows albeit in a form of virtual machine running on a Linux system.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have briefly tried openSUSE 11.1 and it looks very good. But the main let down is that it can't detect my Broadcom WiFi thus I will need to be some kind of geek to make it run which not what I wanted since I don't have time to waste.

This post has been edited by Spade: Jan 2 2009, 12:07 AM

I understand. There are several distros that try to look like Windows, such as Xandros & Linspire. But the similarity is superficial & often leads to more confusion once u delve in a little deeper, because no matter how Windows like they try to make it on the surface, the underlying structure is still completely different. That's why I can't recommend them. But if u wanna try them out, then by all means.

In the current state of affairs, it's not possible to completely avoid the geeky stuff if you intend to use Linux. At some point or other, you will need to learn it.
I recommend you try out as many distros as possible before u settle on a choice. As least you should try all the other big ones like:
Fedora
Mandriva
Mepis
Mint
Kubuntu - Since u didn't like gnome. Maybe u'll like the KDE version.

I just don't like the command prompt thingy when all you need is just to install a software. Any idea in the least use of command prompt version? Actually at first I will not spend that much time on Linux since I intend to run Windows on a virtual Machine (Virtual Box or something) for Linux. So my first target it to get a Linux that can be easily setup to work with my computer. Once it done I can slowly climb the learning curve.

what do your dad use comp for? maybe a full featured linux is not that suitable if he just used for web browsing and type letters.

He use it for any other normal Windows use their comp. I don't mind if a Linux distribution have a full feature as long as its basic/normal features (that most of Windows users want) are user-friendly enough.

This post has been edited by Spade: Jan 2 2009, 10:49 AM