[Wolves] Panasonic CF-19 ToughBook

[Adam Sweet]

> On 18/11/15 10:07, John Alexander wrote:
>>       From: Re-LoaD <reload at brum2600.net>
>> To: Wolverhampton Linux User Group <wolves at mailman.lug.org.uk> 
>> Sent: Tuesday, 17 November 2015, 17:06
>> Subject: [Wolves] Panasonic CF-19 ToughBook
>>    
>> Hi All,
>>     I have a CF-19 as per subject.
>> I'd like to make this duel boot, I have installed Win 7 as Vista 
>> business was doing my tree in.. Yes I know this is a Linux group.. I use 
>> this little machine for ECU hacking on cars and the software is mainly 
>> windows based.
>> 
>> It occurred to me that this machine spends most of its time in the shed 
>> so I have fitted a cheap 120G SSD and now want a distro on it.
>> 
>> So my questions to you guys is this :-
>> 
>> What is the best method of resizing a partition these days.
> 
> The most conservative method would be to optimise the windows
> partition and use GParted or other tool de jour to resize the disc
> partition before installation

I've used the GParted live CD, it's very good. Any Linux installer will
also assist with partition resizing these days.

>> What distro ? I use RedHat ES at work, CentOS on the Net and Ubuntu 
>> Server at home.. I'm not fused what but I am finding Ubuntu is getting a 
>> bit bloated and OSX like.. Oh yes I also use a mac..

Everyone will suggest their preferred distro, but here's a longer answer.

Depends on whether you want a server or desktop, but otherwise it's down
to personal preference and whether you have experience with the Red Hat
way, the Debian way or one of the others (e.g. Slackware, Gentoo, Arch etc).

The differences are mainly config layout, package management and general
approach. On either side, some things seem fairly arcane compared to the
other, while other things are more straightforward. It depends which
you're most familiar with.

CentOS or Debian are great server choices, but OpenSUSE and Ubuntu
server are also good if you like them.

On the desktop, the choice is largely governed by the desktop
environment you want to use. Popular choices are:

* GNOME - uses the GTK widget set
* KDE - uses the QT widget set
* Ubuntu's Unity desktop based on GNOME 3 libraries. Appears to be
marmite to most people.
* XFCE is a lighter weight desktop using GTK
* MATE is a continuation of the GNOME 2 shell for people who don't like
Unity or GNOME 3
* Cinnamon desktop is a fork of the GNOME 3 shell to meet the design
goals of Linux Mint. It's pretty nice too.
* LXDE - very lightweight desktop using GTK
* DIY approach of any distro with your window manager of choice.

Linux Mint, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu and OpenSUSE are the big hitters
though I'm not much of a distro hopper these days.

Most mainstream distros will give you a choice of some of GNOME, KDE,
XFCE, MATE and LXDE.

Linux Mint is largely Ubuntu with a focus on multimedia playback out of
the box and its own Cinnamon desktop environment, though you can also
use Gnome, KDE and MATE and XFCE.

If you're a KDE guy, OpenSUSE is a good distro, Mageia is the
continuation of Mandrake/Mandriva, or there's Kubuntu. Xubuntu is for
people who want XFCE on Ubuntu and Lubuntu for LXDE users and so on.

I know Arch was quite popular for a while though I've never used it.

http://distrowatch.com/ is a good place to start looking at distros.

Personally, I use Ubuntu on the desktop and Debian servers though most
of my working career has used CentOS/Red Hat servers.

I've been looking to move away from Ubuntu since Unity came around, but
my attempts at using something else usually last no more than an hour
before I have real work to do and I don't end up powering the other
distro on again.

HTH.

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