I'm trying out Xubuntu and Ubuntu. What about Xubuntu vs Manjaro Xfce. Is the only difference that Xubuntu is based on Ubuntu and Manjaro is based on Arch, what does this mean
How can I download Xubuntu with torrents. I haven't never used torrents and I heard they come with viruses and such no matter what. Also how can I distro hop, I searched for it but nothing useful comes up. I ask this because I would also like to have Mint Cinnamon, but Finland isn't on the mirror list.
Heh, torrents that come with viruses "no matter what" is just one of the those propaganda lies that the media companies created to prevent the sharing of information. The same media companies that call the sharing of culture "piracy".
Anyway, torrenting a distro is the safest way to do it, because with a torrent there is a hash check performed after the download, insuring that the file that you downloaded doesn't differ from the original file hosted on the website.
If you use Windows, download utorrent for torrents (search it on duckduckduckgo.com, not google.com, because google screws with search results by putting the paying sites first, and on top of that, they track your search history and pass on the search words to the websites you visit).
If you're using linux, just search with the package manager in the repositories for the word "torrent" (without quotes). For example, I use KTorrent and it should be available to most distros out there.
So I just go to uTorrent's site, download it and then what. I understand that this might be annoying, but I don't want to have anything go wrong.
You need to download the torrent file from your chosen linux distro. Double click it and it should open up uTorrent, then choose where you want it. Afterwards grab a cup of tea and watch a video, might take a bit to download.
Why I always recommend Ubuntu to beginners:
1. I use it, and I've done the full circle of distributions, Arch, Gentoo, Debian Stable/Testing, Mint, Xubuntu, et cetera. I've tried a lot of what's out there, and now I'm back on Ubuntu.
2. Out of the box, it's the most polished, most ready-to-work distro bar none.
3. It's stable. It's not sexy bleeding edge like Arch (and by extension Manjaro), but that's not always good, in fact if you're trying to work or trying to have a pleasant user experience, it's rarely good.
4. Support, Google "My problem here + Ubuntu" and you will find a solution. Arch/Manjaro has a better wiki than Ubuntu, but Ubuntu has a better "this is my problem, this is the exact solution" support system.
5. Software support, Ubuntu and derivatives are the de facto standard, want to install something on Linux, odds are the developers have two versions: a conveniently packaged .deb for Ubuntu, and a universal binary for everyone else. There's a reason Ubuntu is given special consideration, it's user base is massive.
6. It can install on your UEFI motherboard without a headache (currently Manjaro does not have a reliable way to install via UEFI).
7. It's useful immediately, things you would expect to work like playing .mp3s or watching youtube videos work out of the box in Ubuntu.
There are more reasons, but despite it not being the most cutting edge distro it is the flagship. Because of your UEFI situation it really is one of your only choices - however if you dislike the desktop environment of Ubuntu you can try an alternate flavor such as Xubuntu, Kubuntu, or Lubuntu.
If you do choose to install Ubuntu you'll likely want to opt-out of their Amazon thing by running the www.fixubuntu.com script in your terminal.
If you have questions about other distros please feel free to ask.
(edit: fixed a typo)
Ubuntu and Xubuntu are based on Debian. Manjaro is based on Arch.
Imagine the complete system like a car, with three main components, the engine (kernel), the chassis and suspension (libraries and packages), and the body (desktop environment).
Engine:
All of these distros use the Linux kernel as the engine. The kernel is what is operating the "bare metal" of your computer, it's running the CPU and managing the drives and the memory and any other bits of hardware.
Chassis:
Xubuntu and Ubuntu are based on something called Debian, which just one way of assembling the critical libraries and software that sit on top of the kernel. Libraries that help manage things like drawing pictures on your screen and allow your software to run.
(Because of your UEFI mobo, Manjaro is basically out, but I'll explain anyway)
Manjaro is based on Arch, which is another collection of critical software and libraries. In practice, the parts that make up the chassis and suspension on both of our "Linux cars" are the same, on Ubuntu/Xubuntu they are assembled in one way (the Debian way), and on Manjaro they are assembled in a slightly different way (the Arch way).
Both chassis offer advantages and disadvantages, but both chassis effectively can run the same software. In fact if you wanted you could stop building your car here, it would be ugly and might not run some applications you want, but technically it's a complete system (which some advanced Linux users start from, and modify to their exact liking).
Body:
The final piece of the puzzle is the one you're most familiar with, the Desktop Environment (DE). The DE is what you use to interact with your computer, it lets you drag files around, watch videos, play games, open and close web browsers, et cetera.
On Ubuntu the DE is called Unity.
On Xubuntu the DE is called XFCE, it's a little more "traditional" in it's design, it might appeal to you.
On Manjaro XFCE the DE is XFCE, different chassis from Xubuntu, but the same body.
Downloading via torrent:
I saw you also posted you were having trouble torrenting these files, torrenting the official ISOs is safe and easy to use. You'll need a torrent client (on Windows I recommend qBittorent), and you'll need the torrent file.
If you have questions, go right ahead.
Oooh, I see your predicament now. Yes, do what Nomaran said. Download and install utorrent from their website just like you would do with any Windows program. Then navigate to the distro's website and save the .torrent file from the distro's page and double click it, this will open utorrent and you have to choose where to save the .iso image. If double clicking doesn't work, you can simply open utorrent and choose File -> Open then navigate to the location where you saved the torrent file.
Once you have downloaded the .iso file you need to burn it to a CD or DVD or to an USB stick. You can find free programs online to do that, I am afraid I cannot recommend one because I haven't used Windows in a long time (in linux there is a command that you can use on every distro, it's called dd and it's extremely versatile).
The fact that there isn't a mirror in your country probably means that it will go slower, there's nothing to worry about.
EDIT: Here's the Installation wiki page: https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?title=Burn_an_ISO_File
It tells you how to install Manjaro.
When you don't know how to do something, Manjaro, and especially Arch, on which Manjaro is based, have very extensive wiki pages.
Thanks a lot. I will probably get Ubuntu 14.04 or 12.04 first then try out some other distros. Just to be sure is this installiation process right: http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2012/10/10/dual-boot-windows-7-and-ubuntu-12-04-on-a-pc-with-uefi-board-ssd-and-hdd/ (sorry I don't know how to make it a link)
When I clicked to download the Xubuntu torrent it almost instantly downloaded it and it has a blank picture (I'm using Chrome) Is this normal. People said it was usually faster but this fast?
Oh, no, no. The file you downloaded is very small, that's not the .iso image, but a collection of information about the actual image you are trying to download (file names and sizes, directory structure, the signature for the files, or addresses of trackers which help different users who share the same content communicate with each other).
You need to open that small file with utorrent (like I've explained in my previous post). Utorrent will read the information it needs from this small file and begin downloading the actual, large file, from the users who are uploading it (called peers).
Ok, that makes sense
Yeah that guide looks good. As a precaution backup any important files you have to an external drive, USB, or some online storage. You might even want to write down important product keys for software you installed on Windows 7.
Torrent files are small, they contain the data about the file you want, not the file itself. You'll need to run the torrent file in a torrent program (I recommend qBittorent) to download the actual file. In practice it's often faster than direct downloads, but not lightning fast.