I want to use Ubuntu 14.04.I do not wish to opt for lightweight versions so I need help in determining some reasonable hardware upgrades so I can use Ubuntu comfortably. Currently my system specs are as follows: 1)512mb of ram. Can be increased not more than 2 GB (would that be enough?) 2)No graphics card (would it be required?) 3)Processor is pentium 4 4)Speed is 2ghz.
I'm thinking about installing Ubuntu Desktop, but I don't know what flavor is the best for my system. What are the minimum and recommended hardware requirements? What kind of CPU? How much memory? Should I have Hardware Acceleration? What flavor should I use?  This is an attempt of a canonical answer. My answers have the &quot;official  requirements&quot;, the recommended are a mix of official sources and opinion based (along with the answer it's told the source). You can comment or edit if you feel that the information is obsolete or incomplete. It is a good rule of thumb that any system capable of running Windows Vista, 7, 8, x86 (Intel) OS X will almost always be a lot faster with any Ubuntu flavor even if they are lower-spec than described below.
There is a very bad problem with the "Blank screen" function in Ubuntu 17.10. I refer to the setting accessed via Settings->Power->Blank Screen. This seems to actually perform a screen lock, since I need to enter my password after un-blanking the screen. (However, given the behavior described below it's not clear exactly what this function actually does - maybe it just logs you out? maybe it reboots the machine?)  The problem is that a simple screen lock, which one would expect to lock the screen without affecting the state of any applications, in fact closes all applications that are open when the screen lock activates. In other words, if you have the screen lock set to 5 minutes, and you walk away from your machine to get a sandwich or whatever, when you come back and unlock the machine all your apps have closed without saving their state. So far, the only work-around I have found is to entirely disable screen locking in Ubuntu 17.10. My question is, how can this be fixed so that screen locking works properly - that is: the screen locks on schedule after a period of inactivity, and when unlocked all applications that were running are still running?  I am asking a new question for the following reasons:  1) The existing answers to (and comments on)  do not address the issue, and in fact misrepresent the actual problem in ways that make me think the comment writers have not understood what is happening;  2) I cannot usefully address that question because I do not have sufficient reputation to either upvote the question or comment on it, and I cannot answer the question because I have no idea why this problem occurs;  3) I will probably never achieve a reputation of 15, much less 50, on StackExchange. Which is fine, that's not among my life goals.  4) But this question is important and deserves to be addressed. It is a drastically unacceptable bug. Types of books or Types of book? can anybody tell me which one of these is the correct one? I have been searching all over the internet but I have still got no answer.  Types of books Types of book QM and Renormalization (layman) I was reading Michio Kaku's Beyond Einstein. In it, I think, he explains that when physicsts treat a particle as a geometric point they end up with infinity when calculating the strength of the particle's field as you approach the particle.  First, did I get that part right?  Second, how does (in very simple terms) renormalization try to fix this in Quantum Mechanics? If you can include some type of word picture that would be great. Accepted answer will go to the clearest explanation.  Update  I got a little further in the book (lol) and Kaku talks about using symmetry to remove the divergences in the math. I'd appreciate an answer that incorporates this also. Thanks guys! I need Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) in order to work with some legacy software and I want to buy new Mac Mini computer.  Is it possible to install this OS on a new Mac Mini or it's not compatible with it?  If so, what is the latest model of Mac Mini that I can use in this scenario? Unity shows wrong distribution name If there is only the Macbook 12 inch USB-C charger nearby, can it be used to charge other USB-C devices, such as any Android phones that also use USB-C? (will it be "too powerful" and damage other devices?)  Vice versa, if there is a Quick Charge 2.0 or 3.0 USB-C charger from other devices nearby, can it be used to charge the Macbook 12 inch?  The main concern is about whether it could damage the device or battery. Can Java's NullPointerException be changed to report on which variable was null? Irreducibility of an infinite sequence of polynomials Of course when you type:  sudo apt-get install whatever   It asks you:   Do you want to continue [Y/n]?    Is there any way I can just install it without it asking me if I want to continue? I don't really care about space, I have more then enough. Prove by Mathematical Induction: $1(1!) + 2(2!) + \cdot \cdot \cdot +n(n!) = (n+1)!-1$ Prove by Mathematical Induction . . .  $1(1!) + 2(2!) + \cdot \cdot \cdot +n(n!) = (n+1)!-1$  I tried solving it, but I got stuck near the end . . .  a. Basis Step:      $(1)(1!) = (1+1)!-1$      $1 = (2\cdot1)-1$      $1 = 1 \checkmark$   b. Inductive Hypothesis     $1(1!) + 2(2!) + \cdot \cdot \cdot +k(k!) = (k+1)!-1$   Prove k+1 is true.     $1(1!) + 2(2!) + \cdot \cdot \cdot +(k+1)(k+1)! = (k+2)!-1$      $\big[RHS\big]$      $(k+2)!-1 = (k+2)(k+1)k!-1$      $\big[LHS\big]$      $=\underbrace{1(1!) + 2(2!) + \cdot \cdot \cdot + k(k+1)!} + (k+1)(k+1)!$ (Explicit Last Step)      $= \underbrace{(k+1)!-1}+(k+1)(k+1)!$ (Inductive Hypothesis Substitution)      $= (k+1)!-1 + (k+1)(k+1)k!$      $= (k+1)k!-1 + (k+1)^{2}k!$   My [LHS] looks nothing like my [RHS] did I do something wrong?  EDIT:     $ = (k+1)k! + (k+1)^2k! -1 $      $ = (k+1)(k!)(1 + (k+1))-1$      $ = (k+1)(k!)(k+2)-1 = (k+2)(k+1)k!-1$ Is there a way to set my current location manually on Windows 8? Is there a way to set my current location manually on Windows 8? I don't have a GPS module, but the device is always located at the same place. The automatic detection via network sets a place 200 kilometers from here.  I searched for a setting that allows me to set the location by hand, but I didn't find one. Somebody asked me this question in a job interview and I replied that their joint distribution is always Gaussian. I thought that I can always write a bivariate Gaussian with their means and variance and covariances. I am wondering if there can be a case for which the joint probability of two Gaussians is not Gaussian? Can I use a EF lens with a EF-S camera? AWS dynamodb support for "R" programming language So I have this word problem and I’m a bit confused about it. I have the answer and explanation but I still don’t understand: The half-life of carbon-14 is approximately 5730 years, while the half-life of carbon-12 is essentially infinite. If the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in a certain sample is 25% less than the normal ratio in nature, how old is the sample?     A. Less than 5730 years      B. Approximately 5730 years      C. Significantly greater than 5730 years, but less than 11460 years      D. Approximately 11460 years  Correct Answer: A Explanation: Because the half-life of carbon-12 is essentially infinite, a 25 percent decrease in the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 means the same as a 25 percent decrease in the amount of carbon-14. If less than half of the carbon-14 has deteriorated, then less than one half-life has elapsed. Therefore, the sample is less than 5730 years old. Be careful with the wording here—the question states that the ratio is 25% less than the ratio in nature, not 25% of the ratio in nature, which would correspond to choice (D). How is the ratio of the carbon isotopes relevant to half-lives? What is the purpose of saying the half-life of an isotope is infinite? What is meant by “the normal ratio in nature”? Just based on the answer, it seems like the question said “25% of a carbon sample decayed, how old is this sample?” Obviously it’s younger than 5,730 years (the time for its first half life) because if only 25% decayed that means half a half-life has passed. I don’t see how isotopes and ratios would change this problem at all. Edit: Every answer here was very informative and helpful. It was tough to pick a best answer. I picked Cosma’s because it clicked with me. If you’re reading this and want to understand radiocarbon dating, look at every answer because there is some useful information in every answer I am totally aware a question of similar nature is asked before. But the answer there is not doing any good for me.  I have installed python 2.7.6 in addition to system default 2.7.3. And now my system is screwed up completely. Now I want to remove the 2.7.6 and get back to my system default. update-alternatives command on python is not working!  I have installed the 2.7.6 by downloading source and triggering "config, make, sudo make install" commands.  Please help. I feel intimidated in learning TikZ. I was wondering if there are some nice materials (or just your replies) at different level:   for providing big picture, which is important to beginners to not lose direction during learning. for comprehensive reference.   Examples are important, but only examples are not always clear for understanding the big picture and organization. Canonical URL for a home page and trailing slashes Crontab entry executing every hour Is it possible to install Ubuntu on my Windows 8 computer without any CD or USB drive?