Best Linux Distro...

[noxenlux]

So I have been using Ubuntu 10.10 for a couple of days now, and have found that its pretty nice gui wise user friendly and just fun all around. I was wondering what you guys and gals think about linux distro's over windows, and what the better ones are.




(Glad you guys are still alive and kicking)

 

[Tuxon86]

So I have been using Ubuntu 10.10 for a couple of days now, and have found that its pretty nice gui wise user friendly and just fun all around. I was wondering what you guys and gals think about linux distro's over windows, and what the better ones are.




(Glad you guys are still alive and kicking)

I use mostly only Mint now. It is based on Ubuntu but with all the multimedia dependencies already installed and a prettier interface.

 

[ugh]

Ubuntu always breaks for me while upgrading between Majior Releases. I installed the 9.10 Netbook Remix and it became a normal Desktop Version with 10.04 - Gnome Configuration was completely screwed - awesome!

However I still use this version because I'm too lazy to upgrade to a better system. I used Arch before needs more Knowledge but has a great userbase/forum.
​

 

[Kin Hell]

So I have been using Ubuntu 10.10 for a couple of days now, and have found that its pretty nice gui wise user friendly and just fun all around. I was wondering what you guys and gals think about linux distro's over windows, and what the better ones are.

(Glad you guys are still alive and kicking)

I can't add to your post because I haven't dabbled since SUSE Linux 6.1....

Good to see you around again too.

All the best.

Kin

 

[AndyLandy]

Uh-oh. There's some flamewar territory if ever there was some!

I'm a RedHat boy, always have been, probably always will be.

 

[Shoonay]

Not a fan of Linuxeseses, but I chose Xubuntu for my brothers older 1GHz 256MB PC, it's the lightest one from the Ubuntu family and (like the whole Ubuntu family) very user friendly.
He doesn't play anything except some browser games anyway.

 

[hayesey]

Ubuntu on the desktop, Debian on the server

 

[Witcher1979]

There is no best distro to be honest. Every Distro is best suited for a certain purpose.

Ubuntu I have never been a huge fan as it is very bloated just like windows. Even though I do have Ubuntu installed on a partiton right now.

I suggest you check out Mepis and Antix which are both based on debian. Both have livecds so can be tested first.

Mepis is KDE so you might not like that if you prefer Gnome. even though you can add Gnome it can be a bit of a pain to do.

Antix is a tiny little base distro which is 256meg to download and uses fluxbox. The beauty of this is it is a bog standard install you add everything you want. I use antix and installed Gnome on it and its a cracking little distro. It uses Debian testing so has the bleeding edge apps as well. Just dont upgrade all the time as stuff can break with bugs. I always wait 2 weeks then any bugs are fixed when I upgrade.

People say Antix is for low spec machines, very true but I like to stick base distros on powerful machines so you can squeeze all the performace out of the machine without stuff you dont need running.

 

[dabone]

Ubuntu for desktops, just because you can find most any answers to your questions over at ubuntuforums.org.

I prefer Centos for servers, because I sell Genuine Intel Servers, and they support redhat or suse, so I choose redhat(centos).

I still don't know what to think about ubuntu dumping gnome in upcoming versions..:huh:


Later,
dabone

 

[AndyLandy]

People say Antix is for low spec machines, very true but I like to stick base distros on powerful machines so you can squeeze all the performace out of the machine without stuff you dont need running.

I used to use Gentoo for that sort of thing, but apparently it has fallen out of fashion these days. I'm not sure why I gave it up actually. Next build, I might give it another go...

 

[tokyoracer]

Like Jimbo said, theres no best distro. It all kinda' depends what you want from an OS. Out of the shiney user friendly OS's (Ubuntu, RedHat, Mint) i'd probably opt for Mint but if you fancy something more basic or proffesional then look elsewhere, there's ruddy hundereds of them to chose from! Most of them very good.

 

[noxenlux]

Well what I am doing is trying to decide what distro to use on my kids pc, I picked up one at goodwill the other day. I want to set them up with something other than windows as I believe it will gimp their knowledge of what a computer can do.

Sure windows can run everything out there, however it would be nice for them to get a more solid foundation and if they want to switch to windows later they can.

 

[Witcher1979]

Well I still suggest the base setup. Base setup's will come with a web browser and a file manager. Then let your kids learn how to build it up with other software. Let them setup conky and scripts. Or I think you can get distro's like edubuntu which is meant to be full of learning apps. But nothing you can't add yourself imo. The base distros take about 5-10 mins to install, if they break it reinstall is quick and simple.

That is the best way to learn imo. But again it depends what you want them to learn, learn about computers for me is a base setup. If you can learn a base setup then move on to building your own distro from scratch. Learning about everything else but computers install anything then add some education apps.

 

[noxenlux]

Thanks Jimbo, I will check into it after I drop them off at school this morning.

Yes educational software is what we are going for, and having them set it up themselves would be the best route.

 

[silverf0x0]

I've used Debian on a regular basis, it's a good distro...
I'm a happy FreeBSD user from years (I know it's not a linux distro....).

Take in mind that all depends on your needs.
(Personally I don't like Ubuntu, it comes by default wih many unnecessary things, but it have a great support...).

 

[AmiNeo]

Dont keep up with all the Linux distribs, but has anyone tried puppy Linux? Its extremely lightweight, so much infact it loads itself into memory and doesnt even require any hard drive space bar for a config file for settings if you so desire.
Comes in handy in certain situations.

 

[Harrison]

I've always been a big fan of RedHat Fedora, the free branch of the commercial Red Hat OSs. Fedora enjoys the development from RedHat and often sees things tested in it before the commercial version gets it. It is also a huge distro, but with extensive configuration at install, so it can have as much or as little setup at installation. I do however consider Fedora more the heavyweight side of Linux distros.

For home users who don't want to get dirty and try to work everything out themselves you can't beat Ubuntu because it is a stable and well setup distro, and as others have said, it enjoys good support and community help. If you are getting into Linux for the first time it is the best place to start IMO.

 

[AmiNeo]

Just to expand a little... I notice there are a lot of veteren IT people here... What would you guys recommend for an IT Tech that wants experience with Linux? As it is I'm having a little trouble finding work. I dont drive which is against me but I feel my skills are becoming a little rusty as I've now been unemployed for almost a year. I'm CompTIA A+ certified and have an MCP for desktop support. I also did Ciscos CCNA course passing all 4 CCNA modules without any prior networking experience but decided against taking the final exam as it was a bit above my career level and was lacking in any real experience with Cisco stuff. I'm not one of those people who is happy walking around with a cert I'm not confident I could prove my worth in.

Suffice to say I wouldnt mind learning a few new OS besides MS which is all I have experience with at the moment. Linux I feel would be a good place to start especially if I can get into the server distribs... I also wouldnt mind getting to know Apple OS a little better as I haven't really dabbled with it much even in the old days...

Advice?

P.S. Sorry to go slightly off topic and possibly temporarily hijack a thread...

 

[jvdbossc]

I started with Caldera, moved to Susan 6.3, then wen't to redhat 5-7.3, then it was moved to Fedora core and gave up on it.

I like the benefit of "mainstream" so I use Ubuntu these day's. it even has tools to install the Redhat RPM's if need to be. Looking at fedora core from time to time, notice the same functionality.

Knoppix cd is never far away (for live purposes) I decided to stay at the Debian based distro's like damm small linux, knoppix, ubuntu, debian etc.;

---------- Post added at 18:22 ---------- Previous post was at 18:18 ----------

So whatever you chose just make sure it installs the popular rpm install files or deb files!

 

[Amigarobbo]

Suffice to say I wouldnt mind learning a few new OS besides MS which is all I have experience with at the moment. Linux I feel would be a good place to start especially if I can get into the server distribs... I also wouldnt mind getting to know Apple OS a little better as I haven't really dabbled with it much even in the old days...

AROS?