Fast, good looking distro

[b0ng0]

I have a reasonably fast computer and after using Ubuntu for quite a while I feel like trying some new distros and was wondering if anyone could suggest some to me :)

I'm looking for ones that are fast, do not come with hundreds of programs (I like to keep my distros slim), that look nice (e.g. Mint looks very polished but is a bit too similar to ubuntu for my tastes) and preferably runs kde (just for a change from gnome).

Thanks for any feedback.

[nhydra]

uhh, Ubuntu? No, serously... I can suggest Fedora 7 or Mandriva.
Here you are the link to fedora site. http://fedoraproject.org/
Take a look about the screenshots there. Are you impressed?

[b0ng0]

Hmm, seems quite nice i'll check it out.

When I was saying slim, I was thinking like Arch linux (where you dont really get anything to start with).

[b0ng0]

Fast boot and loading times would be ncie as well.

[rsambuca]

I have just installed Gentoo and have been enjoying tinkering around with it. If you partition your hard drive, you can install it from within ubuntu, so you don't lose the use of your PC during the initial compilations.

So far I have found it to be much faster than ubuntu, and frankly, not nearly as difficult as I was expecting. The gentoo handbook is extremely easy to follow along.

[igknighted]

I have just installed Gentoo and have been enjoying tinkering around with it. If you partition your hard drive, you can install it from within ubuntu, so you don't lose the use of your PC during the initial compilations.

So far I have found it to be much faster than ubuntu, and frankly, not nearly as difficult as I was expecting. The gentoo handbook is extremely easy to follow along.

+1 for Gentoo. I am running it on my workstation at work now and I love it. I tried Fedora on this tiny HP e-PC (p3, 256mb ram, etc.) and it dragged horribly (same with Ubuntu, mint, centos). I installed Gentoo (left it compiling all weekend :)) and now I don't even realize that I am using an old system. It's great.

[b0ng0]

Thanks for the Gentoo recommendations, it looks quite interesting anyway.

Do you think I should go with a pure Gentoo install or try Sabayon?

Also, how can I install Gentoo whilst also being in Ubuntu? :D Thanks

[Seti]

Zenwalk is FAST. So is Slackware; they're almost the same distro.
http://zenwalk.org/

[mips]

Do you think I should go with a pure Gentoo install or try Sabayon?

Also, how can I install Gentoo whilst also being in Ubuntu? :D Thanks

You could try Sabayon first to get familair with portage etc or you can jump straight into a gentoo stage3 install. You will probably learn more installing gentoo and it is easier to update than sabayon.

Read the gentoo docs, you set up a chroot environmnet and ssh into gentoo from a remote host. Works very well. Think I saw it somewhere under the net install section.

[b0ng0]

Thanks, i'll try that.

Btw, forgot to mention I want a distro that runs either gnome or kde (not xfce for example). Something fast, flashy and a little bleeding edge.

[igknighted]

Thanks, i'll try that.

Btw, forgot to mention I want a distro that runs either gnome or kde (not xfce for example). Something fast, flashy and a little bleeding edge.

If you think gnome/kde are more flashy than Xfce you are not giving it a fair shake. Sure, Xubuntu looks awful, I don't know why they try to mimick gnome. But Xfce has a true compositing wm with support for transparencies and shadows (plus you can run docks that require composite support like Kiba and AWN without beryl/compiz). Plus you can use the same GTK themes as you use in gnome, and there are custom window decs as well.

It isn't as heavy as gnome or kde, so there are certain things you are trading off (such as some config GUIs), but it is right there.

That all said, KDE is my DE of choice, and I strongly recommend it. Just trying to stick up for the little guy :).

See my Xfce screenie here: http://www.divshare.com/image/full/703474-008

[smartboyathome]

You may want to go with a more customizable distro then. Normally, I would say ubuntu, but in this case you could run Gentoo (it may take longer to install KDE than a debian-based system).

[ntlam]

what is a distro BTW? Seems a stupid question. I just install linux (ubuntu ofcourse), got fundamental things work, but not really know the terminologies here.

[igknighted]

what is a distro BTW? Seems a stupid question. I just install linux (ubuntu ofcourse), got fundamental things work, but not really know the terminologies here.

Linux is an operating system kernel. By itself it cannot do much. What Ubuntu (and many other groups and companies) do is collect a bunch of applications, artwork, system tools and the linux kernel and put them together so they work well together. This is a distribution (or distro for short).

Ubuntu != linux. It is merely one operating system that is built on the linux kernel. There are thousands more. Check out www.distrowatch.com for a list of them, including a brief synopsis of each and a rough list of their popularity.

[ntlam]

thanks for a nice answer

[fistfullofroses]

Vector Linux.

[pain of salvation]

Hmm, seems quite nice i'll check it out.

When I was saying slim, I was thinking like Arch linux (where you dont really get anything to start with).

And why not Arch?

It is as fast as Gentoo, but you won't spend your time compiling things.
It is as stable as Slack.
It is easy to maintain.
You will learn a lot about Linux. You will get a KISS distro.
You will get a very minimal system (if you install using the base system .iso), and will install only what you want.
It is bleeding edge.
You can install Gnome or KDE or any other DE or WM. Also you may choose between vanilla KDE or KDEmod, wich is a very customizable and fast kde optimized for Arch Linux.

[Rumor]

I'd recommend Arch Linux. http://www.archlinux.org/

Arch is i686 optimized and installs only what you wish installed. Arch supports Gnome and KDE and just about any other DE/WM you'd want. Arch is every bit as fast as Gentoo without the long compile times.

Arch can be as bleeding edge as you are comfortable with. Arch has a friendly, helpful community for support.

It is very lightweight and very, VERY fast.

[init1]

uhh, Ubuntu? No, serously... I can suggest Fedora 7 or Mandriva.
Here you are the link to fedora site. http://fedoraproject.org/
Take a look about the screenshots there. Are you impressed?
Fedora is neither fast nor small.

[igknighted]

Fedora is neither fast nor small.

Fedora can be as fast and small as you want. You get to pick exactly what gets installed if you want. And the liveCDs don't have bloatware like OO.o either...

[b0ng0]

Can you customize fedora whilst installing it from the livecd? Also, are the kde and gnome versions pretty much the same? (unlike kubuntu and ubuntu).

[igknighted]

Can you customize fedora whilst installing it from the livecd? Also, are the kde and gnome versions pretty much the same? (unlike kubuntu and ubuntu).

1) No, just the DVD set... but you could build your own liveCD with revisor (it's actually really easy), just "yum install revisor" to install it and follow its steps.

2) I don't find Kubuntu and Ubuntu very different at all, so I would have to say Fedora is about the same. KDE apps are used instead of Gnome ones, of course, but aside from that I think they are roughly the same... what is it about Kubuntu and Ubuntu that you find so different?

[b0ng0]

Well I know they're not that different but since Feisty my wireless doesn't work in Kubuntu and does in Ubuntu (I know it's probably just a small program).

But anyway, I just fancy trying a new distro. Ill check fedora out.

[dptxp]

Try Knoppix.The 5.1.1. Great hardware detection and lots of programs. 2 GB of compressed software on CD and 8 GB software on DVD ( They have both CD and DVD). It even reads and writes NTFS partitions. And it is Debian.
There are ways to install it too, one link is http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Hd_Install_HowTo

[init1]

Vector Linux.
Agreed. Vector is great.
http://www.vectorlinux.com/

[ArtF10]

I've got Zenwalk running on an older computer and I have to say I'm loving it. IT is lean and mean...I have become a huge fan of 'Zen Computing'. Sure it's a thin distro and people will point this out first, but if you don't mind the one program for each task and NO MORE, then you'll enjoy Zenwalk. I am amazed by the speed.

Everyone keeps saying that ARch Linux is fast, but (I have no personal experience with ARch) I simply cannot imagine that it would be fastER than Zenwalk. I found that Zenwalk is very very responsive and I really like that aspect of it. It is a terrific distribution and if I move away from Ubuntu, there is no doubt that Zenwalk WILL be the distro which replaces it.

The system is being used for web surfing, office related documents, printing, viewing contents (documents) of CDs and DVDs and creating custom wallpapers for Zenwalk:mrgreen::mrgreen:. Inotherwords, if Zenwalk doesn't have it, I don't need it for the purposes of THIS machine.

From my experience with it, I would not hesitate in installing it as the ONLY OS on a system which is required for comparable use. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND it and I have to give it a 10/10.

If you reconsider and decide to look at XFCE, then I'd recommend this.

[Tux Aubrey]

+1 on zenwalk - the fastest booting distro I have ever installed - 23 seconds from lilo to logon screen and then 8 seconds to the desktop.

It is slick too and a great advert for Xfce (although I think Dreamlinux takes the Xfce prize). But I am having difficulty installing other WMs (fluxbox is my WM of choice for small and light distros).

[s26c.sayan]

+1 to Arch Linux

Superfast, lightweight, bleeding edge, flexible (you can have gnome, kde, xfce or anything!!) and highly customizable!

However, as a pre-requisite, you need to be reasonably accustomed to using linux esp. the CLI.

[Raffo]

archlinux + kdemod

[b0ng0]

I have had a wee look around and have tried out too many distros to mention but I have to say that Arch has definitely won me over. Easy to set up with the wiki and exactly what I was looking for in terms of choosing what I want in my distro rather than get lots of bundled crap. I think I will still keep Ubuntu for a Gnome based distro but once I get my router up and running I will download kdemod for Arch, it looks very nice :)

[darksong]

If you want gentoo - i would use sabayon - it ticks your boxes - KDE and looks good and is quick. Expect some bugs and a bit of recomipling - the distro is very young and has no commercial backing as ubuntu does - it is a very good distro none the less - it now lets you choose what you install (package selection in the install)

Elive is cool, its different and looks nice - it is based on debian i belive.

[miggols99]

Arch Linux with KDEmod looks really nice, and fast with some nice patches added to it to make it even better. You can have a look at it at:

http://kdemod.ath.cx

Arch Linux is really lightweight and fast, and the package manager is really good. It's bleeding edge, so you'll get the most up to date packages.

[quaaack]

+1 Arch Linux. Kdemod default interface is nice, but I prefer openbox :)