Which Distro to choose for a Distro Hopper.

**bhold** · May 26th, 2012

Since 2007 I've used some Linux distro on at least one of my home systems. I've probably tried approximately 10 distros. During this time I've come to appreciate the stability of the deb packaging system as well as the large number of software offerings installable for the Debian offshoots. So when I distro hop - less frequently these days - I tend to give preference to those distros that use deb packaging.

I used to dual or triple boot to compare multiple distros but gave up on that due to problems with grub2 - in my opinion a big step backwards from original grub - but that is a different topic.

Currently I'm using Debian Squeeze 6.04 with XFCE and do not see anything out there that makes me want to change at this time. I prefer stability to bleeding edge, and I like the relatively light footprint of XFCE because my hardware - while not yet antique - will be considered so in several years. These preferences for stability and lightweight are not for everyone but work fine for me.

**ratcheer** · May 26th, 2012

Originally Posted by bhold

I used to dual or triple boot to compare multiple distros but gave up on that due to problems with grub2 - in my opinion a big step backwards from original grub - but that is a different topic.

I have five Linux's installed on my PC and I use grub2 with no problems. The way I finally figured out to manage it was to decide on one installation to always use to control grub. When I install a new distro, I instruct it to skip the bootloader step, if possible. Then, I go back to the one installation I use for grub and run update-grub.

If a new install does not allow me to skip its own grub install, then after it has happened I go back to my controlling distro and run grub-install, then update-grub, and everything is back the way I want it.

Tim

**Max Blyss** · May 26th, 2012

I'm surprised no one's mentioned CrunchBang yet... It's nice and straightforward, based off of Debian Stable, and if you don't like the Openbox/Tint2 default setup, it will fly with XFCE. Great distro.

Bodhi's nice, Voyager and Solus both look really good, and everyone should try out a Puppy or two.

**akshay.sulakhe** · May 26th, 2012

I stay in EU,so i think it will be easy for me to use OpenSuse

**akshay.sulakhe** · May 26th, 2012

I didnt like XFCE:..

**akshay.sulakhe** · May 26th, 2012

I often do development,but its only in Eclipse,so i can manage that on any distro.

**akshay.sulakhe** · May 26th, 2012

Which debian would you recommend,sid or lenny? its a normal home pc...some new experience i am looking for.

**ratcheer** · May 26th, 2012

Originally Posted by akshay.sulakhe

Which debian would you recommend,sid or lenny? its a normal home pc...some new experience i am looking for.

Neither. Lenny is quite old. Squeeze is the stable release, Wheezy is the fairly stable testing release. But I am using Siduction, which is based on sid, the unstable release. Not for my main system, though.

Tim

**buzzingrobot** · May 28th, 2012

Squeeze is Gnome 2. Very solid and stable, but showing its age. Wheezy, the testing version, is due to become the new Debian Stable in several months. It is Gnome 3. Unstable, aka Sid, is the latest stuff but Sid is where Debian takes first crack at debugging

If you are thinking about Debian, you owe it to yourself to go to the site and read the explanations of stable, testing, and unstable and how it all works.

If you are looking for Gnome 2, CentOS 6.2 is excellent on the desktop. Fuduntu is also Gnome 2, but with more current packages.