Which distribution should I try next?

[bored2k]

I'm thinking about trying out another distribution, but although I've heard a lot of good things from ones like SuSE and Fedora, I've also heard horrendous things about them. So my question's the following:




Which distribution should I try next? Why should I try that one and not others?



Note: Due to time constraints, Gentoo is out of the question.

[lgmdaniel]

I've tried SuSe which was nice.. though I had some problems which it crashing. But then it might just not have liked my kit and I didn't really have the time to look at the problems.
Mandrivas another thats rather nice, seemed to go on well, I think I only had problems getting CUPS/SAMBA configured. But that was probably me as I've not got it working correctly yet on Ubuntu to.

[mstlyevil]

You should try Suse. I think it would give you a good experience with a RPM based distro and let you see how others do things like change sources. You could learn the vast difference between YAST and apt-get (synaptic). Also Suse IMHO is the most polished and stable Distribution that is not some how crippled like Linspire. Suse is also designed to be friendly to both new users and advanced users at the same time. I like it almost as much as Ubuntu/Kubuntu except it is not debian. If I had to go back to a RPM distro it would be my first choice.

[Titus A Duxass]

Depends on what you want to do, if you want a replacement for ubuntu then I recommend SuSE.

I ran SuSE for years from 7.3 upto 10.0, the best is 9.3. As someone stated before it's a bit micorsofty with a billion apps and fairly bloated (therefore not the fastest). But it very professional. You may not find it much of a challenge.

If you want a challenge have a go at slack or debain (do a minimum install and build on it, that's fun).

Or, get a really old PC and play with DSL or Puppy. DSL is fun, you can keep stripping bits out and see it race.

And of course dump the gui, do everything from CLI.

[Arktis]

If you want a challenge + quality/speed, go for gentoo... or so I hear. I've still yet to try it.

[purdy hate machine]

Mepis is a nice distro which I'm currently duel booting with Ubuntu(Gnome). I find that its runs KDE a lot smother than (K)Ubuntu.

[lgmdaniel]

Of if you have a spare usb key laying about you could try http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

[bored2k]

You should try Suse. I think it would give you a good experience with a RPM based distro and let you see how others do things like change sources.Although I understand what you're saying, I have used other packaging systems besides DEB. That were RPM-based, I've tried/used AuroX 10, Red Hat 7, Mandrake 10, SuSE 8 (a little 9) and a few more. But as you can see, It's been a while since I've touched one, and I've heard the RPM is now a lot better than the time I used MDK10 as my main distribution.

[bored2k]

Depends on what you want to do, if you want a replacement for ubuntu then I recommend SuSE.Although I'm not looking for one, it could be (of course, depending on how good it is), although not necessarily (spare partition).


I ran SuSE for years from 7.3 upto 10.0, the best is 9.3. Why's 9.3 better than 10? Considerably slower than (K)Ubuntu?




If you want a challenge have a go at slack or debain (do a minimum install and build on it, that's fun).Heh, at the moment, I don't think that's what I'm looking for ;). And when I do get the desire for it, I don't think it'd be Slackware.



And of course dump the gui, do everything from CLI.I already work that way. Remember, I'm just looking for a good distro ;).

[bored2k]

If you want a challenge + quality/speed, go for gentoo... or so I hear. I've still yet to try it.It's out of the question. I don't have time for it.

[earobinson]

can i vote for dapper?

[majikstreet]

hmph.. don't leave ubuntu then, bored!!

umm... slackware may be nice.. this is strange being allowed on the internet at school.. so yeah.

[bored2k]

can i vote for dapper?
Although, technically, you can, I'm not sure I could sleep well at night, thinking that the next time I upgrade&reboot my box, might be the last. With all my college projects... not good.

[mstlyevil]

Although I understand what you're saying, I have used other packaging systems besides DEB. That were RPM-based, I've tried/used AuroX 10, Red Hat 7, Mandrake 10, SuSE 8 (a little 9) and a few more. But as you can see, It's been a while since I've touched one, and I've heard the RPM is now a lot better than the time I used MDK10 as my main distribution.

I wasn't sure if you had used it before but poofyhairyguy made a statement yesterday about this issue. He basically said that Ubuntu and Suse were like ying and yang. People that tend to like one also tend to like the other. I have no experience with Suse 9.3 but I used Suse 10 for over a month and found it to as much like Ubuntu/Kubuntu as a RPM distro could be.

If you do decide to try Suse 10 use the evaluation version. It is not limited in any way they just don't supply printed manuals or free support. It include a lot of propietary drivers and software like JR2E, Macromedia Flash, Realplayer, and Adobe. That is unless you just use GNU then use open Suse. I can link you to a guide on getting new sources and setting up multimedia codecs.

[bored2k]

I wasn't sure if you had used it before but poofyhairyguy made a statement yesterday about this issue. He basically said that Ubuntu and Suse were like ying and yang. People that tend to like one also tend to like the other. I have no experience with Suse 9.3 but I used Suse 10 for over a month and found it to as much like Ubuntu/Kubuntu as a RPM distro could be.<007>That's good, very good.</007>


If you do decide to try Suse 10 use the evaluation version. It is not limited in any way they just don't supply printed manuals or free support. It include a lot of propietary drivers and software like JR2E, Macromedia Flash, Realplayer, and Adobe.Cha ching!
I can link you to a guide on getting new sources and setting up multimedia codecs.I'd like that :-).

[Adrian]

I ran SuSE for years from 7.3 upto 10.0, the best is 9.3. As someone stated before it's a bit micorsofty with a billion apps and fairly bloated (therefore not the fastest). But it very professional. You may not find it much of a challenge.

Well, SUSE installs much, but on my computer it's very fast when running. I have a 700MHz Celeron laptop, and the fan rarely starts spinning (which can be a problem). Actually, I did some system monitoring and compared to Kubuntu, SUSE uses a lot less (50%) CPU power at idle time (again, this is on my machine). It also feels very snappy. I haven't tried the Gnome desktop though.

Also, the KDE is the best I've seen (try it if you want to see how nice KDE can be).

The downside? It's not Debian-based. I strongly prefer Debian's package management system.

[Adrian]

If you do decide to try Suse 10 use the evaluation version. I wanted to try that myself, but I couldn't find any internet installer for it so I installed openSUSE instead. Do you know if there is any?

[mstlyevil]

Here goes that link then. I used it to set up DVD playback and to get the extra sources installed.

http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/178/42/

I says it is for Open Suse. Just ignore all the stuff on J2RE and other propietary software you already have from the evaluation version. Everything else in the article is petinant.

[mstlyevil]

I wanted to try that myself, but I couldn't find any internet installer for it so I installed openSUSE instead. Do you know if there is any?

I just downloaded the 5 CD's and installed it normally. The disk are bootable if you burn them as an ISO image. If you are on dial-up I recommend downloading Open Suse instead because 5 CDs may be a bit much for dial-up.

[bored2k]

Here goes that link then. I used it to set up DVD playback and to get the extra sources installed.

http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/178/42/
Thanks :D.

Already downloading SUSE-10.0-EvalDVD-i386-GM.iso ;).

[mips]

Instead of trying another Linux distro why dont you try a Unix based one like FreeBSD or OpenBSD(very secure) ?

That is what I'm gonna try next.

[phanboy_iv]

Slax or Mutagenix or KateOS are nice Slax-based distro's. GoboLinux is fun too.

[mstlyevil]

He wanted to try a distro that would not require him to do a lot of configuring to get it up and going so that is why he limited his choices to what was in the poll to begin with. Most of the distros that were mentioned outside the poll, although great did not fit that bill. On the other hand I am thinking of buying an old computer at a pawn shop just for the purpose of playing around with some of the different distros mentioned. I may just build one if I cant find a used one I think is worth the money.

[firetux]

If you are bored with Ubuntu and want something more difficult go for fedora.
Its more for the power-user,(not as much als gentoo but still).

[bonzodog]

Bored, take it from someone who has tried a lot of them: Suse has a major problem. It is too reliant on the kde suite and apps, it loads 4GB of data on to your Hard disk just for a standard install -- in short is bloated, and in my experience. slow.

I would say try slackware. It will take a little bit of configuration, like having to manually set-up X, using $xorgconfig after first boot into the console. But it is a very sleek, and very light distro.

I would also think about Arch Linux, this is an optimised 686 distro that is getting rave reviews, and has very good package management.

[earobinson]

Although, technically, you can, I'm not sure I could sleep well at night, thinking that the next time I upgrade&reboot my box, might be the last. With all my college projects... not good.
Thats why you dual boot!

[aysiu]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned PCLinuxOS. It's a lot like Mepis, except cleaner, more professional-looking.

It's a live CD and installer CD in one, based on Mandriva (but using Synaptic), and it comes with a ton of non-free codecs people complain about Ubuntu not having.

[Adrian]

Bored, take it from someone who has tried a lot of them: Suse has a major problem. It is too reliant on the kde suite and apps, it loads 4GB of data on to your Hard disk just for a standard install -- in short is bloated, and in my experience. slow.

My openSUSE installation is using 2.59GB at the moment, and that's after installing KDevelop which eats over 400MB. I don't have Gnome installed though, and I can imagine that installing both desktop environments can be pretty diskspace consuming.

Btw, people say Gnome works a lot better in 10.0 than in previous SUSE versions (also, Novell seems to prefer Gnome).

Edit: Of course I haven't removed any programs that were installed by default.

[lgmdaniel]

Personally when I get it all sorted on Ubuntu I'll be picking up a 256 usb key and seeing how easy it is to use Dam SMall Linux. So I can see how happy it is about being booted on different PC's so I can take it anywhere.

[ctt1wbw]

I didn't see BudweiserLinux in there??? :razz:

[Titus A Duxass]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Titus A Duxass
I ran SuSE for years from 7.3 upto 10.0, the best is 9.3.

Why's 9.3 better than 10? Considerably slower than (K)Ubuntu?

I installed 10 shortly before I jumped to Kubuntu. I was quite disappointed, the only thing that worked out of the box was my bloody wireless card! Laugh, I fell my chair.

Just to clarify 7.3 to 10 were all retail packages, 10 I downloaded so that maybe explains why things did not run smoothly.

[Perfect Storm]

You should try Arch Linux as someone else mention. An i686 optimized distro. Or Fox linux which is also i686 optimized. Though both have small community(s).

[bored2k]

You should try Arch Linux as someone else mention. An i686 optimized distro. Or Fox linux which is also i686 optimized. Though both have small community(s).
Well, I decided to go with arch, and I think It's a keeper. As we speak I am saving a few things before reinstalling it on my main linux partition, so thanks to everyone who gave their opinion, specially to those who said arch ;).

Oh and the speed? Ridiculous.

[Adrian]

Well, I decided to go with arch, and I think It's a keeper. As we speak I am saving a few things before reinstalling it on my main linux partition, so thanks to everyone who gave their opinion, specially to those who said arch ;).

Is there any good "how to setup" documentation available for people like me who aren't that good at command lining yet but want to learn?


Arch Linux is an i686-optimized linux distribution targeted at competent linux users (read: not afraid of the commandline)


Edit: After some googling, I found this (http://www.archlinux.org/docs/en/guide/install/arch-install-guide.html) document, which looks promising. Maybe I'll give it a try myself :)

[Mr_Grieves]

I think Ubuntu is as good as Linux gets. So I'd recommend FreeBSD.

[bored2k]

Yeah, that's the most comprehensive guide out there. Also, my friend Wael made this guide at my request:

[bored2k]

Is there any good "how to setup" documentation available for people like me who aren't that good at command lining yet but want to learn?


Arch Linux is an i686-optimized linux distribution targeted at competent linux users (read: not afraid of the commandline)


Edit: After some googling, I found this (http://www.archlinux.org/docs/en/guide/install/arch-install-guide.html) document, which looks promising. Maybe I'll give it a try myself :)
Yeah, that's the most comprehensive guide out there. Also, my friend Wael made this guide at my request: http://wael.nasreddine.com/Articles/Articles/Install_Arch_Linux.html

[bored2k]

I think Ubuntu is as good as Linux gets. So I'd recommend FreeBSD.
I wouldn't go that far. First, there are thousands of distros out there who vary quite a bit, and second, it depends on what you focus on. If your perfect distro is one that makes you learn and not be afraid of the terminal, I'm not sure Ubuntu is for you (and viceversa). Many share the same ideals of the Arch Way, which is quite different (http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/The_Arch_Way) than that of Ubuntu's. (http://www.ubuntulinux.org/)

[DoeRayMe]

On arch it looks like it has packages for each KDE section

Can you uninstall stuff you dont need? like get rid of some tools but keep some?

[bored2k]

Of course, just like any distribution I know of.
In arch, apt-get = pacman (http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman). Packages for each section? Not really (I don't even know what you mean). You just pacman -S like you would do apt-get.

[DoeRayMe]

What i mean and i just read on thier forum

You have to install a whole kde section, to just get stuff you need, like for Kopete, you have to install the whole kdenetwork section

They ship it straight from kde

They dont seperate the package into individual packages

Understand what i mean?

[xequence]

Ive always wanted to give FreeBSD a try. When youre done playing around with arch take FreeBSD for a spin ;)

[bored2k]

Ive always wanted to give FreeBSD a try. When youre done playing around with arch take FreeBSD for a spin ;)
As a good ol' desktop user, I don't see the use of installing BSD here, although yes, it could be interesting. If I ever try it, it'll be in a while, I'm so liking arch.