Help me choose a new Distro?

[Slug71]

So since Packagekit and Plymouth have been dropped for Karmic and possibly Ubuntu and possibly even Login Experience/Facebrowser after how many, "next release", "next release"s..., im looking for a new Distro.

I have Foresight, F11, Super OS and Mandriva in mind and leaning very much toward Foresight Linux.

So.... fire away!

[y6FgBn)~v]

I've heard good things about Foresight. Give it a go and let us know what you think.

[John.Michael.Kane]

What will the machine be used for?

How comfortable are you with text/command line installs?

Here are some you might like.
Slackware
openSUSE
CRUX
Arch

BSD's
FreeBSD
NetBSD

[sertse]

Fedora for a new supported modern distro that dares with new technologies.

Mandrivia to highlight what kde is should really be like

[Slug71]

What will the machine be used for?

How comfortable are you with text/command line installs?

Here are some you might like.
Slackware
openSUSE
CRUX
Arch

BSD's
FreeBSD
NetBSD

Just regular Desktop use. the odd office doc, music, internet etc.

Have never done a text/command line install though i would like to try.

[SuperSonic4]

Mandriva - it owns for KDE

[Screwdriver0815]

Mandriva!

definitly worth a try.

- it has a really good KDE integration

- a good control center which manages all your hardware and makes installing prop. drivers as easy as in Ubuntu

- a good networkmanagement, where you can see that Knetworkmanager in Kubuntu is a joke compared to the Mandriva Networkmanager

- a more sophisticated Firewall

- frequent but non-intrusive and non-annoying scans of the system for rootkits and other evil stuff

- as many software as Ubuntu available

[Slug71]

Is the free version of Mandriva well supported though?

I liked Mandrake 10.

[SuperSonic4]

Mandriva's Hardware detection is the best I've seen in any Linux distro. It was using the ath5k driver in October whereas it only came out in Jaunty for kubuntu

yeah, mandriva is well supported but it's harder to get information from forums - moreso if you're not a francophone

[albinootje]

Is the free version of Mandriva well supported though?

I liked Mandrake 10.

Looks like you're gonna try Mandriva, but.. once in your life you should try Arch Linux, just for the sake of installing and using it for at least a little while. :)

[fatality_uk]

Mandriva - it owns for KDE

Very true!:popcorn:

[ghindo]

Wait until Karmic is out before dismissing it entirely. ;) We're still only at Alpha 1.

[Xbehave]

installed fedora 11 yesterday, kde4 is still too unstable :( and i miss apt already! Its a good distro AFAICT, but if your looking for specific programs on ubuntu, just install them yourself /usr/local and /opt are there for a reason.

[CJ Master]

In my opinion, Arch+KDEmod blows away Mandrivia. But, eh.

Personally, I hate topics like this, because you're giving us NO information! So here:

For a great package manager, buitiful graphics and intergration, and you don't mind text based installs and are a bit knowledgable in Linux, try Arch.

Or else try some of the other billions of distro's, they're all more or less the same. Foresight is good for it's excelent Conary package manager and rolling releases.

[super.rad]

Hadn't heard of Foresight before, was just about to ask is it rolling release as it looks interesting. Think it's time to make room for a triple boot (already have Arch + KDE and Ubuntu karmic)
Oh yeah and as for which you should use, definatley try out Arch but out of the ones in the poll I will have to say Fedora 11 as I tried it recently and really liked it, also has packagekit and plymouth already installed so seems to cover what you want

[Slug71]

Hmmm, i really need a to get my desktop done or a bigger drive for the laptop. Want to try out Arch now too.

[Slug71]

installed fedora 11 yesterday, kde4 is still too unstable :( and i miss apt already! Its a good distro AFAICT, but if your looking for specific programs on ubuntu, just install them yourself /usr/local and /opt are there for a reason.

If i got F-11 i'd stick with Gnome anyway.

[super.rad]

Just installed forsight and I'm really impressed with it. Very fast, package kit is working brilliantly (no annoying errors like I keep getting in ubuntu). F-Spot actually works for me, something that doesn't happen often on Ubuntu. Good set of default apps (AWN, Gnome Do, Banshee). Everything is upto date as it's rolling release (and the latest DVD is only a few weeks old). Off to bed now but will play with it more tomorrow, only bad point so far was no option for ext4 on the install

[Slug71]

Just installed forsight and I'm really impressed with it. Very fast, package kit is working brilliantly (no annoying errors like I keep getting in ubuntu). F-Spot actually works for me, something that doesn't happen often on Ubuntu. Good set of default apps (AWN, Gnome Do, Banshee). Everything is upto date as it's rolling release (and the latest DVD is only a few weeks old). Off to bed now but will play with it more tomorrow, only bad point so far was no option for ext4 on the install

Hmm, yeh i think im gonna try Foresight for a while first. Have wanted to for a while. Im sure EXT4 will be coming soon. ;)

[Screwdriver0815]

Mandriva's Hardware detection is the best I've seen in any Linux distro. It was using the ath5k driver in October whereas it only came out in Jaunty for kubuntu

yeah, mandriva is well supported but it's harder to get information from forums - moreso if you're not a francophone
Isn't there also a big english Mandriva Forum?

http://forum.mandriva.com/

I did not have any trouble with Mandriva - from the objective standpoint: it is better than Ubuntu!

Anyway: at least I had no (= zero) trouble with it. Installed the system, switched on the extra repos - they are already put into the software manager, you just need to set a hook instead searching for the Medibuntu deb-line, installed all the stuff I wanted, works. No failure, no extra configuration required.

[z0mbie]

Fedora hands down, their package manger has improved a lot.