What are the differences between all the distros?

[cusinmex]

I've tried DSL, but sadly i failed at it.
Now I'm happy with Ubuntu but
wondering about what the the other distros
were all about?
any suggestions? :P

[ikisham]

If you're happy with Ubuntu, that's fine. It's support (like it's updates or the forum) is certainly one of the best.
It can be somewhat bloated (meaning come with features that you don't need) and also if you have an old hardware there are distros out there that are smaller and also faster.

I really entered Linux world with Ubuntu but Fedora and Open SUSE are traditional distros.
I tried Fedora 11 live-cd but it was the only Linux distro that the sound didn't work for me and this week I downloaded the beta for Fedora 12 and it wouldn't even load the desktop.
The only thing I know about SUSE is that I built an iso with their susestudio service and surprisingly (for me) it worked very well, even being the first iso built and without the default desktop.

[MelDJ]

see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions

[oldos2er]

http://distrowatch.com/ has a description of every distro it lists. Happy reading.

[spupy]

In different distros different things don't work for you.
I settled for a distro where I was able fix the things that won't work for my laptop.

[Slug71]

I just got done with my multi-boot system. Installed are: Reactos, PC-BSD, OpenSolaris, Fedora 11, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mandriva, Linux Mint, !#Crunchbang, openSUSE and just have Ubuntu to do.

I havent used it yet but really impressed with the Yast installer, i really recommend openSUSE.

At the end of installation and after you reboot Yast comes up again after login and does a system/hardware configuration and really does a good job of it.

[hoppipolla]

I would say Ubuntu is a pretty sweet choice, and I've tried a LOT.

I would say though that if you want a more techie, customizable distro then consider Arch, if you want a more KDE-focused distro then maybe consider openSUSE. If you want a lightweight one then consider Crunchbang! It's up to you!

All I can say is that as someone whose used a fair number, there is a reason why Ubuntu is the biggest and it's not all promotion/branding! lol :)


EDIT -- Oh and Mint might be worth a look too! :)

[Crunchy the Headcrab]

Ubuntu seems to provide the best overall experience for me as far as big repositories, ease of use, and bling are concerned. I also like Fedora. OpenSuse is okay if you use the KDE versio, but don't even bother if you're looking for Gnome. OpenSuse has way too much bloat for me also.

[NoaHall]

I just got done with my multi-boot system. Installed are: Reactos, PC-BSD, OpenSolaris, Fedora 11, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mandriva, Linux Mint, !#Crunchbang, openSUSE and just have Ubuntu to do.

I havent used it yet but really impressed with the Yast installer, i really recommend openSUSE.

At the end of installation and after you reboot Yast comes up again after login and does a system/hardware configuration and really does a good job of it.

Btw OP, neither OpenSolaris, PC-BSD nor ReactOS use the Linux kernel(therefore they are not Linux) , but they are free and open source.

[cusinmex]

okay thanks
ill check them out :D

[speedwell68]

EDIT -- Oh and Mint might be worth a look too! :)

The more I use Mint the more I prefer it to actual Ubuntu.

[dragos240]

Ubuntu = Simple, easy, great for learning linux, one of the distros I use.
Gentoo = for the uber leet linux techies.
Archlinux = A light and simple distro. Easy to install, easy to set up. All you want, and nothing you don't. I use this too.
Fedora = Another easy distro to set up. Can be installed with 2 disks, and requires some minimal linux experience.
Crunchbang = The lightened up version of ubuntu.
DSL = 50 megabytes of fun!
LFS = Linux from scratch: Does this need anymore explaining?

Those are some distros I have had experience with. Except for LFS. I haven't done that yet!

[drawkcab]

I always end up back with ubuntu-based distros. I know ubuntu fairly well and it's relatively easy for me to work with. There are a lot of ubuntu-based distros to explore.

Every once in a while I try something different. Just buy a USB stick and fire up a live session of the distros you find interesting at distrowatch.

[RichardLinx]

I think the biggest difference between distributions is the package manager they use. All the rest is pretty changeable:
Desktop Environment: Easy to install KDE/GNOME/Xfce/Whatever
Software: Easy enough to install and remove almost all software (Unless it's so tightly integrated that it could cause breakage if you don't know what you're doing.)
Kernel: Well, depending on when it was released they all seem to use the same version of the kernel at one point or another.