Can you suggest good distros that uses...

[Jucato]

Hi! I'm kinda distro-window shopping this week. I wanted to try out other distros and other desktop environments (only been using KDE). I was kinda hoping if you could give suggestions on some good distros (aside from Ubuntu) that use these:

1. RPM + GNOME
2. RPM + KDE (I heard SuSE is good?)
3. DEB + GNOME
4. DEB + KDE
5. Xfce (whether DEB or RPM)

It would be better if they had 1 CD installers, or at least an option to download 1 base CD installer and install the rest through the internet (something like net install?). Or better yet, a Live CD installer :D

I'd just like to get your inputs/opinions. Currently, I only have these downloaded already:
Knoppix, SimplyMEPIS, Ubuntu 5.10, Kubuntu 5.10, Kororaa (the one with XGL, which I can't run... :()
As you see, I'm severly lacking in the GNOME and RPM areas. I'd appreciate any inputs. Thankies!! :D

[aysiu]

1. RPM + GNOME Blag


2. RPM + KDE (I heard SuSE is good?) PCLinuxOS


3. DEB + GNOME Ubuntu, of course!


4. DEB + KDE Mepis.


5. Xfce (whether DEB or RPM) Xubuntu

[Jucato]

Whew! That was fast! :D
I'll give it a whirl. Thanks!
Any more opinions?
(NOTE: I'm not trying to start any sort of flame war or anything. Just wanted to get personal opinions, based on your experiences. :D)

[aysiu]

Can I assume you've taken this quiz already?
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

[briancurtin]

any specific reason you are looking to use RPMs?

[Jucato]

@aysiu: Yep. A couple of times already. Ubuntu/Kubuntu always comes up at the top. Mandriva and MEPIS follows.

@briancurtin: Just wanting to expand my Linux horizons. Kubuntu (KDE, DEB) is my first, and so far only, distro so I've been reared in the ways of the apt. I don't want to close my mind to other options. Who knows, I might like using RPM. I don't want to give it a thumbs down/up unless I have actually experienced it. :D

[engla]

Can I assume you've taken this quiz already?
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/
That's a good test, even though it's not very helpful, just sending me back to ubuntu :)
But it's quite right about what's missing; I like debian and ubuntu but I'd love to have a graphical installer. I know espresso is coming, this is bliss.

[John.Michael.Kane]

@Fenyx
http://www.blagblagblag.org/ <--blag is a fedora core 3 based
http://www.zenwalk.org/ < Slack Based
http://www.slackware.com/
http://www.whiteboxlinux.org/ <--RedHat based
http://www.vectorlinux.com/ <--based on Slackware
http://www.pcbsd.org/<-- Unix Os based on FreeBSD
http://www.pclinuxos.com/ <-- Based on Mandrake Linux (now Mandriva Linux) IE: RPM
http://www.getopenlab.com/
http://www.novell.com/products/desktop/
http://www.darkstarlinux.ro/<- based on Slackware Linux
http://www.centos.org/<- rebuild of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
http://caos.caosity.org/ <--stable RPM based Linux solution
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ <-- Allows you to build your own custom Linux system, entirely from source code.

[briancurtin]

That's a good test, even though it's not very helpful, just sending me back to ubuntu :)
ive never gotten it to give me an answer other than ubuntu

[Jucato]

@SD-Plissken: oh my, that's quite a list... which distro falls under which category?? Oh well, nevermind, I'll look for it. :D

@briancurtin: When that test was still new, most of the members in this forum reported that they almost always got Ubuntu as one of the results. If this keeps up, people might begin some strings are being pulled. :D

[Bandit]

Ubuntu is one of the best distros out. You should take at look at it :)
Xubuntu and Kubuntu are other great distros..

[John.Michael.Kane]

@Fenyx I edited the list. hope this helps you.

[briancurtin]

Ubuntu is one of the best distros out. You should take at look at it :)
Xubuntu and Kubuntu are other great distros..
xubuntu and kubuntu arent "other" distros. its ubuntu, just not with gnome.

[woedend]

i've tried almost every distro. I will only use gnome(personal choice) and to me, by far the best three are ubuntu, debian, and fedora. Debian is great, ubuntu to me is debian with paid developers to bring in the newer packages and spice things up a little, debian runs a little faster to me but it could be the older packages. And no, I wouldn't ever recommend debian stable for a desktop. so out of date it hurts. testing all the way! Fedora I've used off and on, but in the end it seems I always end up back with ubuntu.

[Jucato]

@SD-Plissken: yes it helps very much. Thanks!
@Bandit: oh yes, I will be trying ubuntu. They say it's quite good. :D
@woedend: In Debian testing, is there an option to download just one install CD?

Ok, then... off to downloading some ISO's!! :D

[ComplexNumber]

1. RPM + GNOME
2. RPM + KDE (I heard SuSE is good?)
1 - fedora core 5 (it is released in 4 days time. fedora core 4 is good for gnome)
2 - suse

[Lovechild]

For 1 and 2 I suggest Fedora Core 5
3. Ubuntu
4. ?
5. ??

[Jucato]

THanks for the inputs! That will be a lot to keep me busy for a few days/weeks.
Interestingly, no one has mentioned Mandriva. I wonder if the news I've read is any indication that it's going downhill.

@SD-Plissken: you put Zenwalk as debian based. But DistroWatch says the package management is TGZ, so I'm presuming it's Slackware based. So is it debian or slack?

Probably I'll tally what I dig up in researching also at DistroWatch and see if I can make a table for the inputs that you gave.

Thank y'all again! :D

[Jucato]

Just made a categorized list of all your inputs, for those who might be interested or researching on this kind of stuff. I hope I got them right. Some of the info I got from DistroWatch.


A. RPM
1. GNOME
Blag - http://www.blagblagblag.org
White Box Enterprise Linux - http://www.whiteboxlinux.org
CentOS - http://www.centos.org
cAos - http://caos.caosity.org
Fedora Core - http://fedora.redhat.com
2. KDE
PCLinuxOS - http://www.pclinuxos.com
SUSE (10.0 and below) - http://www.opensuse.org
3. Xfce

B. DEB
1. GNOME
Ubuntu - http://www.ubuntu.com
Debian - http://www.debian.org]/url]
2. KDE
Kubuntu - [url]http://www.kubuntu.org
SimplyMEPIS - http://www.mepis.org
3. Xfce
Xubuntu

C. TGZ (Slackware)
1. GNOME
2. KDE
Slackware - http://www.slackware.com
Vector Linux (SOHO) - http://www.vectorlinux.com
OpenLab GNU/Linux - http://www.getopenlab.com
DARKSTAR Linux - http://www.darkstarlinux.ro
3. Xfce
Zenwalk - http://www.zenwalk.org
Vector Linux - http://www.vectorlinux.com

D. Linux From Scratch - http://www.linuxfromscratch.org
Sorry I had to use code tags. The indents don't display when using plain or quote tags. :D

@SD-Plissen: You listed quite a lot. Any of those your favorites? Just curious. :D

[majikstreet]

hm. I can personally say that slackware is nice.. but I still prefer ubuntu. Fedora has looked goodish lately.. but I don't know much about RPM, though...

a good place to look (probably a bit overwhelming though!) is http://www.distrowatch.com

edit: I re-took that ldc test.. ubuntu was at the bottom of the list for me.. dunno if it's in order? it also recommended gentoo, foresight, pclinuxos, suse, and mandriva.. suse out. mandriva out.. I'm off to look at the foresight site!

[woedend]

debian goes under deb/gnome. And yes, it is a one cd install if you get the testing netinstall version. It's actually only 108 MB, and it installs MUCH quicker than ubuntu's 650+ mb cd.

[Jucato]

debian goes under deb/gnome. And yes, it is a one cd install if you get the testing netinstall version. It's actually only 108 MB, and it installs MUCH quicker than ubuntu's 650+ mb cd.

Edited by list to include Debian. Thanks for the info. It's good to know that Debian has a 1 CD installer. I've always wanted to test this legendary distro.

But I guess the net install doesn't install any GUI right? So I'd have to download GNOME separately? Oh well at least that will be better than downloading all 5 CD's. Now if only there was a Debian Live CD. :D

[woedend]

actually, the netinstall comes to a point where it asks you what to install(5 choices). 2 are already marked, and this by default installs gnome 2.12.3 and xorg 6.9(same exactly as the 7.0 ubuntu uses except in its old unmodularized form) and a few other goodies. However, the last time I installed it they were transistioning install versions and didn't work for me. In that case I just installed the package "gnome" and "x11-common" from command line and it installed gnome and xorg for me. This problem should now be gone as of march 15 because they fixed the installer.

[Jucato]

oh thanks for that info! do you have any idea/news whether debian plans to have a sort of Live CD?

[Bandit]

xubuntu and kubuntu arent "other" distros. its ubuntu, just not with gnome.
I know :)
I was being funny...

[towsonu2003]

1. RPM + GNOME
2. RPM + KDE (I heard SuSE is good?)
3. DEB + GNOME
4. DEB + KDE
5. Xfce (whether DEB or RPM)

1. centos
2: opensuse (=suse; will release new version soon) or fedora (will release new version soon)
3. debian (stable) or ubuntu (bleeding edge-ish; will release new version soon)
4. kubuntu or mepis or xandros
5. xubuntu (do ubuntu server install than apt-get xubuntu-desktop)

k-x-u-buntu are (as so mentioned bf) the same distros, but they are customized so that relevant tools are included.

I also suggest trying source based distros like Gentoo (anything you want is compiled from source by "emerge packagename") or Source Marge (in development). Or a hardcore linux distro such as Slackware (kde + tgz). Either of these will force you to learn this thing more trhoughout. You might also want to try openBSD or FreeBSD (difference??) to familiarize yourself with other alternatives. BSD is know for its hardcore security.

A good marketplace: distrowatch.com (advanced search or most populars)

PS. for some above, you will have to select to install kde / gnome during installation.

[majikstreet]

oh thanks for that info! do you have any idea/news whether debian plans to have a sort of Live CD?
hehe.. knoppix is based on debian.. it's the grandfather of a lot of livecds..


also, most distrobutions (except probably suse redhat mandriva and fedora) give you a choice of what desktop enviroment you want to use.. or you could just not install one and get it with tgz, rpm, or deb..