help choosing a new distro

[Kickinthedoor]

Good morning ubuntu forums! I have been using ubuntu for a few years now and want to try out some other distros. Im looking for something a little more powerfull, any suggestions?

[Superpelican12]

What do you exactly mean with "more powerful"? I think you can accomplish the same with all general purpose distros. The Ubuntu repos certainly have a lot of software (all the software of the Debian project + more). You're surely not going to find a distro with more software in the repos than Ubuntu. Or you have to go compile the software your self and/or use Gentoo or something alike.

Or do you mean something that runs faster? If that's the case you might give Xubuntu or Lubuntu a try.

If you just want to try something totally different than Ubuntu (although still quite userfriendly) you might want to give Fedora or openSUSE a try (I've also done that, I've used Fedora for some time. But after every distro I tried I kept coming back to the same old Ubuntu ;) )

[Kickinthedoor]

"more powerfull" may have been a poor choice of words. What i mean is something for a more advanced user. Dont get me wrong, i absolutly love ubuntu, the only reason i run a dual boot with win 7 is for silverlight so i can watch netflix, otherwise windows is prohibited in my house lol. And somehow i installed the os' backwards and allocated waaay to much room for win 7 so while im getting everything in order i figured i might as well set up another partition and try something new. Maybe ill make a few live cds and see what i like more. Thanks for the sugestions :)

[philinux]

Moved to Cafe.

[Kickinthedoor]

Oops, sorry for posting in the wrong sub. Thanks for moving it

[Erik1984]

Fedora, just to name one, looks like a good choice because it uses a different architecture for software packaging. Have not tried it myself but I'm interested after having tried the live CD of Fedora 17 a while ago. On the other hand I see no reason for me to leave *buntu I don't think there is anything better available in terms of available software and hardware support.

[sffvba[e0rt]

A lot of people seem to associate "more difficult" with "more advanced".

The underpinnings of most distro's are the same, it is just the way you achieve things which are different.


404

[ratcheer]

If you really want to get into the nuts and bolts of Linux, try Gentoo. If you want an easier to install and configure Gentoo-based distro, try Sabayon. If you want a bleeding edge system, try Siduction Linux (Debian-based).

Tim

[BrokenKingpin]

Debian.

[BrianBlaze]

I love Fedora, Ubuntu (& BackTrack), ArchLinux (I created my own GUI) and centOS... all of them can have minimal installs and all of them can be turned into anything you like really... Oh man I love Linux :)

[Mikeb85]

openSUSE, Fedora, Gentoo, ArchLinux would be my picks. openSUSE and Fedora are still relatively easy to use, Gentoo and Arch would require alot more DIY...

Never really been a fan of Debian or Debian based distros (except Ubuntu of course), but plain Debian could possibly be what you're looking for too.

[linuxyogi]

Install PCBSD 9.

[Kickinthedoor]

Im most likely going to make live cds of fedora, gentoo and lubuntu and see what i like best. Also on a side note, what do you think is the smallest amount of space i ccould allocate for win 7 and still be able to run netflix smoothly?

[Ariya243]

Im most likely going to make live cds of fedora, gentoo and lubuntu and see what i like best. Also on a side note, what do you think is the smallest amount of space i ccould allocate for win 7 and still be able to run netflix smoothly?

Win 7? 16 GB, if you don't want it to break, as it just gets bigger and bigger.
As for me, the best distro is Ubuntu. You can make it anyway you like. Go down to the minimum like Bodhi or go to the highest range packing in everything and the kitchen sink, Ultimate Edition. If you want a packed but quite decent distro, try Oz Unity Black Opal 64.

[Kickinthedoor]

I love ubuntu too. I was devistated when i realized there was no silverlight suport which forced me to dual boot with windows. I could give a **** how well it runs at 16gig as long as i can stream netflix without any hicups. I was doing a bit of reading and am leaning more towards trying fedora.

[Kickinthedoor]

so i completely wipe my drive and started over with a large partition for ubuntu 12.04, a very small partition for win 7 starter, and another small one for fedora. so far its cool, it has a really nice look to it.

[CharlesA]

A lot of people seem to associate "more difficult" with "more advanced".

The underpinnings of most distro's are the same, it is just the way you achieve things which are different.


404
This.

Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Scientific are all about the same. If you want a really bleeding edge distro, try Arch or Gentoo.

If your main complaint about Ubuntu is lack of silverlight, you will be sorely disappointed because so far no *nix distro has been able to run silverlight and moonlight doesn't work with Netflix last I checked.

[Kickinthedoor]

I wasnt searching for a silverlight fix. Ill use win 7 for that, i was really just looking for somthing different. Im guna keep trying releases on my 3rd partition just to keep things exciting lol

[Gone fishing]

There is nothing wrong with Ubuntu but if you want more challenging

Debian?
Slackware?
For a non Linux FreeBSD?

[CharlesA]

Slackware would be a good one, as would one of the BSDs.

Go nuts. ;)

[eNiNjA]

Slackware!

Better yet, LFS

[DarkAmbient]

Arch got my vote!