What Kind of Linux Distros Have You Tried...

[Gen2ly]

I just wanted to start a thread and ask why you like other distros. If you moderators find this subject doesn't belong here then I would understand, this is not intended as spam. I run Ubuntu on one of my computers and don't' plan to change it.

As for me, Ive tried three distros: Ubuntu, Debian, and Gentoo. I started with Ubuntu on my iBook. Unfortunately, the experience wasn't that satisfying. I was solid but sluggish. It's and older aging computer so Just to have it running is the main benefit. Then I tried Debian, I had heard good things about Debian Etch and PPC support, so I had to give it a try. It was awesome! There are a fair number of people that support PowerPC for Debian still. Though a few odd bugs, it was responsive and just seemed to fit. Next I did Gentoo, not for any real reason beyond curiosity. That was tough. Not only did I encounter all the bugs the the Debian developers probably did as they built programs, but each one seemed new with little documentation. I eventually had it built and it was more bug free that both Ubuntu and Debian but was the least responsive of all them. Now, I have my Intel machine that I've run both Ubuntu and got Gentoo built on. I'm really very very pleased at how well it runs.

I know Linux has it's share of distros, that many users have been satisfied with, and some very loyal to. Have any of you tried any other distros, and why? What makes them why you like them?

[Iarwain ben-adar]

Hmm,

I only tried SuSE, Sidux, Sabayon, Mandriva and Ubuntu.
Not much of a distro-hopper xD

But i am thinking of trying Sidux again (if i get my wireless working)


Iarwain

[ThinkBuntu]

*.iso

[tehbeermang]

Knoppix, Damn Small, Sabayon, and Ubuntu. Sabayon didn't recognize the keyboard on this laptop, that presents a small problem...

Want to try: LinuxICE (In Car Entertainment), though it will probably be for a small form factor "home entertainment appliance" when it's all said and done. Though I do want to build a carputer...

[tehkain]

Ubuntu, Debain, Knoppix, slackware, fedora, RHEL, mandriva, and DSL.

I used an old school disto back in 98
I used mandrake for a bit
Found the light called debian(continue to use it even while I use these others)
slackware/knoppix on my light weight PCs
Fedora until 05
Ubuntu from then on

[OffHand]

Suse, Debian, ZenWalk and Ubuntu.

[simpy]

I've tried a few distros myself, but non as easy to get along with as Ubuntu. :D

Distros I've Tried:

Slackware
Fedora Core - Still using for my apache web server.
Mandriva
Knoppix - One of the best LiveCDs IMO.
Gentoo - A lot of setup. But in the end a fast distro.
Turbo Linux
Lindows - Now known as Linspire.
SuSE

- Cheers

[ceelo]

Fedora, Ubuntu, SUSE, Debian & Arch are the ones I've had a solid run with. I will only discuss Arch since that is the one I have seemed to settle in with. What I like about it is it really gives you a bare system when you finish the base install. All you have when you're done is the command line. This results in a system where nearly every application/service on it is added by you, in other words, very little preloaded software. Pacman is great too, I would say it's just as efficient as apt-get from my experience. The rc.conf file is also a great way to manage your startup configuration. Just a very well done distro.

Oh, forgot to mention KDEmod, which has actually played a large role in my warming up to KDE. Much more enjoyable without a thounsand apps that you don't really need installed. Faster too.

[afljafa]

Slackware
Fedora
Sam linux
Debian
Ubuntu
SMEServer

[matthew]

I just wanted to start a thread and ask why you like other distros. If you moderators find this subject doesn't belong here then I would understand, this is not intended as spam. I run Ubuntu on one of my computers and don't' plan to change it.
This is a totally appropriate place for a thread like this. No worries!

I've used or tested:

Ubuntu
Debian
Mepis
Arch
Gentoo
Yoper
Mandriva
Linspire
Suse
Fedora
FreeBSD
OpenBSD
DesktopBSD

and a few more...

Honestly, they are all similar. Some are quicker/easier to set up, others may be a bit faster, but once you get past the default graphics and setup and start digging you can make them all into whatever you want. Cool stuff.

I'm interested in the Nexenta project right now (Sun Solaris kernel with GNU tools and Ubuntu desktop setup), but I'm sure I have hardware that isn't compatible and it's still in alpha--and I don't have time for another project, so I can't test and contribute bug reports, etc.

[sloggerkhan]

Tried (not always with success):
gentoo, dream, xubuntu, ubuntu, santa fe, wolvix, debian, mandriva, DSL, puppy, knoppix, touched some red hat, and some suse, as well as solaris... not sure if that's all or not...

Not really too fond of stuff that isn't debian based, though I think gentoo is cool, just a hassle.

[karellen]

slackware, suse, opensuse, fedora core, pclinuxos, mandriva, sled, dreamlinux, ubuntu

[visionaire]

RedHat - Fedora
Slackware
Mandrake - Mandriva
CentOS
Corel Linux (when this came out it was the easiest setup distro ever at that moment!, really cool)
PCLinuxOS (right now)
and of course Ubuntu right now too

[regomodo]

Ubuntu
Xubuntu
Fluxbuntu
Mandriva
Slackware 10/11
Puppy Linux
Vector Linux
Knoppix
DSL
DSL-N
Zenwalk
Feather Linux
FreeNAS (suppose it doesn't count)
Gentoo
PCLinuxOS
Ark Linux
and others that fail me for the moment

I've stuck with Ubuntu and am currently retrying Vectorlinux as it's fast.

Favorites would be - Ubuntu, DSL, Knoppix, Slackware (when i can be arsed) and Vectorlinux (ftm)

[DJ Wings]

Ubuntu
Kubuntu
Xubuntu
Fluxbuntu
Ubuntu Lite
Mint
Mepis
Elbuntu
Elive
Gentoo
Sabayon
PCLinuxOS
openSUSE
Mandriva
SAM
Zenwalk
DSL
SLAX
Wolvix
Myah
Fedora
Foresight (via QEMU)
Debian (Sarge, Etch)
Knoppix
Freespire
dyne:bolic
Ulteo
Geexbox
Maybe some others. Not sure. As you can guess, I'm a Linux hobbyist. My main system is Xubuntu, but SAM's also pretty good. I also liked PCLOS, Mandriva, Wolvix, Sabayon, and Zenwalk (an XFCE freak, as you can see).
Btw, are there any big differences between Zenwalk and Vector? Which one would be a better desktop system for an XFCE user?

[Sunflower1970]

I've played around with:
Ubuntu
Xubuntu
Kubuntu
VectorLinux (Like this one, too)
PCLinuxOS (Really like this one)
DSL (I find this and puppy cute distros)
Puppy Linux
Linux Mint (Like it, but decided why should I use it, when Feisty has what I need...)
Dreamlinux (It's very lovely to look at, but it didn't like my older computer. Had trouble installing it)
ELive (Looks awesome, but I don't like how it's set up. I much prefer to just install the WM over Ubuntu instead)
Zenwalk (Had a bit of trouble installing this one on my older computer)
Mepis (Like it)
Slax
Knoppix (My very, very first distro. But I never installed it since I just used it to help save my XP data)
Fluxbuntu (Like it, but decided since I have Ubuntu installed, why do I need this one? I'll just install Fluxbox over Ubnutu)

But, in the end, I'm going to stick with Ubuntu and play with all the different windows managers (It's easier that way :) )

[jrusso2]

Slackware
Redhat
Fedora Core
Mandrake
Mandriva
Caldera Open Linux
Debian
Ubuntu
Linux Mint
Freespire
XanderOS
Corel Linux
Damn Small Linux
Puppy Linux
Sam Linux
DreamLinux
Elive
Xubuntu
Suse
FreeBSD
PCBSD
Solaris
Belenix
OpenBSD
BerkleyBSD

[starcraft.man]

Mines a short list.

Debian, openSUSE (before novell deal), Fedora, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu (of course, I use this one main), FreeBSD and PCLinuxOS.

I must say, like a few others said I am very partial to debian based distros. Apt is so good, its a shame its not used more >.>.

[garba]

Fedora, Ubuntu, SUSE, Debian & Arch are the ones I've had a solid run with. I will only discuss Arch since that is the one I have seemed to settle in with. What I like about it is it really gives you a bare system when you finish the base install. All you have when you're done is the command line. This results in a system where nearly every application/service on it is added by you, in other words, very little preloaded software. Pacman is great too, I would say it's just as efficient as apt-get from my experience. The rc.conf file is also a great way to manage your startup configuration. Just a very well done distro.

Oh, forgot to mention KDEmod, which has actually played a large role in my warming up to KDE. Much more enjoyable without a thounsand apps that you don't really need installed. Faster too.

been an archer myself in the past and i share that feeling, i believe everybody who has tried arch does

[Kingsley]

In no particular order, I've tried...

Ubuntu
Xubuntu
Kubuntu (My primary OS for the past 6 months)
Gentoo (I actually gave up on the install after 3 hours)
Fedora Core 6
PCLinuxOS (My current favorite)
OpenSuse

[GrueTamer]

Gentoo
Debian
Ubuntu (ubuntu, kubuntu, xubuntu, fluxbuntu grouped together)
FreeBSD
Slackware
Zenwalk
Sabayon
Fedora
openSUSE
PC Linux OS
OpenBSD
NetBSD
LFS (didn't get very far with that)
Gparted Livecd (I use it for partitioning)
Knoppix (I use it as a rescue cd)
MEPIS
Kanotix
Damn Small
Vector
SLAX
Arch
GeeXBox
SmoothWall
DeLi
Source Mage
Frugalware
Puppy
CentOS
Xandros
Freespire
Linspire
Solaris
Mint
Mandriva

My favorites/the ones that I still use now are in bold

[AndyCooll]

I've properly only tried Ubuntu, Fedora and Debian.

I've had a quick look at Kubuntu and Xubuntu, and for a very short while had DSL on a creaking old laptop I had. Apart from that I've installed SuSE, Mandriva and GNewSense in VirtualBox. I think I've also at some stage had brief looks at Zenwalk and Puppy.

:cool:

[RAV TUX]

I just wanted to start a thread and ask why you like other distros. If you moderators find this subject doesn't belong here then I would understand, this is not intended as spam. I run Ubuntu on one of my computers and don't' plan to change it.

As for me, Ive tried three distros: Ubuntu, Debian, and Gentoo. I started with Ubuntu on my iBook. Unfortunately, the experience wasn't that satisfying. I was solid but sluggish. It's and older aging computer so Just to have it running is the main benefit. Then I tried Debian, I had heard good things about Debian Etch and PPC support, so I had to give it a try. It was awesome! There are a fair number of people that support PowerPC for Debian still. Though a few odd bugs, it was responsive and just seemed to fit. Next I did Gentoo, not for any real reason beyond curiosity. That was tough. Not only did I encounter all the bugs the the Debian developers probably did as they built programs, but each one seemed new with little documentation. I eventually had it built and it was more bug free that both Ubuntu and Debian but was the least responsive of all them. Now, I have my Intel machine that I've run both Ubuntu and got Gentoo built on. I'm really very very pleased at how well it runs.

I know Linux has it's share of distros, that many users have been satisfied with, and some very loyal to. Have any of you tried any other distros, and why? What makes them why you like them?

OT: I like your avatar. ;)

[Iceni]

Only Ubuntu (ubuntu, kubuntu and xubuntu) and Elive. Oh and red hat back in '99.

[poohbear1616]

Ubuntu
Kubuntu
Xubuntu
PCLos
Mepis
Vector
RedHat
Centos
Ark
PC-BSD
DesktopBSD
FreeBSD

I know I'm missing a couple.

[poohbear1616]

Oh yeah!!!

Sidux-Very impressed.

[Enigmus]

Ubuntu
Kubuntu
Xubuntu
Knoppix
Puppy
Damn Small Linux
Linux Mint

There might be a few more, but none leap to mind.

[Gen2ly]

OT: I like your avatar. ;)

Thanks that Cosmos.

Looking at all the distro's people have tried...

I'm such a newb ;-)

[steven8]

Ubuntu
Kubuntu
Xubuntu
Freespire
PCLinuxOS
Sabayon
gNewSense
Linux Mint
Gentoo
Puppy Linux
DSL
Mepis
DreamLinux
OpenSuse
Gobolinux
PC BSD
Knoppix
Zenwalk
dyne:bolic
Santa Fe
Wolvix
Feather Linux
Solaris
Kanotix
(I am going to try OZ Linux today, since they now have a live version)