Recommend me a distro!

[sunexplodes]

Hi guys. Been using Ubuntu for just over a year now, and I'd like to branch out a bit, try something different.

I'd consider myself a fairly competent linux dude. I can, for the most part, compile software from source, troubleshoot a number of hardware problems, etc. I'm not shy about using the terminal.

On the other hand, I have no background in programming. At all. I do prefer using a GUI for most administrative tasks (at least during the initial install process).

I like having access to new software, perhaps not bleeding-edge, but that wouldn't hurt to have, either. I use compiz-fusion with XFCE4. I'm comfortable with gnome, but would be willing to give KDE an honest try.

I'd like to try something that isn't debian-based.

My hardware's a couple years old.. 120 GB of hard drive, 2.2GHZ Celeron, Geforce FX5500, 1GB ram. I use wired networking, so wireless support is not important.

Anything you'd suggest?

[blithen]

Slackware is pretty good. Not Debian based. Maybe Gentoo. Not sure if that is Debian based. But it's still pretty good. The install process is BITTERLY extensive.

[RAV TUX]

Hi guys. Been using Ubuntu for just over a year now, and I'd like to branch out a bit, try something different.

I'd consider myself a fairly competent linux dude. I can, for the most part, compile software from source, troubleshoot a number of hardware problems, etc. I'm not shy about using the terminal.

On the other hand, I have no background in programming. At all. I do prefer using a GUI for most administrative tasks (at least during the initial install process).

I like having access to new software, perhaps not bleeding-edge, but that wouldn't hurt to have, either. I use compiz-fusion with XFCE4. I'm comfortable with gnome, but would be willing to give KDE an honest try.

I'd like to try something that isn't debian-based.

My hardware's a couple years old.. 120 GB of hard drive, 2.2GHZ Celeron, Geforce FX5500, 1GB ram. I use wired networking, so wireless support is not important.

Anything you'd suggest?

before trying a new Distro try enabling Debian Lenny in Ubuntu...

see this thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=3455077&posted=1#post3455077

[ryno519]

http://www.zenwalk.org/

I liked zenwalk a lot when I used it. It uses Xfce as its DE and makes excellent use of it, I must say.

[sunexplodes]

before trying a new Distro try enabling Debian Lenny in Ubuntu...

see this thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=3455077&posted=1#post3455077

what does Lenny have that Feisty/Gutsy doesn't?

[slimdog360]

http://www.zenwalk.org/

I liked zenwalk a lot when I used it. It uses Xfce as its DE and makes excellent use of it, I must say.

seconded

[maduranga]

yep.. zenwalk is good. i thing, but don't have used it before. Me too thought of trying a different distro at least for a while. :) And now I have downloaded Zenwalk in my pc, I'm going to install it in the next few hours :popcorn:

[RAV TUX]

what does Lenny have that Feisty/Gutsy doesn't?
everything all the latest repositories and it is more stable.

I have started two thread for instance on fretsonfire and cultivation neither of which are available in Feisty. (they may be available in Gutsy)

[sunexplodes]

Hm. Well, I'm already playing with Gutsy, so I suspect I'm already getting most of what I want. I may throw Zenwalk on the other partition. See how it rolls.

[aquavitae]

Maybe Gentoo. Not sure if that is Debian based. But it's still pretty good. The install process is BITTERLY extensive.
I'd recommend gentoo (http://www.gentoo.org). Its not debian based - its all compiled from source code. Installing is slow though - it took me two days, but its a great way to learn the inner workings of linux. It aims to be customizable and highly optimized (thats why everything is compiled from source), meaning you can eaily use whatever desktop you want (kde, xfce, icewm, etc)

[sunexplodes]

From what I understand, I think Gentoo might be a little TOO advanced a Distro for me. I like the more hands-on approach to computing, but I think package management is a good thing.

[aquavitae]

Gentoo has an excellent package managment tool called portage. I find it just as good as apt-get. It is rather advanced though, but on the other hand, its probably the best documented distro there is.

[original_jamingrit]

Maybe try Fedora? Last time I tried it was when Fedora Core 4 came out.

Also, I second Slackware. Either that, or a slack based distro like Vector Linux or Zen

[rsambuca]

From what I understand, I think Gentoo might be a little TOO advanced a Distro for me. I like the more hands-on approach to computing, but I think package management is a good thing.

Yes, gentoo has an excellent package manager which is very easy to use. For example, 'emerge gnome-core' will install the gnome desktop with all the required dependencies. Also, most compilations are not very long (couple of minutes), and for the longer ones, you just minimize the terminal window and can still use your computer for whatever you want in the meantime.

I recommend you install gentoo on another partition, and use Ubuntu for the initial installation so that you have full use of your computer, and can see the gentoo handbook as you go along. I don't know what the previous poster was talking about, but the initial installation to a command line takes less than an hour, but the DE does take a while to compile (Gnome took 8hours). But since you can do this from Ubuntu, you don't lose computer access during this time.

[rsambuca]

(they may be available in Gutsy but Gutsy is simply based on Debian Lenny)

No Rav, Gutsy is based on Debian Sid, the unstable branch. The Ubuntu developers basically take a snapshot of Sid every six months, tweak it as much as they can to make it stable, update gnome, and release it.

[Motoxrdude]

Another good distro is opensuse.

[slimdog360]

install virtualbox and try out other distros the virtual machine way.

[blithen]

Yes, gentoo has an excellent package manager which is very easy to use. For example, 'emerge gnome-core' will install the gnome desktop with all the required dependencies. Also, most compilations are not very long (couple of minutes), and for the longer ones, you just minimize the terminal window and can still use your computer for whatever you want in the meantime.

I recommend you install gentoo on another partition, and use Ubuntu for the initial installation so that you have full use of your computer, and can see the gentoo handbook as you go along. I don't know what the previous poster was talking about, but the initial installation to a command line takes less than an hour, but the DE does take a while to compile (Gnome took 8hours). But since you can do this from Ubuntu, you don't lose computer access during this time.
WHAT!?!? You can do it from Ubuntu? How freakin' awesome is that. 'Cept I have no idea how to do this. Can you explain how, or provide a link please?

[blithen]

install virtualbox and try out other distros the virtual machine way.

Seconded

[aquavitae]

WHAT!?!? You can do it from Ubuntu? How freakin' awesome is that. 'Cept I have no idea how to do this. Can you explain how, or provide a link please?Just create a new partition and install normally into it. Easy!

[RAV TUX]

No Rav, Gutsy is based on Debian Sid, the unstable branch. The Ubuntu developers basically take a snapshot of Sid every six months, tweak it as much as they can to make it stable, update gnome, and release it.ahh, my mistake thanks for the 411

[Tux Aubrey]

I'd certainly go with Zenwalk. Its the one non-Debian distro that "just works" for me.

Puppy Linux and dyne:bolic are also good ones to try (but you don't have to install either - just create a file on your HDD to keep settings and personal files and you can boot from a CD everytime into your own desktop.

I also like Dreamlinux, DSL, ELive, Antix and SAM - but they are all Debian-based.

[RAV TUX]

Wolvix (based on Slackware) is another good one.

[Spr0k3t]

I'm a big supporter of installing a complex distro at least once. Learn the values and benefits of building your own, or installing a distro not for the faint of heart. My next venture is going to be Linux From Scratch... should take me about a week to build... but it will be fun.

[maduranga]

ok. Zenwalk did something for me that some linux users strugling to do!!!

I burned the zenwalk iso into a cd and tried to install it. By a mistake it deleted my Windows installation partition!!! only there was sda and sdb to select to install Zenwalk on and a mistake happen! :(

[aquavitae]

I'm a big supporter of installing a complex distro at least once. Learn the values and benefits of building your own, or installing a distro not for the faint of heart. My next venture is going to be Linux From Scratch... should take me about a week to build... but it will be fun.I agree completely. Never been brave enough for LFS though... Gentoo was enough for me. Good luck with that anyway!

[rsambuca]

WHAT!?!? You can do it from Ubuntu? How freakin' awesome is that. 'Cept I have no idea how to do this. Can you explain how, or provide a link please?

Basically you need a free partition somewhere on your rig. Then you use a chroot environment and install gentoo onto the other partition from a terminal window in Ubuntu (or any linux distro). I set it up this way and did the initial desktop compilations this way so I could still surf the net and follow the handbook, which is second to none. Ubuntu is still my 'main' distro by far, but I find myself using gentoo more and more.

You can find the instructions here (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/altinstall.xml#doc_chap5), but I found it easier to have my drive partitioned before hand using gparted, so I skipped the first part.

[blithen]

Basically you need a free partition somewhere on your rig. Then you use a chroot environment and install gentoo onto the other partition from a terminal window in Ubuntu (or any linux distro). I set it up this way and did the initial desktop compilations this way so I could still surf the net and follow the handbook, which is second to none. Ubuntu is still my 'main' distro by far, but I find myself using gentoo more and more.

You can find the instructions here (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/altinstall.xml#doc_chap5), but I found it easier to have my drive partitioned before hand using gparted, so I skipped the first part.
Finally that 20gig partition won't go to waste!

[rsambuca]

Finally that 20gig partition won't go to waste!

Ah... Have we just witnessed the birth of another gentite (gentooer?)

[fwojciec]

Hi guys. Been using Ubuntu for just over a year now, and I'd like to branch out a bit, try something different.

I'd consider myself a fairly competent linux dude. I can, for the most part, compile software from source, troubleshoot a number of hardware problems, etc. I'm not shy about using the terminal.

On the other hand, I have no background in programming. At all. I do prefer using a GUI for most administrative tasks (at least during the initial install process).

I like having access to new software, perhaps not bleeding-edge, but that wouldn't hurt to have, either. I use compiz-fusion with XFCE4. I'm comfortable with gnome, but would be willing to give KDE an honest try.

I'd like to try something that isn't debian-based.

My hardware's a couple years old.. 120 GB of hard drive, 2.2GHZ Celeron, Geforce FX5500, 1GB ram. I use wired networking, so wireless support is not important.

Anything you'd suggest?

Arch Linux (since no one suggested that yet):
- rolling release system
- bleeding edge, but stable (if you know what you're doing)
- Gnome/KDE or whatever you desire available in the repos
- KISS, the system is very transparent, you're in control
- CLI based, all configuration done by editing .conf files, no GUI helpers (unless you install some explicitly)
- binary distro, though you can compile everything if you wish and there are tools that help you with that
- lean, mean, and fast
- knowledgeable and friendly community and excellent documentation
Sounds like it could be a very good choice, given your abilities and requirements. Try it out ;)

[LookTJ]

I suggest Arch.