Recomendation for Linux Distribution please

[JakeInHartsel]

I have been using Kubuntu for the past two or three years. Currently i have 9.04 on my Sony laptop. I have had to reload it four times and each time the result is significantly different. All from the same CD which i down loaded 6 months ago. Generally different packages are installed each time. I am about to reload it for th the fifth time with the hope that it will come out in a more usable fashion. The biggest problem is that in this installation Kpackagekit was installed and i can't seem to make it work. In the past Adept was installed.

Generally i would get 2 or 3 months use before it became unusable. I think, but do not know the problem that caused it to become unusable was a game (Breakout2) which of course I will not install this time.

My need are rather simple, web access preferably with Firefox, open office, kmail with GPG, and some "C" development. I need wireless access which I have only been able to get with some of my 9.04 installations.

So i am hoping to find a version that will provide this and one that hopefully is only upgraded on a long time frame rather than the seemingly frequent changes to ubuntu. I prefer the KDE desktop.

I am reasonably technically adept, but lake the time to thoroughly learn Linux.

Thankyou,

Jake

[techieMoe]

I have been using Kubuntu for the past two or three years. Currently i have 9.04 on my Sony laptop. I have had to reload it four times and each time the result is significantly different. All from the same CD which i down loaded 6 months ago. Generally different packages are installed each time. I am about to reload it for th the fifth time with the hope that it will come out in a more usable fashion. The biggest problem is that in this installation Kpackagekit was installed and i can't seem to make it work. In the past Adept was installed.

I think perhaps you should consider that the CD is corrupted. You should definitely not get a different result every time. Try downloading a new copy of Kubuntu and be sure to verify the MD5 checksum before and after the burn.

My need are rather simple, web access preferably with Firefox, open office, kmail with GPG, and some "C" development. I need wireless access which I have only been able to get with some of my 9.04 installations.

What wireless chipset do you have?

So i am hoping to find a version that will provide this and one that hopefully is only upgraded on a long time frame rather than the seemingly frequent changes to ubuntu. I prefer the KDE desktop.

Six months is hardly frequent IMO, but if you want long-term try using the Kubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) versions instead. The current LTS for Kubuntu is version 8.04.3 if I'm not mistaken. LTS releases are supported for 2 years on the desktop.

[MikeTbob]

Hello and Welcome
I have been recommending Linux Mint for a lot of different reasons.I think you should take a look at it and decide if it might be for you. They do have a KDE version.
Download - Linux Mint

[Shonumi]

I second the KDE version of Linux Mint. I've tried the latest Kubuntu and the KDE Linux Mint. They're both based on Ubuntu too, so you should get used to how Linux Mint runs. Having first started Linux with Kubuntu (8.04) I was rather disappointed with the latest release, mostly for performance issues. Linux Mint ran fine, and detected all wireless adapters (I have multiple because some distros work with a few and not others) just fine and it handled KDE4 more appropriately than Kubuntu did. Kubuntu (9.04) was also noticeably slower than my other 8.04 install and Linux Mint. I'd give it some consideration with a Live CD first (DVD to be exact, it's like 1.2GB) and try it out before you go ahead.

[JakeInHartsel]

Thanks I have started the download. Will let you know if new CD workd better. I did not check the checksum on the other CD, but will this time.

As for the wireless chipset I am not sure.

Thanks, Jake

[MikeTbob]

Thanks I have started the download. Will let you know if new CD workd better. I did not check the checksum on the other CD, but will this time.

As for the wireless chipset I am not sure.

Thanks, Jake

Cool beans, I think you'll be pleased to know the community edition includes a lot of wireless drivers, maybe no more than the main version but I have had a lot of success with using WIFI on Linux Mint.

Checking the md5sums should become a part of your distro hopping practice, I can't stress enough how important it is to make sure the checksums match. I've seen some weird stuff on CD/DVD's that were not checksummed.
See this link on a little info on checksums.
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/ins...ll-cd-dvd.html

[starmann]

I've had good luck with Xubuntu and also I like Zenwalk although I haven't tried the latest version of that distro yet.

[fguy64]

Cool beans, I think you'll be pleased to know the community edition includes a lot of wireless drivers, maybe no more than the main version but I have had a lot of success with using WIFI on Linux Mint.

Checking the md5sums should become a part of your distro hopping practice, I can't stress enough how important it is to make sure the checksums match. I've seen some weird stuff on CD/DVD's that were not checksummed.
See this link on a little info on checksums.
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/ins...ll-cd-dvd.html

Interesting remark on checksums. I suppose it's more relevant to .iso files? What if you deal strictly with internet installs such as that with Debian Lenny and apt-get? Does apt deal with all that stuff behind the scenes?

regards.

[MikeTbob]

Interesting remark on checksums. I suppose it's more relevant to .iso files? What if you deal strictly with internet installs such as that with Debian Lenny and apt-get? Does apt deal with all that stuff behind the scenes?

regards.

Absolutely checksum the .ISO's before you burn them, I'm not too sure about Debian netinstall but apt-get does some sort of checksum when you update.