Distro?

[xaoxoa]

Hi. I've been using Linux for a long time now. I know a lot about it. I just got a new machine and I want to put Linux on it. I have no idea which distro I want. Maybe you can help?

Here's what I dis/like about some of the ones I've used:

Ubuntu
Pros:
Many programs
Easy to use
Cons:
Configuring tarballs is a pain
Too "noobish"

Fedora
Pros:
I LOVE rpm
Good amount of programs
Cons:
Not as many programs as Ubuntu

Debian
lol, I just installed it in a vm for an iphone (cydia) repo. not for me really.


So from the Pros/Cons there, can you recommend me a good distro and if possible not those? Thanks

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

Opensuse would be the logical next choice since you've already tried three of the top five distros at DistroWatch.com

[reed9]

Shockingly, I will suggest Arch Linux.

[computerophil]

Hi. I've been using Linux for a long time now. I know a lot about it. I just got a new machine and I want to put Linux on it. I have no idea which distro I want. Maybe you can help?

Here's what I dis/like about some of the ones I've used:

Ubuntu
Pros:
Many programs
Easy to use
Cons:
Configuring tarballs is a pain
Too "noobish"

Fedora
Pros:
I LOVE rpm
Good amount of programs
Cons:
Not as many programs as Ubuntu

Debian
lol, I just installed it in a vm for an iphone (cydia) repo. not for me really.


So from the Pros/Cons there, can you recommend me a good distro and if possible not those? Thanks

Welcome here, you can try some liveCDs to find your Distro
as you like rpm I'd consider you to try OpenMamba and Mandriva

Debian is excellent but the installer is a horror.
One of the best Debians would be KNOPPIX

I'm not really an Ubuntu fan. Yes it is better for beginners than Debian and can use all its packedges but Knoppix also.

[reed9]

Debian is excellent but the installer is a horror.

Really? I quite like the debian installer.

[teenytinylinuxgrl]

I understand that Knoppix is not meant to be installed. Does that mean you're "always root" like in Slax? Or that you always run it from the Live CD only?

I'm interested in that one because it's Debian (like Ubuntu, which is already familiar) and uses LXDE (which is the pretty and easy desktop environment on "Robin's Ubuntu Remix" that was my introduction to Linux). When I look in the Knoppix forum here though, it always tends to scare me off, lol.

Amy

[bigtomrodney]

Ubuntu
...
Cons:
Configuring tarballs is a pain
Too "noobish"

I'd read this as a bit of an oxymoron. Configuring tarballs is no more difficult in Ubuntu than any other distro, and I'd say given the huge repositories it has it's something you don't have to do very often.

You mentioned you love rpm...for the end user deb is no different. Have you been using your package managers? Have you used Synaptic Package Manager to install your software.

I'd forget the "too noobish" thing. There's nothing noobish about having a system that just works. If on the other hand you'd like something that will give you bragging rights I'd have a look at Gentoo, LFS or something like Slackware. But if tarballs are a handful for you then maybe not Slackware anyway

[reed9]

I understand that Knoppix is not meant to be installed. Does that mean you're "always root" like in Slax? Or that you always run it from the Live CD only?

I'm interested in that one because it's Debian (like Ubuntu, which is already familiar) and uses LXDE (which is the pretty and easy desktop environment on "Robin's Ubuntu Remix" that was my introduction to Linux). When I look in the Knoppix forum here though, it always tends to scare me off, lol.

Amy

Knoppix is primarily meant to be run as a Live CD. You can install it to your hard, but that't not really its raison d'être.

You might be interested in an up and coming project to make an official LXDE Ubuntu spin, along the lines of Kubuntu and Xubuntu, there will be Lubuntu.

Mandriva also has one of the nicer looking LXDE environments in my opinion.

LXDE's look and speed come primarily from the window manager, Openbox. If you wanted to check out an openbox distro that will make your computer look slick, geeky, and cool (alright geeky and cool might be an oxymoron), take a look at another Ubuntu derivative, Crunchbang Linux. It's not pretty in the classical sense, have more of an austere minimalist look by default, but it's become quite popular among those who like the ease of Ubuntu, but need more geek credibility.

[computerophil]

I understand that Knoppix is not meant to be installed. Does that mean you're "always root" like in Slax? Or that you always run it from the Live CD only?

I'm interested in that one because it's Debian (like Ubuntu, which is already familiar) and uses LXDE (which is the pretty and easy desktop environment on "Robin's Ubuntu Remix" that was my introduction to Linux). When I look in the Knoppix forum here though, it always tends to scare me off, lol.

Amy

Knoppix became famous with the LiceCDs and the LiveCDs with Knoppix.
So many people have still in their mind that Knoppix is a LiveCD only.

Knoppix has developed like the other Linuxes as well. Knoppix is a complete and very beginnerfriendly distro. I think it is even much more beginnerfriendly than Ubuntu (e.g. flash plugin already installed,..) and I think for people that come from Windows LXDE is faster to understand than GNOME. (I know Gnome is great but you have to learn to adapt it because things are on different places than most people are used to find them).

Can you give me a link for Robin's Ubuntu Remix? - I became curious - and want to make myself an opinion by myself.

Thanks

[teenytinylinuxgrl]

Robin hasn't put it on the web or anything... he tells me the recipe is "minimal Ubuntu with codecs and LXDE." It's gorgeous (like Robin, lol), very fast and very easy to use. He has it on the laptop computer at the dance studio and everyone "borrows" it in between classes to check their e-mail and work on homework and stuff. No one even knew it was Linux 'til he told me when I commented on how awesomely fast and simple it was was. Stunning!

At home Robin uses that Crunchbang you mentioned. But he says his "custom LXDE mixture" is every bit as fast (but not as geeky, lol).

As for Knoppix being not "installation friendly" for newbies, they contribute more than anyone else to that perception because their own web site has the "not to be installed" stuff on it. I'm more inclined to believe what I find on a distro's own web site than what I find in forums like this one... so if it's no longer true, tell them to update that web page! If not for that, Robin says he probably would have chosen it (because it's Debian and LXDE) instead of making his own remix.

That Lubuntu project looks great, by the way!!

Thanks,
Amy