Favourite Linux Distro...

[Octane_]

Hey, im just curious to the most used Distro, i mean, the obvious ones of course, but just an idea on this board, so if you just wanna post what your favourite Distro is and maybe why its ur fav...

Mines mandrake 9.0. used rehat 8 and 9 but they both suck... seems to run better than redhat.

[kriss]

I like slackware, it just has the right feeling to it, if you know what I mean.. The config file placing is just awsome

[fingal]

Using Mandrake 9.1 at the moment... running WindowMaker which is rapidly becoming my favourite desktop manager. Not all that happy with my version of Mandrake. I particularly don't like using Konqueror as a file manager as it's inclined to hang on me.

Thinking of switching to Debian as I like the idea of using 'apt' to sort out all those dependency problems.

[big_k105]

on my laptop im using redhat 9, i like it but i really want to try debian and gentoo before i make my final disision on which is my favorite distro. on my server im using slackware 9 and i really like that as well but i havent gotten a good feeling for that yet as its running on my server which isnt a very fast box. i hated mandrake 8.1 i dont really know why it jst didnt feel right but then again i used it on my server and didnt get a good feel of it running on a fast machine. and i have tryed suse 8.2 i seemed to like it too but i will try it again at a later time

i will probably retry all the distros after i get a good computer.

edit: well the main 6

[Giro]

The best allround linux distro ive tried is Debian so i guess thats my favorite. I like Gentoo and Suse but hate RedHat and Mandrake. There all i have tried so far (Have tried slackware but not enogth to rate it).

[flw]

Ol Man could you post a pro's and con's list comparing the distro's you've used and include both newbie/expert comments on friendlyness or lack of?

Thanks,

[Octane_]

Well, right now im limited to Mandrake 9.0, Redhat 9 & 8. I want to try a different distro, but i cant download them...so i dont know. i might ask the skewl tech (its always good being friends with them, more access then other students, YAY! lol. im done) see if he can download me maybe slackware or something...

[Giro]

This is what i can remeber at the moment, But this is what i thought of the distros ive tried. These are reviewd on and out of the box configuration. I have most likely missed things if i remeber things i will added them.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Mandrake 9.0
With Mandrake i must admit i installed it and used it for about 10 minutes and that was enough for me to reformat. So i cant really give a good review. I really hated it i might try it again one day but i dought it.

Pro's
1) Didnt have any.

Con's
1) Seemed amature and unfriendly!!
2) Tacky installer.
3) Installer asks to many questions.
4) Things seemed to work one minute and not the next.
5) Cant remeber the rest

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

RedHat 8.0
Easy to use and install not really a good distro for the Linux user to bloated, Slow and insecure by default. But good for a newbie just playing. Did like version 7.2 though.

Pro's
1) Easy to install.
2) Easy to use.
3) Good documentation.

Con's
1) To many daemons started by default!!
2) Version 8.0 runs very slowly!!
3) Have to register to update.
4) Not very good default program selection.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Debian 3.0
I really liked Debian from the start. It was easy to install but also offered alot of options if needed. Very good distro for advanced users and newbies but they would need some computer knowledge for the install eg. understand partitions.

Pro's
1) Nice installer.
2) APT.
3) Good default program selection.
4) Easy to update.
5) Very stable (Debian is cautious when adding new versions).
6) Good documentation.
7) No extra services started @ boot.

Con's
1) dselect is crap IMHO.
2) Need to be present when installing.
3) Newbies wont like using init scripts.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Gentoo
Havent been using it enough to give a review. I will when i can.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Slackware
I only tried this for a bit so cant really review it, But i am going to install it soon after Gentoo.

[Mado]

Mandrake 9.1 is my favorite so far. I've been very busy with summer work and my job so I really don't have that much time to mess with setting up stuff. Mandrake has very nice configuration tools, the installer is very easy, but with the option for more experieced customization. I also really like that fact that they included KDE, Gnome, Blackbox, WindowMaker, and Ice. So far I have absolutely no complaints aganist Mandrake 9.1

[QuickDraw]

the only problem I had with Mandrake 9.1 when I installed it was the fact that I was unable to connect to the net via my modem. And i can connect to the net in Redhat 8 using KPPP. So I have no clue what is wrong with that. which is kind of depressing cause I have been wanting to try it out for a bit now on a more serious level. *shrugs* oh well. maybe someday I'll figure it out or get some answers somewhere. but right now I just don't have too much time really. and the next thing on my to do list is fix my floppy drive so i can give Slackware 9 a test drive.

[edit] I still have Mandrake 8.1, so I might give that a whirl and see if it works better. just an after thought.