The Definitive "WHICH LINUX DISTRO?" Thread

[nuka_t]

were you able to get video/sound to work? im going tohead over to nvidias site to take a look at some of their nforce2 drivers and see if i can get at least those to installl.

[randomnut]

I use SUSE. Ive tried redhat since 7.2, Mandrake since 7.something and SUSE since 6.0 i believe it was. ATM SUSE 9.1 is my fave distro of all. Has all the features for the more hardcore of you, and for the normal day to day desktop use, great for noobs its excellent. :D

[Paixao]

do I need all 4 cds to install fedora? if not, then which one(s)?

If you want a full instal... Yes. I'm just downloading the DVD ISO.

[compman]

I started with RedHat, and moved to Mandrake when it got real sucky... now I'm running gentoo!

Gotta say, PORTAGE ROCKS!

[nuka_t]

whats so sucky about mandrake?

[markwolfe Veteran]

whats so sucky about mandrake?

Let me turn the pronouns into proper nouns... :shifty:

I started with RedHat, and moved to Mandrake when it [RedHat] got real sucky ;)

[nuka_t]

*slaps forehead*

[revvo]

SLACKWARE!!!

The name might be scary for some due to the fact that they were in the linux community since the beginning. Their first versions like oh.. lets say not that stable. You had to work a lot to make it work and thats why I guess my friend is traumatized from the experience. However, since I'd say 8.1 (since thats the first version I tried), slackware is rock solid and only screws you when you screw it.

I have not touched anothet distribution as stable & fun to configure as SLACKWARE although I'm very tempted to try Gentoo one day when I'l have the time ;)

[chr15]

Has anyone tried the MEPIS? It's a debian distro I use, it's pretty good.

[CaKeY]

Has anyone tried the MEPIS? It's a debian distro I use, it's pretty good.

Yeah! I'm using it now (2004.b05) Its great!

[Zerosleep]

Slackware owns you all.

[nuka_t]

Yeah! I'm using it now (2004.b05) Its great!

i just installed, i hear ya. best one ive tried yet.

[orestes]

the easier to install distros i've tried (mandrake,fedora,mepis) almost force you into installing alot of IMO unwanted junk. Unless in FC2 and Mandrake you want to sit there on an install screen and uncheck 1,000 things until you have a minimal installation with Gnome. Only reason i say Gnome is because I just want a distro that will do a minimal install with a wm thats not over bloated with the afore mentioned 'unwanted junk'. I also have run gentoo twice, a yr ago and then needed that drive for storage and just the past week I had it on again. A couple quirky things had happened and i got fed up and whiped it. Which distro(s) out of this list or any other that anyone knows will let you do a 'minimal' install quickly, and let me choose gnome to start with so that i can drop a different wm in instead. Preferrably one that still for the time being uses XFree instead of Xorg because I have a 9800xt and you have to jump through hoops to get ATI drivers installed in Xorg.

[markwolfe Veteran]

...Unless in FC2 and Mandrake you want to sit there on an install screen and uncheck 1,000 things until you have a minimal installation with Gnome. ...

Or you could click "Minimal", then add Gnome. :shifty:

[orestes]

is there a 'minimal' selection for both?....i remember seeing it in one of them but i'm pretty sure that was FC2 which is Xorg. I don;t recall seeing that selection in the mandrake setup.

[Bearded Kirklander]

the easier to install distros i've tried (mandrake,fedora,mepis) almost force you into installing alot of IMO unwanted junk. Unless in FC2 and Mandrake you want to sit there on an install screen and uncheck 1,000 things until you have a minimal installation with Gnome. Only reason i say Gnome is because I just want a distro that will do a minimal install with a wm thats not over bloated with the afore mentioned 'unwanted junk'. I also have run gentoo twice, a yr ago and then needed that drive for storage and just the past week I had it on again. A couple quirky things had happened and i got fed up and whiped it. Which distro(s) out of this list or any other that anyone knows will let you do a 'minimal' install quickly, and let me choose gnome to start with so that i can drop a different wm in instead. Preferrably one that still for the time being uses XFree instead of Xorg because I have a 9800xt and you have to jump through hoops to get ATI drivers installed in Xorg.

You have a good point there. Still, I do like Mandrake the best of all Linux Distros currently out there, even with some of the bloat. It's too bad that Windows XP is forcing you to install all that stuff like Movie Maker, Messenger, etc. I am glad there are products like XP Lite that help strip that down. One thing I have noticed is that the GUI's on distros like Mandrake really require a lot of system resources and powerful processors and video. That is too bad, really. One of the reasons I first goofed with Linux because it was lean, but it is not so much any more with default installations, it seems. Or maybe that is just what it looks like to me and I'm not looking hard enough.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

the easier to install distros i've tried (mandrake,fedora,mepis) almost force you into installing alot of IMO unwanted junk. Unless in FC2 and Mandrake you want to sit there on an install screen and uncheck 1,000 things until you have a minimal installation with Gnome. Only reason i say Gnome is because I just want a distro that will do a minimal install with a wm thats not over bloated with the afore mentioned 'unwanted junk'.

With any Debian-based distro (i.e. Mepis/Knoppix) you can use apt-get (or Synpatic Package Manager) to remove any unwanted packaged cleanly and easily.

[orestes]

With any Debian-based distro (i.e. Mepis/Knoppix) you can use apt-get (or Synpatic Package Manager) to remove any unwanted packaged cleanly and easily.

i relaize this...but this isnt the point. I dont want to have to sit and go through packages, reading the descriptions to find out wtf they are....and delete them after install. can u say counterproductive?

edit: Synpatic worked so good it didn't even load in my MEPIS install....asked me to put root pass in and then the window just disappears....quality

[nuka_t]

you could use kpackage or, heaven forbid, the command line.

as for mandrake. you can check "major" packages. so you can deselect everything and just select gnome. there are only like 10 "major" packages(although you have the option of choosing single packages by themselves after choosing hte major ones.)

[markwolfe Veteran]

...One of the reasons I first goofed with Linux because it was lean, but it is not so much any more with default installations, it seems.  Or maybe that is just what it looks like to me and I'm not looking hard enough.

Linux is still lean. Or is as lean as any particular user wants.

However, as the "average" PC is now more powerful, the "average" distro will be set up with defaults that generally match the PC trend.

People like you or I may have lower-end PCs (especially by the "gamers" standards), plus there are people who prefer the simpler interfaces. This is becoming the minority on an almost daily basis (remember the Windows Way of buying a new PC every 3 years).

I think that there were people complaining about about bloat when most distros started making X run by default. There are still distros out there that offer what you need (or close enough to make a few adjustements).

The times, they are a-changin'...

[Fred Derf Veteran]

edit: Synpatic worked so good it didn't even load in my MEPIS install....asked me to put root pass in and then the window just disappears....quality

It works for me under Knoppix.

There must be something wrong with the GKSU command.

Try opening a command line terminal window and typing su root. Then launch synaptic from the command line ('synaptic'). That will bypass GKSU.

Also, Knoppix has a minimal installation option. I never use it, mind you.

[chr15]

Is there any other bootable from CD version of linux that is comparable to Knoppix? I've only tried Knoppix and I must say, I'm impressed, but it doesn't have support for the wireless network card that I have in my new Averatec laptop (I'm not sure what the brand of wireless card it is)?

And anyway, I'm just interested in cd-bootable linux distro's

[nuka_t]

MEPIS gets my (Y)

actually, i think that most mainstreem linux dsitros(mandrake, fedora, suse) have a bootable version. check out distrowatch.org.

however, i have heard that none of these beats knoppix for hardware detection, though you could get lucky.

[neonix]

ok let make a few things clear debian is not knoppix.

knoppix IS debian

gnoppix is knoppix which is debian

....

the list can go with 60+ distro which are debian just with another installer or diffrent program on the cd.

u know i am starting my own distro based on debian. i'l just use foo's foo and foo's foo.

ps FOO IS A PLACE HOLDER

[Spacce]

Gentoo is my first pick.. perfect server distro.. slick , clean, optimized .. and emerge rocks!

Suse is a nice desktop distro..

Mandrake was nice but ever since 9.* they gotten bulky..

Knoppix is cool, emergency backup ... etc.. easy to use.. etc