DEFINITIVE: Which Linux Distro? (poll)

By markwolfe
in Linux

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Which Linux Distro do you prefer?  

773 members have voted

  1. 1. Which Linux Distro do you prefer?

    • Slackware (or derivatives)
      33
    • Debian
      56
    • SUSE Linux (or derivatives)
      99
    • Fedora Core (or Redhat, or RHEL)
      120
    • Gentoo (or derivatives)
      86
    • Ubuntu
      273
    • Other Debian Derivative (Mepis, Kanotix, etc)
      25
    • Arch
      19
    • Linspire
      22
    • Mandriva
      40

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Grand Master

xp1ode

Posted
Posted

ubuntu, the new 5.10 release is really cool and super easy, i upgraded from 5.04 and it was just too smooth, the whole linux experience is just like shifting in my eyes, is becoming so much simpler and in some aspects so windows like that is hard not to keep using it. Give that a try and also give mandriva a try you might like both, and then decided which you want to keep...

Proficient

DomDom911

Posted
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I thought 5.10 was just a preview release and still pretty unstable.

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So should I start off with the 5.04 version then?! Will I have to format to install the full 5.10 version or will it be a simple upgrade?!

And another question, I have an AMD64 chip, so would you suggest me to get the 64-bit version or does it also have a lack of drivers just like Windows x64???

Grand Master

Barney T. Administrators

Posted
  • Administrators
Posted
AWESOME!  :cool:  I'm on my way to download ubuntu 5.10!! Thanx!! :)

If anyone else has more suggestions, keep it up! :)

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Yes, this question has been asked a billion times here....... but look at the Definitive Linux Distro thread for insight on Ubuntu as well as many other distros.

https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=314058

Additionally, go to:

http://www,distrowatch.com

and read through the different distro reviews. Mandriva, SuSE, Fedora Core, as well as many others are good. You can even try the Live CD versions on your computer first (these run totally off the CD and are not installed on your computer) to see if you like them.

Barney

Grand Master

chavo

Posted
Posted

You can start with 5.04 and upgrade when 5.10 comes out. Or download the preview which came out on Sept. 9th. Right now is not a good time to upgrade from there to current though.

Either way if you decide to get 5.04 or 5.10 preview, wait till final to upgrade. They have been breaking things pretty much everyday in current.

I personally upgraded to the preview and haven't updated since then. I will update again when final comes out.

Rising Star

Deanobear

Posted
Posted

as barneyt says, check out distrowatch, they have great info on every distro available. linux is something special in that is something different for everyone, every distro is different offering different features, decide on what you, yourself need, and find a distro that suits you. there's many out there that are user friendly, i myself use mandriva, great multimedia, graphics and repository support, ubuntu/kubuntu, suse, fedora core, et al., if one doesn't suit you, try another. I went through 4 different distros before committing to mandriva. and don't let linux scare you, it's not difficult, it's just "different" to a windoze environment, once you get the basics, you'll be surprised how quickly your linux knowledge will grow.

good luck... and enjoy :D

Grand Master

markwolfe Veteran

Posted
  • Author
  • Veteran
Posted
Ok, I'm pretty sure there are tones of other people who already asked this question but ya...I worked a bit with RedHat about 2 years ago but pretty much lost it all.... and I was wondering if anyone could tell me which client is best to start with!

Thanx!

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* merged into definitive thread *

Experienced

Whiffle

Posted
Posted

Currently running Slackware 10.2 and loving it. Have run Mandrake (8 something?), Gentoo and Ubuntu (and a couple others I can't remember)

Mandrake:

Never really got to know it. I didn't know anything about linux and didn't have time to get my hands dirty and make it work right.

Gentoo:

If you want to get your hands dirty and learn the linux basics, get Gentoo and do a stage one install, (or a few of them!). Its a great way to learn linux basics and see how it all works. When I installed Mandrake for the first time I was like "oooh nifty...", but I couldn't get it to work right and had no idea how to dig into the command line and make it work. Once I installed, broke, and fixed gentoo I learned a whole lot more. Also getting in and toying with the kernel gets pretty interesting too. The only downside I see to Gentoo (depending on how you look at it), is the fact that it is a source distro. Sure it *might* be faster (I really havn't noticed much of a performance difference going from Gentoo to Slack on my 1.6 ghz P4), but the time you wait for everything to compile gets awfully tiring, which is why I left it. Portage is in fact an awesome package manager, probably my favorite so far. If I could get a binary version of portage/gentoo i'd be pretty happy.

Ubuntu:

Great distro if you want to install it and just have it "work," for the most part. I hit a couple of bumps along the way but overall it was fun and very easy. I ended up removing it because its kernel wasn't playing well with my not-so-stable hardware, and sometimes it would kernel panic at boot, not fun.

Slackware:

Been on Slack about 7 months now (3 of them away from my computer...), really liking it. I've installed it twice, once I did to see how it worked and just sort of installed everything to make it all work easily. When I installed it the second time really didn't have anything to do with slackware. I needed to repartition my hard drives (whole other story), and make room for xp on my "good" drive. I blew everything away, and reinstalled it this week. I'm glad I did, I managed to keep it small and fast. So far so good.

  • 2 weeks later...
Explorer

RushSampson

Posted
Posted

Fedora Core 4, it hasn't thrown me a curve yet, and I don't think it's planning on it. I've seen other distros in action, but Fedora seems to be a good, average, dependable choice overall. To me, anyway... This is probably due to the fact that I'm comparing it to Slackware and other text based distros, which I would have a coronary and die over due to frustration, lol

Enthusiast

f00kie

Posted
Posted

I'm planning on starting to use Linux, first as just experimenting (dual boot with Windows XP) and then, hopefully, as the main OS (my CS prof told us we better quit using Microsoft products :p).

Anyway, seems most people recommend Ubuntu, which I'm downloading right now. The only experience I have with Linux is that I use it at university (Redhat Enterprise 4.0) on a daily basis, mostly just clicking the Firefox icon and browsing the web. I also do some coding on it, but that's basically it. I'm trying to get into Linux because I want to learn how to use it.

From what I understant, Unix doesn't understand NTFS, so I won't be able to view any files on my current partition then? Also, a very important question: is there an emulator of some sort in which I can run Windows-only program? This would, I guess, be a key in the learning curve.

Grand Master

markwolfe Veteran

Posted
  • Author
  • Veteran
Posted
From what I understant, Unix doesn't understand NTFS, so I won't be able to view any files on my current partition then? Also, a very important question: is there an emulator of some sort in which I can run Windows-only program? This would, I guess, be a key in the learning curve.

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Yes, you will be able to read your NTFS data just fine. :)

What Windows-only app(s) are you interested in running? The preferred solution would be to run a *nix equivalent. But, there is wine to handle some Windows programs. Consider wine a last resort.

Grand Master

_I am Reptar

Posted
Posted
Well right now, off the top of my hand, I'd need Newsleecher to run (usenet binary downloader). I can probably find some other program that does this in Unix I guess. MSN is not a problem either, as I've seen a few MSN clients on my school's Redhat install.

Also, I just ran into the Gnome vs. KDE debate (in my head, that is). Ubuntu comes with Gnome from what I read. Any popular example of a distro that comes with KDE (3.4)?

And which one is better, let's just say in your opinion to complicate things as little as possible?

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You can also get Ubuntu with KDE called Kubuntu: http://www.kubuntu.org/

Enthusiast

f00kie

Posted
Posted
Yes, you will be able to read your NTFS data just fine. :)

What Windows-only app(s) are you interested in running?  The preferred solution would be to run a *nix equivalent.  But, there is wine to handle some Windows programs.  Consider wine a last resort.

586692092[/snapback]

Well right now, off the top of my hand, I'd need Newsleecher to run (usenet binary downloader). I can probably find some other program that does this in Unix I guess. MSN is not a problem either, as I've seen a few MSN clients on my school's Redhat install.

Also, I just ran into the Gnome vs. KDE debate (in my head, that is). Ubuntu comes with Gnome from what I read. Any popular example of a distro that comes with KDE (3.4)?

And which one is better, let's just say in your opinion to complicate things as little as possible?

Enthusiast

f00kie

Posted
Posted
Ubuntu, it's actually not that hard to get KDE running under Ubuntu, you just have to swipe 2 commands at the shell prompt and you've got KDE game!

apt-get update

apt-get install kde

How obvious is that?

p.s. Ubuntu is my Linux ride!

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Oh, that's good to know. Then Ubuntu it is, I guess.

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