DEFINITIVE: Which Linux Distro? (poll for 2006)


  

869 members have voted

  1. 1. Which distro do you use or recommend?

    • Ubuntu/Kubuntu
      415
    • Fedora Core (or Redhat, or RHEL)
      102
    • Novell/SUSE Linux
      96
    • Gentoo (or derivatives)
      85
    • Debian
      50
    • Other Debian Derivative (Mepis, Kanotix, etc)
      17
    • Mandriva
      32
    • Slackware (or derivatives)
      29
    • Linspire
      16
    • Arch
      27
  2. 2. Which desktop environment / window manager?

    • GNOME
      429
    • KDE
      251
    • Xfce
      34
    • fluxbox/openbox/blackbox
      43
    • Enlightenment
      12
    • IceVM
      4
    • TWM or something equally basic
      2
    • GUI? pft. CLI or die!
      10
    • other
      5
    • whatever my distro came with. Is there a choice?
      38


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I use Debian Sarge (I previously used Gentoo, then Sid, then Etch) because I found out (after a long while) that I didn't need the latest software on my system to do what needed to be done. :blush:

As others have already mentioned, the Debian package management system is fantastic. I recently purchased Martin Krafft's 'The Debian System: Concepts and Techniques,' and I'm beginning to enjoy using Debian even more :D

As far as WM's go, I've found simple tile-based setups to be excellent. While I use Ion3 frequently, I enjoy tinkering with dwm, wmii, or even ratpoison.

Ive recently made the switch to linux (my work is 100% MS and decided it was time to try the other side)

I gotta say the one distro I have liked the most on live CDs was Ubuntu 6.06LTS with Gnome. (tried linspire :x and knoppix :rolleyes: ) ended up dual booting XPP with Ubuntu 6.06

Within two days of using it in a dual boot I have managed to discover Automatix (it is a godsend for noobs like me on getting NVidia drivers and codecs & dvd playback etc going) and the 686 smp kernel for my northwood p4 what a difference in speed over the 386 lts kernel.

Tommorrow is getting XGL Desktop Enhancements to work. :D

Im cooking with gas now, p4 3ghz 2gb ddr400 and a 7800GT 512mb AGP Gainward runs 6.06 a dream.

voted ubuntu & gnome, when ive got my head round it and confident enough im going to give Gentoo a whirl, heard good things about it. (didnt want to jump right in at the deep end)

its a keeper (heck prompted me to buy a 2nd sata drive just to dual boot fully)

im converted :woot:

Edited by Mando

I vote for Ubuntu + GNOME as it is the only distro I've used and I like it so :)

BTW, why is Xubuntu not on the poll?

It is Ubuntu using Xfce http://www.xubuntu.org/

Xubuntu wasn't around at the creation of this poll. :)

I would have voted Xubuntu but obviously I couldn't so I went with my second choice: Ubuntu with Gnome.

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I vote for Ubuntu + GNOME as it is the only distro I've used and I like it so :)

BTW, why is Xubuntu not on the poll?

It is Ubuntu using Xfce http://www.xubuntu.org/

Just vote for Ubuntu/Kubuntu and choose Xfce from the second list (at least for now).

  • 2 weeks later...

man i am sorry i just found this thread probably too late. i have been running slackware for a while and i see no better distr for learning the ins and outs of linux. but it has problems namely its hardware detection and lack of any real package manager. this was my fav until i discovered arch and pacman. every bit as customizable and with an excellent package manager. the community is awesome and the best part is the distro is optimized for 486 and above. arch linux with gnome with slackware and gentoo close seconds

  • 3 weeks later...

(open)SUSE or Debian for me :p

SUSE is a great desktop with either GNOME or KDE, extra multimedia support is easy and it just takes care of hardware configuration but still lets you tweak it how you like.

Debian rocks for not getting in your way and letting you do quick software management with apt-get/dpkg. The stable/testing/unstable system is cool for pinning versions of packages you want, plus all the package have been optimized to run faster, most noticeably OpenOffice.

man i am sorry i just found this thread probably too late. i have been running slackware for a while and i see no better distr for learning the ins and outs of linux. but it has problems namely its hardware detection and lack of any real package manager. this was my fav until i discovered arch and pacman. every bit as customizable and with an excellent package manager. the community is awesome and the best part is the distro is optimized for 486 and above. arch linux with gnome with slackware and gentoo close seconds

Got slapt?

  • 2 weeks later...
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