DEFINITIVE: Which Linux Distro? (poll for 2009)


The Definitive Linux Poll for 2009!  

809 members have voted

  1. 1. Which Linux Distro? (multiples allowed, if you use a couple)

    • Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu/*buntu
      361
    • Debian/Mepis/Knoppix/Kanotix/Xandros/Elive/Other Debian
      50
    • Fedora Core/Redhat/RHEL/CentOS/WBEL
      78
    • OpenSUSE/SUSE/Novell
      53
    • Gentoo/Sabayon
      32
    • Mandriva/PCLinuxOS
      22
    • Slackware/Slax/Zenwalk
      18
    • Arch/Shift
      66
    • Linspire/Freespire
      3
    • Damn Small/Puppy
      12
  2. 2. Which destop environment / window manager? (multiples allowed)

    • GNOME
      366
    • KDE
      135
    • XFCE
      57
    • fluxbox/blackbox/openbox/LXDE
      48
    • Enlightenment/E17
      13
    • IceWM
      4
    • TWM or something equally basic
      5
    • GUI? pft. CLI or die!
      23
    • other
      18
    • whatever my distro came with. Is there a choice?
      15
  3. 3. I use Linux for... (multiples allowed)

    • Desktop (for school, work, home, games)
      359
    • Media Centre (primarily for videos & music)
      113
    • Server (web,ftp,file/print)
      123
    • I don't really use it for anything but learning Linux
      140
    • I've only ever used it as a LiveCD, or to recover files from a non-bootable OS
      33
    • Other
      41


Recommended Posts

I've changed to fedora 10 for now. It seems MUCH faster and more responsive than both ubuntu and suse for me. Also they keep they're packaged way more up to date.

Also the boot time is incredible, faster than vista dn other distros I have tried.

Also for some reason suse's grub install ALWAYS nukes my windows vista boot loader whenever I want to remove it, never happens with other distros. It completely corrupts my bcd registry and I can't use any apps like easybcd to rewrite my windows bootloader like I usually do. So be careful installing grub over your windows bootloader with suse 11.1, i've reproduced this happening a couple times.

@rson451- is that the new shift logo you're using for an avatar? That looks pretty sweet. :D

It was my own foolish musings in inkscape. It's gone now for I feel bad representing Shift with the negative posts I tend to make on this forum.

I'm playing around with Ubuntu 9.04 Alpha and I'm very impressed. Ext 4 is really noticeably faster. It just doesn't feel like an alpha. It runs very smooth. I know there will be some rough patches ahead (like currently, as they are upgrading python....a lot of stuff breaks) until we reach final, but the final should be the best ever.

I'm playing around with Ubuntu 9.04 Alpha and I'm very impressed. Ext 4 is really noticeably faster. It just doesn't feel like an alpha. It runs very smooth. I know there will be some rough patches ahead (like currently, as they are upgrading python....a lot of stuff breaks) until we reach final, but the final should be the best ever.

I was going to try that but ati still has no drivers for the new version of xorg the alpha has. and the radeonhd drivers are teh suck on my card.

I was trying to make the switch but then I broke my leg and I was stranded away from any computer with Linux on it , now I'm back and I'm getting ready to get back in the game again ... I use Linux mainly for some of its software and tweaks , there are lots of stuff you can do with Linux and my main system is Xubuntu with XFCE

^ I was a bit surprised but the radeon drivers worked perfectly for my old x1300. That's the first time that ever happened. I knew they were working on the radeon drivers but I didn't know they were that far along.

Yes I have one machine with an old x300 and out of the box compiz works and everything. Hopefully some day that will be the case in my laptop card too.

  • 2 weeks later...

I'm using Arch. I'd been so used to Slackware and I always found it a headache when there weren't packages available had to compile my self (I know things have improved). Arch is all i686 compiled, pacman is a breeze to use.

I know people complain that E17 isn't all that featureful. I just want a GUI that works, is stable and has enough functionality. I think this is the snappiest WM I've ever used. I have the ATI 9.1 Catalyst installed on my system and X.org + E17 it blows away Windows and OS X - speed wise anyways ;)

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

My home has been using Ubuntu only for about 6 months now, and we love it. My rig originally came with Windows vista so I can install it if I want to, but I have just fallen head over heals with Ubuntu and Linux in General. I did download the Windows 7 RC & install it in virtualbox, it's ok but I really can't see any reasons for me to purchase it.

  • 2 weeks later...

I'm dual booting Linux Mint 7 (Gnome) and Windows 7 on all of my machines.

If either Linux or Mac would get their act together when it comes to securing native installs/support for games then I'd be far more inclined to use one of those as my main operating system. Emulation and virtualization simply do not cut it.

As it stands now, I'm in Windows 7 90% of the time because I know that as soon as I get a break in the workload I'm going to fire-up a game and I want it to work full speed without any layers of abstraction between me and my framerate.

It's picky and petty but I build my machines to play games...the fact that you can do work on them is just an unfortunate side-effect ;)

It seems that I had not voted in this year's poll. Strange...

I'm starting to like LXDE. It is the new default desktop for Knoppix (at least the 6.0.1 CD edition). I'm not 100% on this but it seems to be based on openbox (although, it doesn't look anything like other derivatives such as fluxbox). I guess that is why it shares a line on this year's poll.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • "to in-game content custom-made for the brands" Which EA will turn around and charge customers extra for in an attempt to double dip.
    • NirLauncher 1.30.24 by Razvan Serea NirLauncher is a suite of more than 200 of NirSoft's excellent portable freeware Windows utilities, and provides an interface that makes it easy to find and launch the tools you need. Which works for us - because there's something here for everyone. Have you forgotten a password stored in your browser or email client, for instance? Recovery tools here may be able to find them for you. Maybe you'd like to check your hard drive health? A disk tool will display its S.M.A.R.T. data (if the drive supports this), so you can view read/ write errors, temperature and other useful details. Is your system unstable? The System Utilities section includes several tools that can help to explain why your PC might be crashing. And there are a host of other programs on offer in categories like "Network Monitoring", "Web Browser Tools", "Video/ Audio Related Utilities", "Outlook/ Office Utilities" and more. Please note, perhaps because a few of these tools can be used maliciously (the password revealers, say), some antivirus programs will flag them as threats. We've never had a problem with any NirSoft tool, though, and you can read more on this issue at the author's site. NirLauncher is an excellent set of free tools, and a must-have for everyone's portable troubleshooting toolkit. NirLauncher Features: NirLauncher can be used from USB flash drive without need of any installation. NirLauncher and all the utilities in the package are completely freeware, without any Spyware/Adware/Malware. This package doesn't contain any 3-party software, toolbars, Web browser plugins, or other unwanted surprises. It will not install any software on your system and it will not change your Web browser homepage or other settings on your system. NirLauncher package includes variety of tools that you may need for your daily computer use, including utilities to recover lost passwords, to monitor your network, to view and extract cookies, cache, and other information stored by your Web browser, to search files in your system, and more... For every utility in the package, you can easily run it, view the help file, or jump to the Web page of the utility. When using it from USB flash drive, the configuration of every utility is saved into .cfg file on the flash drive. On x64 systems, NirLauncher automatically run the x64 version of the utility, when there is a separated x64 version. NirLauncher also allows to add more software packages in additional to the main NirSoft package. NirLauncher allows you generate plugin files for BartPE (Launcher -> Generate BartPE Plugin Files), so you can easily use the utilities of NirSoft from a bootable live windows CD. Additional packages (Piriform, SysInternals...) and instructions are available on the Nirlauncher download page. Note: This zip file below is password-protected. The password for extracting the files is nirsoft9876$ Download: NirLauncher 1.30.24 | 39.8 MB (Freeware) Link: NirLauncher Home Page | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • What people who support this position of LibreOffice do not understand is that EuroOffice is not made to appease the open source enthusiasts (I am also one) and evangelists. EuroOffice was made because some European companies wanted independence from Microsoft Office Suite, which is something installable on your computer. This move to independence was pushed by public institutions and governments in Europe, as well. Using a proprietary FORMAT as default, does not make you dependent on MS. The actual program does. A format can be changed with a simple update in the future in a dystopian world where MS would manipulate the format to lock others out. However, using MS Office proprietary format, guarantees that all the current documents used by companies, organizations, institutions, etc, will be compatible with EuroOffice and the suite will have the best chances at adoption, especially by slow moving organizations like governments and the public sector. It is as simple as that. For the same reason, even the UI is incredibly similar to MS Office. For the same reason (adoption) the choice was made to be open source. Not because EU particularly loves open source ideologically, but because it gives the best starting point to create trust in the project and amass developers and contributions to the project quickly, to catch up with proprietary projects like MS Office. I don't understand how people don't realize it.
    • How old is this tip? Seems 15-20 years old? Processor states for the CPU under Windows power options has been a thing for a long, long time. It certainly isn't new or hidden... Also, with laptops it doesn't make any difference what OS you are running, all of them are configured for battery longevity over performance, for obvious reasons. Wanted to add as well that most systems in use currently do burst as setup in the uefi bios settings, and usually when a setting is "hidden" like this in Windows it's because it's either obsolete or it is redundant--doesn't override the bios and the CPU drivers. There is a lot of crap in the registry that needs to come out...;) It's hamless and might consume 1-2kb of space in total, though.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Jeroen Wilms earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      rolfus earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Leroy Jethro Gibbs earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Conversation Starter
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • One Month Later
      AndreaB earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      512
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      205
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      136
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      90
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      85
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!