DEFINITIVE: Which Linux Distro? (poll for 2009)

[ge_generation]

Arch + Gnome on my main desktop w/ Windows 7 dual boot

Ubuntu + Gnome on my laptop, just for ease of install and the whole power management thing, for some reason works better in Ubuntu, but willing to change to Arch once I get some time to tinker around

[Andre S. Veteran]

My opinion of Linux has risen in the last 6 months from "wtf" to "usable". As a development environment, it's not bad, with Eclipse, Code::Blocks, Netbeans and now Monodevelop (C# on Linux - woot!). Not having Visual Studio around is quite painful though, and Eclipse keeps causing JVM crashes no matter what I do. It took me a while to get used to installing programs with the package manager, but it's a nice system overall, even though it doesn't always get the latest or best version of the software. I use Ubuntu as my main OS at work because in order to run Windows you have to install all their monitoring crap that slows the system to a crawl. It's fun to watch my system boot in 30 seconds when my colleagues have to wait like 10 minutes to get into Windows XP.

I still use Windows, but the 7 RC version, and in a VM on Ubuntu. :p And at home, it's Vista SP1 and will stay so until Windows 7 appears on MSDNAA.

[debtboy]

Judging from these posts...

One can see how flexible Linux is ;)

openSUSE

AfterStep

[A.Taiga]

Ubuntu or Debian ( yeah i know Ubuntu is based on Debian ) with GNOME mostly, im testing KDE4.2 these days but i guess im gonna go back to GNOME, and Desktop/Media usage .

[philtro]

I'd like to suggest Sabayon for those who haven't tried it. I recently switched to Sabayon KDE from kubuntu and have found it to be a breath of fresh air compared to the buggy kubuntu. Plus it comes with all the necessary codecs already installed for avi, mp3, etc.

[capr]

Recently convinced myself that my games will run under wine so i switched to ubuntu also... gnome loads automatically and there is too much other stuff to costumize so i am not after changing the desktop for now.

[moonfleet]

I've tried many distros, but I've settled on Windows XP (I have no need to change yet) setup with all the open source software I need, and with Cygwin installed. Cygwin is not Unix or Linux, but it lets me do everything I want to do the Unix way while never having to leave the underlying Windows I'm already booted in. As a an old non-GUI computer user going back to Apple II and Radio Shack TRS-80 days, I love the way Cygwin lets me do things. I would choose Ubuntu though, if it wasn't that I have only one computer, and it's a laptop on which some of the convenience features just won't work fully in Linux (some indispensable touchpad features, wifi not reliable, fan can't be controlled and system overheats).

If we're talking a full desktop system, a full installation of Ubuntu but using Openbox or Fluxbox as the window manager is what I like best. I say, install it all, and then use it minimal style if that's what you want.

[SkyBon]

I use Kubuntu Linux Karmic Koala (9.10a2) in conjuction with KDE 4.3RC3 (4.2.98). GNOME is too ugly for me...

[Lord Ba'al]

Mandriva 2009.1 x64

Kde 4.2.4 (upgrading to 4.3 once it's released)

Desktop

I've tried Ubuntu, openSuse and Sabayon before, but thzey all had their share of problems :pinch:

Now here on Mandriva, finally everything's working fine - Ati driver, network/internet, compiz etc. :cool:

So I then decided to give it an extended trial and ended up switching to it full-time :woot:

I don't see a desktop thread here, so I'll put mine right here (click for big).

The gadget is Automatik from SuperKaramba, desktop theme is Vistar 7. Both are from kde-look.org (got them via the "Get new stuff" option in the corresponding theme selectors).

I use Kubuntu Linux Karmic Koala (9.10a2) in conjuction with KDE 4.3RC3 (4.2.98). GNOME is too ugly for me...

Gnomes never had a reputation for being pretty though, so no big surprise :laugh:

[tsupersonic]

Stopped using Linux on my home computer, it is flat out slow (since it's 4 year old hardware). At work, I use it as a server, and sometimes as a desktop for playing around. Using Fedora for the server, and Ubuntu on a test machine. These machines are beasts, Core 2 Extremes, 8GB RAM, RAID 0, overkill for what we need it for, but hey we have the budget :D

[martinbc]

Desktop:

Dist: Ubuntu w/ GNOME

For: School, Programming and such

Server:

Dist: Arch w/ fluxbox

For: Webserver, IRC server, FTP server

[MS Bob 11]

Mandriva is very good. Never had any problems with it. The spring releases are more stable.

[apollos84]

Hmm. A whole bunch of people run Ubuntu. I'm running Fedora with KDE. That's the beauty of Linux!

[VII7]

^ 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.

When it comes to Linux as Desktop, or even FreeBSD, "OLD VGA is Good, actually Old VGA is best"... especially when we talk about ATi, since nVidia has a better support. I never had drivers problems with old systems, as for more recent ones, it's such a pain. Even the 64 bit support (still drivers related, not flash or things like that) is not so good, so rather ignore you 4 GB + ram and go with x86, yet most recommend you go with AMD64 if you system is capable...

[simonlang]

ubuntu and gnome.

[nXqd]

Arch with DWM - simple, effective and super productivity system \m/

I use it for everyday works I do on windows , my system is damn fast :)

[Bugballou]

http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/

ftp://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/pclinuxos/live-cd/

[xxxxxx.xxxxxx]

Desktop;

Ubuntu 10.10 w/ Gnome 2.32.0

Netbook;

xUbuntu 10.10 w/ xFCE 4.6.2

Test Server;

Debian Lenny 5.0.7 headless

[Growled Member]

Desktop;

Ubuntu 10.10 w/ Gnome 2.32.0

Every person's needs are different but I find Mint has the best desktop experience of anyone right now.

[TDT]

Linux Mint. Why isn't this on the poll?! It's great!

[dmd3x]

It's almost 2011, should a new thread be created?

[MadDoggyca]

Mint 10 X64 Vmware system

thank god for backup files on avg I back it ever 36 Hours it seems.

ever time I brake it I just copy the backup vmk file from my server and try agian..

[tablet_user]

It's almost 2011, should a new thread be created?

why? the threads 2 yrs old and 5 pages. I doubt a new thread would make people anymore interested.

[Hosso]

Ubuntu on netbook (eee pc 1000h)

Arch Linux on home desktop (with windows 7)

CentOS on server

[Glassed Silver]

Ubuntu and opensuse (Y)

Nothing beats GNOME imho, after trying it in Ubuntu...

Usually I've used it for recoveries live-usb/cd/dvd trials and to tinker with it...

I've got it installed as second of three OS's on my netbook :)

Glassed Silver:mac