My friend showed me his linux the other day, he was using ubuntu with a bunch of desktop mods, and i would also like to try out linux (plan to put on laptop), and i would like to know your guy's opinion of the best linux distro. so far i ve been looking at ubuntu, fedora core 8 mainly and took a short look at mandriva, suse and debian.
Best Linux Distro
- Thread starter TC91
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kamper
Diamond Member
- Mar 18, 2003
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There's no best linux distro, though there are ones that shine in some areas.
I'd say Ubuntu is the best from the "I don't wanna learn anything" perspective. It's very full featured from the start, with an impressive array of useful programs without having so many that it becomes confusing to the user. It autoconfigures most things as well, and it's add/remove programs program is sweet, just type in some key words and it'll likely find a program to suit your needs. IMO, though other distros have something similar, this is really the shining star of Ubuntu.(installing familiar, useful, and non-duplicate programs is the runner up) It's a bit lacking in terms of video drivers though. If your video card doesn't have an open source binary then it won't install the latest version automatically, just whatever version of the binary that was certified at the time of the development of the version of Ubuntu you're using. Multi monitor support also seems poor.
I've also used PCLinuxOS extensively, and I'd say it does a better job of installing useful programs for non-standard hardware than ubuntu. I recall it having a few useful apps for my thinkpad. Additionally, its default 3d effects are more usable than Ubuntu's (ie, they have a use rather than just being flashy) and it handles multimonitor support better than Ubuntu.
Back in the day, I was also a mandrake (and later mandriva) user, and it's ok, haven't gone back to it with the advent of pclinuxos and ubuntu.
Also have tried Xandros and a Linspire LiveCD. Xandros sucked: buggy, slow, and though it had the neat ability to migrate from windows user accounts (which ubuntu and probably a few others can do now as well) and came with an install of crossover office, it was still a mediocre distro in my experience.
The linspire livecd was too slow to be usable. Plus, I just don't care for the attempt to replicate windows, it may be good for a cheap OS for walmart computers to come preinstalled with but I consider the windows user interface to be pretty poor made only usable because I know the ins and outs of it. I'm not nearly as familiar with Linux, and especially not a pseudo windows linux, so presenting to me the weak UI of windows without me having the knowledge to do more advanced things with it makes the OS feel very crippled.
When it comes to Linux, I'd say the free distros have a major edge over the proprietary ones.
I'd say Ubuntu is the best from the "I don't wanna learn anything" perspective. It's very full featured from the start, with an impressive array of useful programs without having so many that it becomes confusing to the user. It autoconfigures most things as well, and it's add/remove programs program is sweet, just type in some key words and it'll likely find a program to suit your needs. IMO, though other distros have something similar, this is really the shining star of Ubuntu.(installing familiar, useful, and non-duplicate programs is the runner up) It's a bit lacking in terms of video drivers though. If your video card doesn't have an open source binary then it won't install the latest version automatically, just whatever version of the binary that was certified at the time of the development of the version of Ubuntu you're using. Multi monitor support also seems poor.
I've also used PCLinuxOS extensively, and I'd say it does a better job of installing useful programs for non-standard hardware than ubuntu. I recall it having a few useful apps for my thinkpad. Additionally, its default 3d effects are more usable than Ubuntu's (ie, they have a use rather than just being flashy) and it handles multimonitor support better than Ubuntu.
Back in the day, I was also a mandrake (and later mandriva) user, and it's ok, haven't gone back to it with the advent of pclinuxos and ubuntu.
Also have tried Xandros and a Linspire LiveCD. Xandros sucked: buggy, slow, and though it had the neat ability to migrate from windows user accounts (which ubuntu and probably a few others can do now as well) and came with an install of crossover office, it was still a mediocre distro in my experience.
The linspire livecd was too slow to be usable. Plus, I just don't care for the attempt to replicate windows, it may be good for a cheap OS for walmart computers to come preinstalled with but I consider the windows user interface to be pretty poor made only usable because I know the ins and outs of it. I'm not nearly as familiar with Linux, and especially not a pseudo windows linux, so presenting to me the weak UI of windows without me having the knowledge to do more advanced things with it makes the OS feel very crippled.
When it comes to Linux, I'd say the free distros have a major edge over the proprietary ones.
wow, thanks a lot Fox5. i think i ll try out ubuntu, pclinuxos, and for some reason im inclined to test out fedora core 8 too.
arch is my current fav, lean and mean => http://www.archlinux.org
zenwalk is nice too, haven't had as much time with it => http://www.zenwalk.org
zenwalk is nice too, haven't had as much time with it => http://www.zenwalk.org
IMO if you're new to Linux your best bet is going to be Ubuntu simply because it's the most popular. When you run into a problem (and it will happen) you'll find there's more info on Ubuntu troubleshooting than anything else.
thanks for the reply/suggestion/recommendation Robor, appreciate it. my friend today showed me his ubuntu linux more in depth today, and it seems like a good idea to run it as it appears to be more of a workstation, which would limit distractions for me if im doing a report or something. yah and if i do run into problems, which i likely would, it be nice to have a good trouble shooting just in case.
accguy9009
Senior member
- Oct 21, 2007
- 504
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Mandriva 2008 is very, very similiar to PClinuxOS. I prefer Mandriva personally. Have you tried the Live CD's of the Distros you mentioned? I am interested in your thoughts after your use. The best ditro is the one you like the best.
ch33zw1z
Lifer
- Nov 4, 2004
- 39,476
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Everybody's tastes are different. I spent the last 6 months or so trying a few out, such as Ubuntu, Fedora, and SUSE. I personally found Fedora Core 7 (8 is not as stable or user friendly IMO), and openSUSE 10.3 to be a good fit for my needs. Ubuntu was quirky, both GNOME and KDE. I'm giving Novell Linux Ent. Desktop a try, SUSE based...looks much like openSUSE 10.3.
Now, keep in mind I'm a Linux noob. I've dabbled here and there...but want to make the switch more permanently. These are just my findings, and it took many hours and a few reinstalls
Now, keep in mind I'm a Linux noob. I've dabbled here and there...but want to make the switch more permanently. These are just my findings, and it took many hours and a few reinstalls
thanks for the replies accguy9009 and ch33zw1z. today i played around with my friend's ubuntu at school again for a little bit more. it wasnt as interesting as it seemed at first. right now im gona burn the fedora core 8 iso and try it out. i ll check out mandriva and pclinuxos too. i dont really intend to replace windows on my laptop, just to have another environment that wont distract me as much as windows does. i ll post my thoughts on the other linux distros as soon as i try em out. thanks for the recommendations guys
accguy9009
Senior member
- Oct 21, 2007
- 504
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Once you find a distro you like it is fairly easy even for a new user like me to configure a dual boot set up. Once I did this I found do not boot into Windows nearly as often. All my video files play and so does all my music ( except what I purchased from or imported into ITunes). but I can play those in Windows. I set up the 3D desktop called Compiz Fusion. The cube and wobbly windows are slick. You know pretty soon after using Linux it is a feature rich OS with far more security than is possible with Vista. The price is right also. Good luck with Linux.
You'll want to use a distro that best works with all your hardware, especially a laptop with a wireless nic. You'll most likely find that Ubuntu and PCLinux will get most everything set up painlessly. I'm running Ubuntu on my Inspiron 1501 laptop. You can use other distros but some require more effort to get things working and installed off the bat.
JohnOfSheffield
Lifer
- Jun 26, 2007
- 11,925
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SuSE or PCLinuxOS, Ubuntu doesn't have the tools to deal with it quite yet and i'd rather recommend Debian than Ubuntu.
IME, if Ubuntu doesn't work, it's hell to fix it, Debian at least does what it's told and doesn't try to change settings unless you specifically tell it to.
Personal favourite is Arch Linux, it's easy in it's own way and a no frills distro that puts you in charge of what is installed, down to the last piece of software.
Arch with the Kamikaze kernel boots me into KDE in less than 18 seconds and i've got an old Athlon Xp with a 5200 drive and 512MB of memory. When i say boots me into i mean as in ready to use and no load.
IME, if Ubuntu doesn't work, it's hell to fix it, Debian at least does what it's told and doesn't try to change settings unless you specifically tell it to.
Personal favourite is Arch Linux, it's easy in it's own way and a no frills distro that puts you in charge of what is installed, down to the last piece of software.
Arch with the Kamikaze kernel boots me into KDE in less than 18 seconds and i've got an old Athlon Xp with a 5200 drive and 512MB of memory. When i say boots me into i mean as in ready to use and no load.
Can't Ubuntu use just about everything debian can, being a debian derivative?
Even though I pose that question, I'll still agree with you that ubuntu is hell to fix. Ubuntu probably handles 90% of people's needs just fine, and for that it works great, but anything outside of what it's designed for and it falls apart.
thanks for the replies guys. if anyone cares, i did a bit of messing around with different os's on my laptop, from a bunch of linux distros to osx, and so far ubuntu 7.10 seems like the my favourite linux distro, but i think i will stick to using vista as my primary os for a while. it was fun trying out all of those different os's, but i think windows is best for me overall. the beryl xgl desktop is pretty sweet, id be missing using it.
MovingTarget
Diamond Member
- Jun 22, 2003
- 9,002
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well, pretty much any linux install disc will be able to set up a dual-boot system without too much trouble. You may want to stay in windowsland, but its nice to have another partition to boot to when you feel like playing around with it. You seem like you want to learn it, so that may be a good start. Good luck!
I first started really getting into Linux with Gentoo, but I had to call my friend way too much to get help. To my credit, he is the one that recommended it to me, but he is a lot more software savvy than me. While I loved working with Portage and still think it is the best package manager I have ever used, it is still a very very difficult distro for beginners. I switched to Ubuntu and have really enjoyed i t so far. It is still robust enough to let me use the stuff I learned in Gentoo, but simple enough to compensate for my lack of full understanding of how the software works. I have an extra computer that I tinker with Linux on, as I found dual-booting to be a big pain, especially considering how long Linux takes to boot, especially on older hardware. This might not be a problem with a laptop, but if your laptop is so old that it can't really play games then there really isn't much point to be using Windows anyways, as that is pretty much the only thing I use my Windows install for anyways.
Also, if your laptop is really old, you might want to check out Kubuntu, as KDE is a bit lighter on resources than GNOME, especially RAM. That is not to say GNOME is a resource hog, as I still have it running on my PIII 600 with 512MB of RAM. If you want to go really light, you can use Fluxbox as your window manager, but it is much more feature-lacking, especially if you were used to your friend's Metacity equipped Ubuntu installation.
Also, if your laptop is really old, you might want to check out Kubuntu, as KDE is a bit lighter on resources than GNOME, especially RAM. That is not to say GNOME is a resource hog, as I still have it running on my PIII 600 with 512MB of RAM. If you want to go really light, you can use Fluxbox as your window manager, but it is much more feature-lacking, especially if you were used to your friend's Metacity equipped Ubuntu installation.
If you are still just looking around at different distributions, I suggest you use VMWare to create a virtual machine. Your 3.4Ghz machine should be able to handle it no problem. If you create multiple separate VMs on your machine, you can try one, turn it off, then compare it with another, turn it off, and go back and forth. Use the free VMWare player and the pre-made images of various Linuxes:
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/
I have used Red Hat, Fedora, and SUSE. SUSE is really nice; I suspect it is as easy to use as Ubuntu. I am a professional software engineer, and I like Fedora just generally because I've been using it a long time.
There really is no difference between distributions. They all use the same kernel underneath. The differences generally are: the default colour schemes (changeable), the default desktop manager (changeable), the packaging manager (the software that lets you find, download, and install new Linux software), and the level of activity you find at each distro's message board (I know that the Ubuntu message board is very popular, so you will get lots of fast replies if you have problems, but note that most problems are general enough that you will find answers at a general Linux message board).
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/
I have used Red Hat, Fedora, and SUSE. SUSE is really nice; I suspect it is as easy to use as Ubuntu. I am a professional software engineer, and I like Fedora just generally because I've been using it a long time.
There really is no difference between distributions. They all use the same kernel underneath. The differences generally are: the default colour schemes (changeable), the default desktop manager (changeable), the packaging manager (the software that lets you find, download, and install new Linux software), and the level of activity you find at each distro's message board (I know that the Ubuntu message board is very popular, so you will get lots of fast replies if you have problems, but note that most problems are general enough that you will find answers at a general Linux message board).
quadomatic
Senior member
- May 13, 2007
- 993
- 0
- 76
I've tried Fedora, Sabayon (Gentoo based), Ubuntu, SUSE, Linux Mint (which I guess is the same as Ubuntu), PCLinuxOS, SAM (based on PCLinuxOS), Ubuntu Studio, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and PuppyLinux.
My favorite by far has been Ubuntu. The forums are excellent, which is one of the reasons I've stuck with it. Also, you really can't beat Aptitude for getting software, but I guess that's just my opinion. When I tried SUSE, I found the community to be not so helpful, and YaST was a major pain. It was nowhere near as easy as aptitude was.
SAM Linux is really good when you need a distro that doesn't take up a lot of system resources. I used it on an old Pentium III laptop that was on its last leg. It was a lot better than Xubuntu. Zenwalk might be better for older systems though. I don't think I ever got around to trying it (or if I did, it didn't support my network card, so I didn't use it).
I really liked Sabayon Linux. It had every piece of software I needed. The problem was, I couldn't figure out how to get emerge (gentoo package manager) to work. Every time I tried to install something, I'd get some error about packages being locked or something (can't remember, long time ago). But, if you can get emerge to work, I imagine that it would be a great distro.
Linux Mint was a really good distro too. It's based on Ubuntu, so it has all the good stuff that Ubuntu has, and then it has a lot of the stuff that Ubuntu doesn't have enabled by default for legal reasons, which is nice.
I agree with anandtechuser07 that you should try a virtual machine to test what distro you'll want to use. Virtualbox is also useful if you need to install windows inside your linux distrobution in case there's some program you need that doesn't work in WINE, or some device you need doesn't work in Linux (for me, its my Canon MFC. I still can't get scanning to work in VirtualBox though).
My favorite by far has been Ubuntu. The forums are excellent, which is one of the reasons I've stuck with it. Also, you really can't beat Aptitude for getting software, but I guess that's just my opinion. When I tried SUSE, I found the community to be not so helpful, and YaST was a major pain. It was nowhere near as easy as aptitude was.
SAM Linux is really good when you need a distro that doesn't take up a lot of system resources. I used it on an old Pentium III laptop that was on its last leg. It was a lot better than Xubuntu. Zenwalk might be better for older systems though. I don't think I ever got around to trying it (or if I did, it didn't support my network card, so I didn't use it).
I really liked Sabayon Linux. It had every piece of software I needed. The problem was, I couldn't figure out how to get emerge (gentoo package manager) to work. Every time I tried to install something, I'd get some error about packages being locked or something (can't remember, long time ago). But, if you can get emerge to work, I imagine that it would be a great distro.
Linux Mint was a really good distro too. It's based on Ubuntu, so it has all the good stuff that Ubuntu has, and then it has a lot of the stuff that Ubuntu doesn't have enabled by default for legal reasons, which is nice.
I agree with anandtechuser07 that you should try a virtual machine to test what distro you'll want to use. Virtualbox is also useful if you need to install windows inside your linux distrobution in case there's some program you need that doesn't work in WINE, or some device you need doesn't work in Linux (for me, its my Canon MFC. I still can't get scanning to work in VirtualBox though).
Those that have used both Ubuntu and Fedora Core, please post a comparison of pluses and minuses of each. I'm building an HTPC which will primarily run MythTV and the Myth distros I've narrowed down to MythBuntu and MythDora. There was a comparison article of those two and a 3rd distro, but it was based on beta MythBuntu and wasn't a very good comparison, with emphasis on installation and almost no comments on usability.
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