*nix users: I need your opinion

[BlackOmen]

Ok, so it is spring and I've decided to some spring cleaning on my hard drive. Yup, all partitions, slices, and remnants of OS's I've played with in the past year are going to be removed and I'm going to use one OS (gee, what a concept). So I need help in decided what I want to use. My most often OS's have been Slackware, FreeBSD and NetBSD (sorry n0c, OpenBSD was a short fling). I've been really turned onto the BSD ports system in my experience with BSDs, so I'm considering using Gentoo Linux, or a BSD. This is where you come in; I need to know what you like/dislike about any of the above. And I'm not talking "OpenBSD is secure" or "NetBSD is portable". I can read that in the millions of articles written on the subject. I want actual realworld opinions on the quirks of each BSD and Gentoo.

Just in case people are going to ask what I do with my system:
-usual desktop stuff (internet stuff, abiword, .........)
-possibly run apache in the next month or so (i've set up firewalling in FreeBSD and Slack, so no issue)

I like Linux, I like BSD. Basically, I just want real world opinions to decide what I should run (and I get the feeling that my hd will get trashed with OS playing soon after-so worry not )

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< (sorry n0c, OpenBSD was a short fling) >>



One night stands are sometimes the best

Anyhow, use Debian. Its easy, stable, and fairly clean.

 

[jhu]

if you don't mind waiting, compile your own linux os. go here

 

[Nothinman]

Another vote for Debian.

 

[freebsddude]

If you are new to Unix then Mandrake is one to try. It also depends what your goal is ? Many people also recommend Debian, Suse and Slackware. Redhat too, if you will be running Apache or MySQL/PostGreSQL databases.

If you are comfortable with Unix, then I would try FreeBSD.

Honestly, since you not concerned about trashing your hard disk, go ahead and try a couple 3 and use the one you are most comfortable with. It is really a matter of personal choice.


Here is links to various Linux distros. Good luck!

 

[LNXman]

I would go with a distribution that has a decent way of installing/uninstalling software and does not have a lot of unnecessary stuff with it. I don't think it really matters which *NIX like OS you choose, since most of the stuff you may want will be supported in any.
But, if you want my opinion, I would have toss it up between Slackware or Debian. (BTW, seems like Slack 8.1 is about to be finished soon. . . ). Currently I use both, though with Debian, I don't understand why package manager does some things. Then again, Debian has talked about a new package management client for the future.

Well, enough rambling . . .

GL

 

[Sunner]

Debian.

 

[BlackOmen]

Hmm, in the face of being unpopular, I guess I'll give Debian a whirl again ever since Slack defeated it a year ago. Thanks to all those who gave their input and even to freebsddude who gave the generic response . Looks like I'll have a round of FreeBSD vs Gentoo vs Debian before I clean up my hd. (Slack just isn't doing it for me anymore).

 

[Electrode]

The way I see it, for a desktop box with light server duties, Linux is the best choice, for the simple reason that it has better hardware support and a much more expansive collection of software. Most of the desktop-type programs on BSD were originally made for Linux, and got ported at some point.

As for distros, the only one I like is Slackware. I prefer LFS though. I like the idea of total customization right down to the lowest levels.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< The way I see it, for a desktop box with light server duties, Linux is the best choice, for the simple reason that it has better hardware support and a much more expansive collection of software. Most of the desktop-type programs on BSD were originally made for Linux, and got ported at some point. >>



NetBSD still has the best hardware support



<< As for distros, the only one I like is Slackware. I prefer LFS though. I like the idea of total customization right down to the lowest levels. >>



You can customize the hell out of any distro or BSD. Nothinman would be happy, Im reading up on switching an OpenBSD machine from BSD init to a hybrid BSD/SysV-like init system. I recompile all the software on my BSD systems, sometimes even adding compiler optimizations. Ive replaced some standard daemons with ones I prefer or like better (qmail for sendmail, ucspi-tcp for inetd). So customization is no problem

 

[Nothinman]

NetBSD still has the best hardware support

Broadest platform, not best hardware, there's a big difference. NetBSD woudln't properly detect a DE500 in my AlphaServer that Linux had no problems with.

As for distros, the only one I like is Slackware. I prefer LFS though. I like the idea of total customization right down to the lowest levels

I like Debian because I like using my system, not spending all my time setting it up.

 

[manly]

If you want a source-based system, I'd give Gentoo a try. Note I haven't done so myself.

Debian's great if you want vendor-supplied packages with an excellent upgrade mechanism. Note I use vendor is the loosest sense.

Although I read often enough user accounts that source-based systems are noticeably faster, I rarely see much corroboration from experts. The going line seems to be that i486-targetted code is perfectly fine for the vast majority of applications.

Personally, I know PCs are blazingly fast today, but like n0c said in a different thread, compiling beasts such as KDE3 is a monstrous undertaking. I prefer the vendor to provide that service. I can always build from the SRPM if I really need to.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< Although I read often enough user accounts that source-based systems are noticeably faster, I rarely see much corroboration from experts. The going line seems to be that i486-targetted code is perfectly fine for the vast majority of applications. >>



I have noticed a difference for certain applications on OpenBSD. But it takes a little more work adding compile options to make files in BSD's port systems. Not all applications will have a noticable difference, but some will. YMMV

 

[NorthenLove]

<< Ok, so it is spring and I've decided to some spring cleaning on my hard drive. Yup, all partitions, slices, and remnants of OS's I've played with in the past year are going to be removed and I'm going to use one OS (gee, what a concept). So I need help in decided what I want to use. My most often OS's have been Slackware, FreeBSD and NetBSD (sorry n0c, OpenBSD was a short fling). I've been really turned onto the BSD ports system in my experience with BSDs, so I'm considering using Gentoo Linux, or a BSD. This is where you come in; I need to know what you like/dislike about any of the above. And I'm not talking "OpenBSD is secure" or "NetBSD is portable". I can read that in the millions of articles written on the subject. I want actual realworld opinions on the quirks of each BSD and Gentoo.

Just in case people are going to ask what I do with my system:
-usual desktop stuff (internet stuff, abiword, .........)
-possibly run apache in the next month or so (i've set up firewalling in FreeBSD and Slack, so no issue)

I like Linux, I like BSD. Basically, I just want real world opinions to decide what I should run (and I get the feeling that my hd will get trashed with OS playing soon after-so worry not ) >>



Give Gentoo a try. From what I have here it has a BSD style port system with the apt-get type feature of Debian and the speed boost gained from compiling it from the start for your sytem like LFS.

 

[BlackOmen]

Well, I've installed Debian and I've been playing with it for the better part of the night. I've apt-getted quite a bit and I do like apt. I still do have mixed feelings about though. Maybe I need to forget about my good times with Slack for a while (although SysV init is growing on me kind of).

I'll give Gentoo a try once I decided which other OS gets the ax

 

[gaidin123]

Gentoo Linux is cool. I've been playing around with it on a laptop for the past couple of days. The ports system is very convenient and handles dependencies well. You just type 'emerge kde' and it will download, compile, and install all the KDE 3 stuff automatically. Yes it takes absolutely forever to compile things like KDE, X, and all the dependencies (seriously the install guide tells you go to to sleep, or take a really long nap at several points) but it's a great linux distro from what I've seen so far. You do have to get down to the nitty gritty for some configuration but I like doing that to some extent.

The user community seems pretty active and dedicated to the distribution...You really only install exactly what you want to install. What you install is going to be compiled and optimized for your system with whatever optimizations you specify in a global config file.

Gaidin

 

[TheOmegaCode]

<< Well, I've installed Debian and I've been playing with it for the better part of the night. I've apt-getted quite a bit and I do like apt. I still do have mixed feelings about though. Maybe I need to forget about my good times with Slack for a while (although SysV init is growing on me kind of).

I'll give Gentoo a try once I decided which other OS gets the ax >>


Every time I install Debian I can't get X to work... And freaking mandrake is pissing the crap out of me... I've had 3 different boxes that all have the X-Font servers shut down for no reason (I've installed off 2 different iso's +md5 sums match up), and even FreeBSD is pissing me off right now. I just got a new box set up, and everything works flawlessly except my onboard sound...

 

[Sunner]

<< Im reading up on switching an OpenBSD machine from BSD init to a hybrid BSD/SysV-like init system >>


Muhahaha!
Welcome to the dark side

 

[BlackOmen]

<<
Every time I install Debian I can't get X to work... And freaking mandrake is pissing the crap out of me... I've had 3 different boxes that all have the X-Font servers shut down for no reason (I've installed off 2 different iso's +md5 sums match up), and even FreeBSD is pissing me off right now. I just got a new box set up, and everything works flawlessly except my onboard sound... >>



I didn't have any problem with X 4.1 in Debian or FreeBSD. I've also become very at tone with my hardware/OS. Perhaps the zen of Operating Systems........

But anyhoo, what kind of error messages did you have with X? What kind of mobo/onboard sound do you have?

 

[TheOmegaCode]

<<

<<
Every time I install Debian I can't get X to work... And freaking mandrake is pissing the crap out of me... I've had 3 different boxes that all have the X-Font servers shut down for no reason (I've installed off 2 different iso's +md5 sums match up), and even FreeBSD is pissing me off right now. I just got a new box set up, and everything works flawlessly except my onboard sound... >>



I didn't have any problem with X 4.1 in Debian or FreeBSD. I've also become very at tone with my hardware/OS. Perhaps the zen of Operating Systems........

But anyhoo, what kind of error messages did you have with X? What kind of mobo/onboard sound do you have? >>


No, my sound is supported... It just being gay, I'll figure it out. There comes a time in your life when all technology forsakes you, and nothing works. I'm in a rut, to put it lightly. Even M$win2k is booting to blue screens, telling me to chkdsk /f (it hasn't been shutdown illegally or anything).

 

[n0cmonkey]

<<

<< Im reading up on switching an OpenBSD machine from BSD init to a hybrid BSD/SysV-like init system >>


Muhahaha!
Welcome to the dark side >>



It wont be a production thing for me for a while. I want to test it out and see how it goes. Unfortunately, Im using non-free software so I wont be able to do a whole lot with it

 

[KiwiSurfer]

FreeBSD is a very nice OS, which has a very good (IMHO) packages system.

NetBSD, however, has excellent hardware support, even on Intel-based hardware. Unlike FreeBSD which couldn't detect my onboard AC'97 audio on my Gigabyte GA-7VXE motherboard despite it being supported, NetBSD decteted it on boot. It also detected my VIA Hardware Monitor. I wouldn't be suprised if NetBSD had superior hardware support in other areas aswell, since FreeBSD seems to focus on the software side of the operating system rather than the hardware side (this shows in the fact they have only done a port to 2 platforms so far, with 3 new platforms for 5.0).

Overall, though, FreeBSD is quite good. It has decent hardware support (even if it dosn't support some of the more exotic devices or configurations) and, on the software side it is very good. The Ports collection is one of FreeBSD's best assets -- it enables you to compile any of the 6,000 apps ported to FreeBSD just by cding to the dir which has the data for that particular app and then running "make install clean". It also has the very superior tcsh shell included in the base distribution, aswell as other useful utilities like bzip2, gzip, gcc, perl and othjers. OpenSSH is also included in its crypto distribution.

I could go on, but you should really stick with what you're more comfortable with, but still keeping in mind how well that particular OS supports your hardware (for example, if you need audio support, you should check whenether that paritcular OS supports your audio card/chipset).

- James