Slackware vs. Debian vs. ___

[NuclearFusi0n]

what's the hardest linux distro for a basic n00b to use, eh? i'm not liking red hat or mandrake

 

[datalink7]

Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
what's the hardest linux distro for a basic n00b to use, eh? i'm not liking red hat or mandrake

What is wrong with redhat?

 

[MC]

Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
what's the hardest linux distro for a basic n00b to use, eh? i'm not liking red hat or mandrake

what's wrong with mandrake?

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

Originally posted by: datalink7

Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
what's the hardest linux distro for a basic n00b to use, eh? i'm not liking red hat or mandrake

What is wrong with redhat?

too graphical, and their kernels are "special" http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-8.0-Manual/custom-guide/ch-kernel.html
i'm not sure if the normal kernels from kernel.org will work correctly
yeah i'm a dumbass, sue me.

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

Originally posted by: MingChia

Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
what's the hardest linux distro for a basic n00b to use, eh? i'm not liking red hat or mandrake

what's wrong with mandrake?

too damn n00b oriented

 

[datalink7]

I just installed Redhat last night. I think I'm going to try to learn on it... I was just wondering what problems you ran into last night.

I found that I could do some stuff through the GUI instead of through a terminal with a command, but I am not going to do it. I am going commands all the way.

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

maybe i'll take a st@b (WTF!?) at redhat again...*shrug*

 

[dighn]

gentoo?

 

[Nemesis77]

Definitely Gentoo. Altrough it's really easy in some respects (like software-installation)

EDIT: www.gentoo.org

 

[J3anyus]

Redhat and Mandrake blow, end of story. Why? Because they're too damn bloated! I personally use Debian and run Blackbox as my window manager (KDE and GNOME just eat way too many resources). The reason I like Debian over Slack is because if you don't know what you're doing and don't know how to compile stuff from source and fix compiling problems, Debian makes things easier, since the apt system just gets pre-compiled binaries of things. Just apt-get this, apt-get that, etc.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

I kinda prefer *BSD to Linux nowadays. OpenBSD isn't too easy compared to the others, if you really are looking for stuff not meant for 'Any key users'.
FreeBSD is my personal favorite though. If you want to stick to Linux try downloading and compiling the kernel first, then with that as basis just downloading and compiling all the other stuff from within Linux (without any tools or graphical shell, the way it used to be done by the freaks before real distros were available )

 

[SnapIT]

Originally posted by: J3anyus
Redhat and Mandrake blow, end of story. Why? Because they're too damn bloated! I personally use Debian and run Blackbox as my window manager (KDE and GNOME just eat way too many resources). The reason I like Debian over Slack is because if you don't know what you're doing and don't know how to compile stuff from source and fix compiling problems, Debian makes things easier, since the apt system just gets pre-compiled binaries of things. Just apt-get this, apt-get that, etc.

heh, Redhat and Mandrake are bloated? you CAN do the custom installation and get the things you want, you CAN configure the kernel pretty easily...

Debian is ok, slackware is king, but for a newbie in linux, Mandrake or Gentoo is pretty much the perfect solution... Just install it the way you want it, configure the kernel, use the .src files (.srpm) to compile a system that is optimized for you...

 

[yoda291]

freebsd ports tree pwns j00! haha

redhat really is bloated, imo. At last check, without any packages, it still sucks in about 300mb of hd space. Mandrake takes 9. For noobs, I think gentoo is good, but uninstallation is a little more complicated than I like sometimes. debian is very good, I like apt get a lot. Slackware is the best learning distro imo.

 

[Nemesis77]

Originally posted by: yoda291
freebsd ports tree pwns j00! haha

Gentoo has similar system called Portage. from Gentoos website:

Portage allows you to set up Gentoo Linux the way you like it -- with the optimization settings that you want, and with optional build-time functionality (like GNOME, KDE, mysql, ALSA, LDAP support, etc.) enabled or disabled as you desire. If you don't want GNOME on your system, your apps won't have optional GNOME support enabled, and if you do, then they will. That's why we prefer thinking of Gentoo Linux as a meta-distribution or Linux technology engine. You decide what kind of system you want, and Portage will create it for you.

We maintain an official Gentoo Linux Portage tree that contains the most recent versions of our ebuild autobuild scripts. By updating your Portage tree, you gain instant access to the latest and greatest Linux technologies and applications. Tell Portage what ebuild you'd like to install, and Portage will auto-download, unpack, patch, configure, compile and install the package. Thanks to Portage auto-dependency resolution, you can install KDE 3.0 or GNOME 2.0.2 by typing in a single command, and the resultant installed binaries will be optimized and customized to your exact specifications.

 

[SnapIT]

Originally posted by: Nemesis77

Originally posted by: yoda291
freebsd ports tree pwns j00! haha

Gentoo has similar system called Portage. from Gentoos website:

Portage allows you to set up Gentoo Linux the way you like it -- with the optimization settings that you want, and with optional build-time functionality (like GNOME, KDE, mysql, ALSA, LDAP support, etc.) enabled or disabled as you desire. If you don't want GNOME on your system, your apps won't have optional GNOME support enabled, and if you do, then they will. That's why we prefer thinking of Gentoo Linux as a meta-distribution or Linux technology engine. You decide what kind of system you want, and Portage will create it for you.

We maintain an official Gentoo Linux Portage tree that contains the most recent versions of our ebuild autobuild scripts. By updating your Portage tree, you gain instant access to the latest and greatest Linux technologies and applications. Tell Portage what ebuild you'd like to install, and Portage will auto-download, unpack, patch, configure, compile and install the package. Thanks to Portage auto-dependency resolution, you can install KDE 3.0 or GNOME 2.0.2 by typing in a single command, and the resultant installed binaries will be optimized and customized to your exact specifications.

WOW, i didn't know that, i guess i have to take a closer look at Gentoo... thanx for the info nemesis...

 

[ProviaFan]

Debian.

 

[yoda291]

I know about portage and I agree it's a good system. Problem is, when I use custom modules for php and perl from my workplace and update world, it breaks a lot of things which I end up installing from src anyways. (On the up side, php and perl work great!) But for newbies who don't have to deal with my work conditions it is good. I still say the best learning distro is slak

 

[Nemesis77]

Originally posted by: SnapIT
WOW, i didn't know that, i guess i have to take a closer look at Gentoo... thanx for the info nemesis...

You're welcome. I moved from Debian to Gentoo, and I'm NOT going back! Only drawback I can think of when it comes to Gentoo is that all the software is compiled (altrough that isn't really a drawback, it's more like a core feature of Gentoo). Installing something like KDE3 from scratch can take a long time since it first install Xfree (if it isn't already installed) and the other software KDE requires. But the resulting binary is optimized for your system. And you can leave it compiling for the night for example .

 

[Nemesis77]

Originally posted by: yoda291
I know about portage and I agree it's a good system. Problem is, when I use custom modules for php and perl from my workplace and update world, it breaks a lot of things which I end up installing from src anyways. (On the up side, php and perl work great!) But for newbies who don't have to deal with my work conditions it is good. I still say the best learning distro is slak

Have you talked to Gentoo-developers about that?

 

[Beattie]

SuSE is one of the easiest I think...
I had the most problems using slackware. Mostly because there is no real built in package system like RPM/Portage/apt

I would reccommend Gentoo or Debian to a noob as long as they have a place to ask questions. I spent a lot of time in the Gentoo Forums when I started using it.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Slackware makes you learn. Debian makes you learn until you want to install software. Gentoo makes you want to get working but you are still waiting for the base system to compile correctly.

OpenBSD is the top as far as easy OSes go though.

 

[Nemesis77]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Gentoo makes you want to get working but you are still waiting for the base system to compile correctly.

And that is a problem because.... Why? I mean, people who install gentoo already know that it compiles everything. And it's hardly a annoying as you make it think. I installed it on my old laptop (266Mhz if I remember correctly) from stage 1 (everything is compiled during the install. GCC, Glibc etc.). I left it compiling for the night. In the morning, it was finished. I finished the installation and installed Xfree and Fluxbox. I left it compiling and went to work. When I got back, it was finished. No time lost.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Nemesis77

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Gentoo makes you want to get working but you are still waiting for the base system to compile correctly.

And that is a problem because.... Why? I mean, people who install gentoo already know that it compiles everything. And it's hardly a annoying as you make it think. I installed it on my old laptop (266Mhz if I remember correctly) from stage 1 (everything is compiled during the install. GCC, Glibc etc.). I left it compiling for the night. In the morning, it was finished. I finished the installation and installed Xfree and Fluxbox. I left it compiling and went to work. When I got back, it was finished. No time lost.

I installed OpenBSD in no more than 30 minutes on a sparcstation 10. I installed the necessary packages in basically the time it took to download them.

 

[Platypus]

Saying one distribution is too 'n00b' oriented is silly and promotes the stereotype that all linux users think they are better than everyone else. Your distribution should be based on personal prefernce, packaging system, and how it works, not how it appears to other people. With this in mind, I've tried a bunch of different ones and landed on FreeBSD(not linux), Debian, and Mandrake as my favourite distributions.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: CorporateRecreation
Saying one distribution is too 'n00b' oriented is silly and promotes the stereotype that all linux users think they are better than everyone else. Your distribution should be based on personal prefernce, packaging system, and how it works, not how it appears to other people. With this in mind, I've tried a bunch of different ones and landed on FreeBSD(not linux), Debian, and Mandrake as my favourite distributions.

I belive Mandrake is too *newbie* oriented for me. Does that sound better?