Whats the most basic and customizable distro out there?

[Nvidiaguy07]

So out of all the distros ive used ive ran ubuntu about 90 percent of the time. My only problem with it though is that it for one: it comes with stuff i dont want or need, and two, its a pain when i want to upgrade to the newest versions of firefox, open office, etc.

I tried debian because i thought it would be just a stripped down version of ubuntu but its basically the same thing.

Also when i go to my package manager the same problem arises when trying to install the latest firefox, plus the whole problem with Iceweasel or whatever they call firefox.

I just want something with a debian/ubuntu look and feel that comes with barely anything that can be customized fully.

If this sounds ridiculous (which it might) then whats the best way to just have my package manager upgrade to the latest version of whatever app im running? (I know theres a way for me to upgrade to 3.5 but i want the package manager to handle it if its possible)

 

[Nothinman]

Also when i go to my package manager the same problem arises when trying to install the latest firefox, plus the whole problem with Iceweasel or whatever they call firefox.

I've never had a problem with Debian's rebranding of FF.

I just want something with a debian/ubuntu look and feel that comes with barely anything that can be customized fully.

Debian and Ubuntu can be customized as much as any distro with package management. You may have to remove some pseudo-packages like gnome-desktop-environment to stop them from pulling in everything but that's about it.

If this sounds ridiculous (which it might) then whats the best way to just have my package manager upgrade to the latest version of whatever app im running? (I know theres a way for me to upgrade to 3.5 but i want the package manager to handle it if its possible)

You only have 2 options:

1) Stick with what's in the repositories. It's probably older than what's available on the website but it's had some QA done on it, it's more integrated with the rest of the system and it's supported by the Debian and/or Ubuntu developers.

2) Install it and manage it yourself. This will get you the latest from the website but you'll have to watch it yourself and it won't be registered with the package manager so it won't know that it's installed. Technically you could make fake packages to satisfy dependencies but then you're opening up a whole other can of worms that you had better be prepared to deal with.

 

[Presence]

Sounds you would like Arch Linux. Upon installation all you will have is a command line to work with since all it installs is basically a core system..... no X no fancy gui login screens...not anything except what you need to get your computer running....

Its up to you to decide what you want to install after that and its package manager Pacman is just as good as Debians. Arch is a rolling release distro so as soon as new software is released, its pretty much on Arch not to long after that. A simple pacman -syu will bring your whole system up to date...so theres no need to install it again when theres a "new archlinux" release.... its almost like Gentoo without all the pointless compiling =P

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide

Read that or print it before you jump into the installation, which pretty much covers everything. Though if you are not comfortable or use to working from the command line and editing files yourself then it could pose some issues...but nothing too difficult if read carefully and can follow instructions..

 

[Brazen]

I would just use this: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-...-security/+archive/ppa

 

[Nothinman]

Its up to you to decide what you want to install after that and its package manager Pacman is just as good as Debians. Arch is a rolling release distro so as soon as new software is released, its pretty much on Arch not to long after that. A simple pacman -syu will bring your whole system up to date...so theres no need to install it again when theres a "new archlinux" release.... its almost like Gentoo without all the pointless compiling =P

Sounds a lot like Debian sid...

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: Nvidiaguy07
If this sounds ridiculous (which it might) then whats the best way to just have my package manager upgrade to the latest version of whatever app im running? (I know theres a way for me to upgrade to 3.5 but i want the package manager to handle it if its possible)

Hrm... well...

I've tried dozens of Linux/BSD distros (a hobby of mine). I've settled on a few for my daily operations though...

Basically, I use Slackware and CentOS for my servers, Ubuntu and Linux Mint (an Ubuntu fork) for workstations/desktops/portables, and Puppy Linux for doorstops.

I constantly play around with other distros, but those are the distros I currently depend on...

In your situation, I would recommend Linux Mint 7 "Gloria". Why?

After trying several distros, I installed "Gloria" on my lowly Asus Eee PC 1000HD netbook. After spending a week, getting rid of unnecessary cruft (programs I don't use), scaling down the default theme to fit the 10" panel, turning off the animated icons and uninstalling Compiz Fusion (to ease the strain on the weak video card and CPU), blah, blah, blah... I ended up with a very basic (and customizable) version of Linux Mint 7. It looks (ahem) glorious, it's totally stable, flies like the wind, and so forth, and so on. Linux Mint 7 is a keeper on my netty - basic, customizable, and able to run in a resource-challenged environment!

Also, I installed "Gloria" on my lappy yesterday - so far, so good!

The reason I mentioned my lappy is because one of the first things I did was upgrade Firefox to version 3.5.1 (which you said you want to do) - took me all of 2 minutes!

Here's a link, if you wanna see how simple it is...

http://www.linuxmint.com/blog/?p=958 (Linuxmint.org - "Firefox 3.5 available in Gloria")

This simple procedure allows you to retain Firefox 3.0.x as well have Firefox 3.5.x on tap, e.g. the best of all possible worlds! Actually, this is the best way to install Firefox 3.5.x (at this point in time). That way, applications that are (somewhat/somehow) dependent on Firefox 3.0.x won't crash on you - but that's a discussion for a different thread.

Anyway, I thought I would throw that in the mix. Have fun!

 

[Fox5]

Ubuntu is fully customizable, just don't use the repositories. Uninstall the ubuntu versions, and install from either a custom repo or do a manual install yourself.

For example:
http://webupd8.blogspot.com/20...tu-repository-deb.html
Doing this will get you a fully updated firefox automatically. Enabling backports in Ubuntu might do it also.


Besides that, Debian unstable does rolling upgrades, so it should just about always have the latest versions of software ready to update to.

 

[Nothinman]

Ubuntu is fully customizable, just don't use the repositories. Uninstall the ubuntu versions, and install from either a custom repo or do a manual install yourself.

And defeat the main reason for using Ubuntu, smart...

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Ubuntu is fully customizable, just don't use the repositories. Uninstall the ubuntu versions, and install from either a custom repo or do a manual install yourself.

And defeat the main reason for using Ubuntu, smart...

You don't have to disable all of them, just the ones that are bothering you. It's not like Ubuntu is a gimped Linux underneath everything they've added, it's still just as functional as any other.

 

[Nothinman]

You don't have to disable all of them, just the ones that are bothering you. It's not like Ubuntu is a gimped Linux underneath everything they've added, it's still just as functional as any other.

Yes, but if you do a manual install of something then it's not recorded within the package manager so it won't know it's installed so things that depend on that package will either force you to install the Ubuntu version or manually install those apps too. And since you're not using the Ubuntu packages you're missing out on the other QA and integration that Ubuntu has done.

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

You don't have to disable all of them, just the ones that are bothering you. It's not like Ubuntu is a gimped Linux underneath everything they've added, it's still just as functional as any other.

Yes, but if you do a manual install of something then it's not recorded within the package manager so it won't know it's installed so things that depend on that package will either force you to install the Ubuntu version or manually install those apps too. And since you're not using the Ubuntu packages you're missing out on the other QA and integration that Ubuntu has done.

It sounds like he mainly wants big apps like Open Office and Firefox. There shouldn't be any problem with doing manual installs of those, nothing should depend on them. He could even have separate installs in addition to the ubuntu packages.

Or just use the PPA repositories which generally has up to date or near up to date versions anyway.

 

[1LordEmperor1]

There's an ISO on Ubuntu's FTP called Ubuntu Mini, it's ~40MB and installs pretty much a shell and apt-get.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

Originally posted by: 1LordEmperor1
There's an ISO on Ubuntu's FTP called Ubuntu Mini, it's ~40MB and installs pretty much a shell and apt-get.

wow that sounds like exactly what i was looking for, i did try mint which i liked more than regular ubuntu but i guess ill have to give this a try to

 

[ethebubbeth]

I'm going to put in another vote for Archlinux. Its package manager (pacman) works a lot like apt, but it is a rolling release so the packages are bleeding edge. That can be a double edged sword, but it sounds like you want the latest versions of everything.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

Originally posted by: ethebubbeth
I'm going to put in another vote for Archlinux. Its package manager (pacman) works a lot like apt, but it is a rolling release so the packages are bleeding edge. That can be a double edged sword, but it sounds like you want the latest versions of everything.

well i thought i did because i felt like i was missing out on a few features that firefox, open office, vlc etc had to offer, but after using firefox 3.5 in mint i realized why they chose to exclude it. It was very buggy and crashed a few times.

the newer VLC is MUCH better and open office 3 is a must though for me.

I tried using arch in a VM but im not that great with the terminal and gave up pretty quick (this was also at like 3 or 4am) I think once i get a desktop environment installed i should be good from there. Hopefully ill get to try it again soon.

 

[Nothinman]

well i thought i did because i felt like i was missing out on a few features that firefox, open office, vlc etc had to offer, but after using firefox 3.5 in mint i realized why they chose to exclude it. It was very buggy and crashed a few times.

That's why you let other people test out those newer releases first. I actually had to look at what version of Iceweasel (FF) that I had installed from sid because I really don't care. It's extremely rare when I run into an instance when I absolutely need a newer version of something to do something.

With Debian sid if you just install apt-listbugs and be careful whenever you update you shouldn't have any major problems. Common sense things like pausing when you see 2 or 3 gnome packages go from 2.24 to 2.26 but the rest are still at 2.24 because that usually just means the autobuilders haven't caught up with all of the packages yet so hold off for a few days.