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Whats the most COMPATIBLE LINUX DISTRO?

S

sebastienmaass

Member
I know that the biggest issue with Linux is compatibility. I want to know wich is the most universally compatible. What are the respective pros and cons of each distro? I know what Linux is and I've always been facinated by it but never installed it.

Any thoughts?
 
Compatibility with what? If you're talking about hardware, the most 'compatible' one is whichever one you studied the supported hardware list for while purchasing your parts. That said, all distros will be relatively close, since they all use the same kernel.
 
The biggest issue with Linux may be "wireless" compatibility, but I wouldn't say another kind of compatibility is a HUGE issue.

Hardware detection in general is very good, even for completely off-brand components.
 
i'm a huge fan of Ubuntu but the only issues i've had with Linux have been wireless issues (normally fairly easy to resolve after installation though). I'd check your hardware against a few distributions to see if there's any specific issues
 
Ubuntu for standard hardware


there was one with ndis wrapper/broadcom out of box, simplymepis or pclinuxos iirc.
 
Originally posted by: The Linuxator
Originally posted by: Zugzwang152
[worthless post]

[Nothinman]

Debian.

[/Nothinman]

[/worthless post]
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[Awaits Nothinman]:laugh:[/Awaits Nothinman]
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I've made similar posts, and I think Nothinman just quoted them. I never included the stupid "worthless post" comment though.
 
I've made similar posts, and I think Nothinman just quoted them. I never included the stupid "worthless post" comment though.
Click to expand...

And I wouldn't exactly call them worthless, the hardware support of most Linux distros is about the same since they all use the same kernel. Some add a few out of tree drivers, but they don't add to many because the farther from Linus' tree they diverge the more it increases their workload. So the choice of distro is pretty much just personal preference.
 
Just download one of the MANY free .iso and burn a LIVE CD. Pop it into the PC and let it boot and do its stuff, NOTHING gets installed to your HD (maybe some temp storage, but no partitions or junk that stays) and you can fiddle around or get converted as you please. I have tried Linspire, ubuntu 5.10, and a few others and its eery how nothing changed a lot of it seems.
 
SimplyMepis and Suse have always detected my hardware. It usually doesn't matter between the top distros, but just to let you know, Kubuntu 5.10 (Ubuntu + KDE) didn't detect my wireless usb.
 
My specs are as follows:

-Pentium 4 550 3.4 Ghz/1MB L2
-Abit AA8-DURAMAX mobo (LGA 775)
-Geforce 6600GT 128 MB pci-e Albatron
-Sony DVD-RW (not sure wich one)
-40GB HD Western Digital 7200rpm
-Kingston value-ram 512 DDR2 Ram
-I have verizon FIOS internet, will that be an issue?

I assume the plug & play components are irrelevant in this list no? If theres anything I'm missing just ask.

What would be a good distro considering those specs?
 
Knoppix has the best overall compatability, and nice automated hardware detection. Still don't really like it though. Then again, I don't like KDE in general. Gnome FTW!!!
 
I do see a lot of driver support on manufacturers websites for Red Hat and SuSe Linux. But Like you I am not the expert.
 
I do see a lot of driver support on manufacturers websites for Red Hat and SuSe Linux. But Like you I am not the expert.
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Even so, I would avoid manufacturer's drivers as much as possible. If there's an OSS driver in the kernel already you should use that because chances are that it's much more stable and better maintained.
 
OpenSUSE 10 was the only distro to properly install on my SATA drive (without disabling APIC), and detect my nForce 4 CK804 ethernet controller. Installing NVIDIA video drivers was very easy.
 
I have to be honest, you will not see much difference as mentioned it really depends on how specefic your question is. I say go with any distro chances are you will get things up and working.
Suggestions :

Fedora Core 4
Ubuntu 5.10
 
Originally posted by: Nothinman
I've made similar posts, and I think Nothinman just quoted them. I never included the stupid "worthless post" comment though.
Click to expand...

And I wouldn't exactly call them worthless, the hardware support of most Linux distros is about the same since they all use the same kernel. Some add a few out of tree drivers, but they don't add to many because the farther from Linus' tree they diverge the more it increases their workload. So the choice of distro is pretty much just personal preference.
Click to expand...
Except when some things just don't want to work right out of the box.Red Hat, SUSE, nd Madriva aught to be good, too (didn't try them), but when it comes to Just Working?, Debian is still it.

I figured they'd mostly be the same (and mostly, I think they are), but my recent experiences with SMGL, Puppy, Beatrix, DSL, and Vector have shown me wrong. Something about my hardware is not kosher with these distros. Puppy, SMGL, and Beatrix would not get a bootloader working. DSL, Vector, and Beatrix had issues with video settings (DSL would crash X at the wrong move, Vector had corrupted video), as SMGL does now (but I'm working on it--it's just the normal low refresh rate thing).

I spent the better part of a week on this, going through everything I could find about GRUB. Nada. I mean, I learned a lot, and I made progress, but in the end, I gave up some space and went for a netinstall of Debian just for booting. Every Debian-based distro I tried installed GRUB and configured video/monitor properly, and even got sound working (proprietary USB audio).

As far as what to try...
Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, MEPIS, Knoppix, Kanotix, and others, offer live CDs. Those other than Ubuntu typically let you install from the session's settings, as well (that is, you can set things up while running, and transfer them to the HDD install). See how well it works. Just waste a few CDRs.

For easy to use desktops, SUSE, Ubuntu (also try Kubuntu and Xubuntu 🙂), and PCLinuxOS are where its at.
 
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