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Which version of Unix should I try?

HeXploiT

HeXploiT

Diamond Member
I want to put some version of Linux on my rig but don't know what.
I have an Ubuntu disk from last year that can use Beryl(and I really want to try Beryl) but I never got around to using it.
I'm really not accustomed to GUI linux that much. I'm still using Redhat Linux 5.1. 😱

Thing is I always used Unix for the text based interface because the GUI offered nothing over windows and couldn't play my games.
Well obviously that has changed much in the last five years. So I'm an extreme hardware junkie who likes to take control of my rig. I'm a gamer and I love 3d apps and eyecandy.

So what flavour of Linux should I try?
Rig will consist of 680i & 2x 8800gts.

Any suggestions appreciated.
 
I can't relate to your perspective, since I'm a big GUI fan, but I really like Ubuntu. I've tried a few distros, and Ubuntu always feels like home. I like the Gnome desktop, and the layout of system makes the most sense to me. I'm a Linux noob, so I can't give you detailed reasons why it might be better or worse, but I like it.
 
Heh!

I have a Slackware server running in the background that hasn't been rebooted in like 3 years (had an extended power outage a couple of summers ago). Haven't tried the latest Slackware kernel, but it's supposed to be rock solid on desktops too!

I run CentOS on my production server. Never tried it on the desktop though...

I tried the latest Ubuntu x64 last week on this lappy, and it was pretty cool, but I dunno...

I still like OpenSUSE the best. That's what I would suggest! 😉
 
Originally posted by: VinDSL
Heh!

I have a Slackware server running in the background that hasn't been rebooted in like 3 years (had an extended power outage a couple of summers ago). Haven't tried the latest Slackware kernel, but it's supposed to be rock solid on desktops too!

I run CentOS on my production server. Never tried it on the desktop though...

I tried the latest Ubuntu x64 last week on this lappy, and it was pretty cool, but I dunno...

I still like OpenSUSE the best. That's what I would suggest! 😉
Click to expand...

3 years. That's impressive.:thumbsup:
 
If you want to play the latest and greatest games as they come out then Linux isn't for you, although dual-booting is very viable solution. In fact, I don't own single a computer that isn't dual-booting some version of Windows and some distro of Linux. They are two totally different OSes and excel at their own various tasks and thinking one or the other is better then the other is rather silly.

As far as specific distros, I use Ubuntu for my workstations and Debian Etch for my servers, Aptitude is a great software management solution and is the sole reason I recommend Debian based Linuxes.
 
Zenwalk is very nice... Come with XFCE but looks very good anyway, lots of packages, easy to use (lot of good software in default install)
 
I just installed Fedora 10, and I think I prefer it over the latest Ubuntu release. I love the interface, and it seems to be fast and responsive so far.

Time will tell, but I like it so far. 🙂
 
I have a Slackware server running in the background that hasn't been rebooted in like 3 years (had an extended power outage a couple of summers ago). Haven't tried the latest Slackware kernel, but it's supposed to be rock solid on desktops too!
Click to expand...

Slackware kernel's are stock right off of kernel.org I believe, there's nothing special about them.

I run CentOS on my production server. Never tried it on the desktop though...
Click to expand...

CentOS is good to get comfortable with if you plan on getting a job with Linux since RHEL is probably the most common in the US. I find it extremely annoying though so I wouldn't recommend it unless you really need it.

I tried the latest Ubuntu x64 last week on this lappy, and it was pretty cool, but I dunno...
Click to expand...

I really like Ubuntu for making a Debian-based distro popular but I can't get into it myself. Mostly because all of my machines run Debian sid and there's nothing like it for Ubuntu. With sid I just update every few days to stay current but with Ubuntu I'd have to do major upgrades with every release.

I still like OpenSUSE the best. That's what I would suggest!
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I never understood why people like YAST but some do so if it's your thing go for it.

I just installed Fedora 10, and I think I prefer it over the latest Ubuntu release. I love the interface, and it seems to be fast and responsive so far.
Click to expand...

I can't get over the limited amount of packages and the crap that is yum. I know there's 3rd party repos to help with the former but I don't feel I should have to trust a non-official site for packages. I've got exactly 1 non-standard repo on my sid box and it's maintained by a Debian developer.
 
Originally posted by: Nothinman
I just installed Fedora 10, and I think I prefer it over the latest Ubuntu release. I love the interface, and it seems to be fast and responsive so far.
Click to expand...

I can't get over the limited amount of packages and the crap that is yum. I know there's 3rd party repos to help with the former but I don't feel I should have to trust a non-official site for packages. I've got exactly 1 non-standard repo on my sid box and it's maintained by a Debian developer.
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Those are both minor issues IMO.

What's so great about Debian? What would you run if you had to pick another distro? I've read that Debian is great for servers, but for a workstation there are better choices.

I've messed around a bit more with Fedora 10 and I still like it alot. I find the interface to be quite nice, it's fast, it's stable, and just works.

I prefer Ubuntu's software repository manager, but I prefer Debian's interface. I use the interface more than I use the manager, so I'm sticking with Fedora for now.

I tried Suse linux as well and didn't really like it.

I personally like a nice interface and quick load times.
 
Hey, nobody has mentioned Arch linux which is great for bit more experienced linux users. Arch uses rolling release system which means you always stay up-to-date. Definitely worth trying if you're already familiar with linux. Otherwise Ubuntu is #1 choice, especially for less experienced linux users.

I personally dislike rpm package management. But it has been years since I've really used one, so maybe rpm has gotten better...
 
What's so great about Debian?
Click to expand...

In short, the packages. The number and quality can't be touched by any other distro. As long as you discount Debian-based distros like Ubuntu. To me Debian feels like a cohesive system where as distros like RHEL and Fedora just feel like a group of packages.

Other aspects like the commitment to making sure all of the software in main meet the DFSG is nice too.

What would you run if you had to pick another distro?
Click to expand...

That's a good question. If you also rule out all Debian-based distros then I'd be really screwed. I'd probably fall back to CentOS or Fedora since that's what most commercial installations use.

I've read that Debian is great for servers, but for a workstation there are better choices.
Click to expand...

Debian is great for both. I think Ubuntu puts a little more polish on their default desktop installation but all the same software is available and the Debian desktop teams are working on that as well. Personally I always do a minimal installation and just add whatever packages I want even on desktop installs so I don't usually see their setups anyway.

I prefer Ubuntu's software repository manager, but I prefer Debian's interface. I use the interface more than I use the manager, so I'm sticking with Fedora for now.
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That makes no sense since Debian and Ubuntu both use the same software. The wording in synaptic is a little different since they categorize packages differently but otherwise it's the same package manager and interface.

I personally dislike rpm package management. But it has been years since I've really used one, so maybe rpm has gotten better...
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RPM itself is fine and even in someways superior to dpkg. It's the higher level tools like yum that really suck compared to aptitude and the like.
 
I perfer ubuntu over debian because it's 'stable' releases stay more current. I used to be a big fan of sid, and even used gentoo for a while. But the problem was some updates would break your install if you didn't pay attention before doing a upgrade. With ubuntu I can safely do an ugprade and not worry about anything breaking (I'm talking about aptitude update && aptitude upgrade or even dist-upgrade). I could get the same thing with debian, but I would need to use stable instead of unstable, and stable lags a fair amount behind ubuntu most of the time (It's fairly recent at the moment however).

Otherwise I love debian.
 
But the problem was some updates would break your install if you didn't pay attention before doing a upgrade.
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True but that's what apt-listbugs is for. IMO the tradeoff of having to be a little careful is well worth it.

With ubuntu I can safely do an ugprade and not worry about anything breaking (I'm talking about aptitude update && aptitude upgrade or even dist-upgrade).
Click to expand...

I don't have any first-hand accounts but I've heard a lot of horror stories about upgrades between Ubuntu releases.
 
Originally posted by: Nothinman
But the problem was some updates would break your install if you didn't pay attention before doing a upgrade.
Click to expand...

True but that's what apt-listbugs is for. IMO the tradeoff of having to be a little careful is well worth it.

With ubuntu I can safely do an ugprade and not worry about anything breaking (I'm talking about aptitude update && aptitude upgrade or even dist-upgrade).
Click to expand...

I don't have any first-hand accounts but I've heard a lot of horror stories about upgrades between Ubuntu releases.
Click to expand...

I've been upgrading various Ubuntu boxes for a couple of years and sometimes it just blows up. I've never really looked into why, but I can tell you I've had a LOT more success using update-manager then apt-get dist-upgrade. Most of time when I had the problems just booting up on a liveCD and using chroot to re-run the update process on the Ubuntu install would usually fix it.
 
Note that apt-get dist-upgrade (or aptitude) is NOT supported between Ubuntu releases. In other words, NEVER use anything else except the update manager to upgrade Ubuntu from current release to latest. For servers there is a cli tool for this. You can still use apt-get (or aptitude) within a release. If you follow the simple upgrade instructions as laid out in http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/upgrading you'll be fine. If you manually modify repository sources to point to a newer release and use apt-get or aptitude to upgrade to a newer release, you are likely to break your Ubuntu.

Again in a nutshell:
Upgrading from 8.04 to 8.10 using apt-get or aptitude = FAIL
Upgrading from 8.04 to 8.10 using update manager = OK
Installing updates using apt-get or aptitude = OK
Installing updates using update manager = OK

Sources:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpo...?p=5914529&postcount=9
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpo...p=5916309&postcount=20
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpo...p=5921332&postcount=25
 
I'm sorry, I should of been clearer. I use aptitude dist-upgrade for a normal patch cycle. For release updates I use update-manager. I use dist because sometimes it finds things to update that update does not. (typically slight version changes). On production servers it is only aptitude update && aptitude upgrade and for version upgrades (LTS only) we use update-manager.

I have upgraded all of our servers from 6.06LTS to 8.04LTS without issue. On my desktops I have gone though a few upgrades without issues, but with the latest 8.10 I did a fresh install just to clean out and cruft that might of been left over from the 5 days.
 
Anyone here use the new Kubuntu 8.10 release? The new KDE 4 desktop looks a lot more modern than the Ubuntu Gnome desktop.

I'm still downloading it but eager to try it out.
 
Yeah, I've tried it. I can see what the KDE developers are trying to accomplish there, but so far I still prefer Gnome. I can get things done faster and more conveniently in Gnome. But who knows, maybe KDE 4.2 or future revisions will win me over.
 
I'm sorry, I should of been clearer. I use aptitude dist-upgrade for a normal patch cycle. For release updates I use update-manager. I use dist because sometimes it finds things to update that update does not.
Click to expand...

You're only supposed to use dist-upgrade when moving to a new distribution because it gives apt(itude) permission to be a little more aggressive in order to make the upgrade work so it can remove packages and such.
 
Yea, I wouldn't do dist on my production servers, but on my desktop I'm ok with a little risk. So far in years nothing has broken, but it has updated packages that just update would not.
 
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