What is Digg?145 Comments
- zephyrxero, on 10/12/2007, -3/+23Do note the article is focused on the right distro for Linux noobs. Ubuntu may not be the best distro for everyone, but it's easily the best for new users ;)
- eFiniTi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21No Suse? :(
- noodlez, on 10/12/2007, -5/+22i'm pretty sure that quiz kicks back unbuntu in every result. near the top.
its good overall, but its not as specialized as some distros. it shouldn't be on the top of every list. - T0PS3O, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16I recently installed the Ubuntu Distro (Distribution) on my PC (Personal Computer) but since I got my Mac (Macintosh) I hardly use my PC (Personal Computer). I now e-mail (Electronic Mail) on my Mac (Macintosh) instead of the Ubuntu Distro (Distribution) or Windows XP (eXPerience).
Sorry about the difficult words. - mayhemt, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14I agree, where is Suse? its better than Xandros & other flavors..
- baalzebub, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14http://www.distrowatch.com/
- Double-Z, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Xubuntu? :o)
- evilTak, on 10/12/2007, -2/+123. Decide not to buy Windows Vista after all, and choose a flavor of GNU/Linux, like Debian or Ubuntu.
- Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13I thought the stereotypical Digg user picked a distro like this:
1. Ubuntu
2. Ubuntu
3. Kubuntu
4. There is nothing else - seuaniu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Perhaps I'm too new here to get it, but whats up with all the Ubuntu bashing on digg? I think its a cool distro, and fixes much of what I found annoying about Debian.
I've been using Linux since around '99 or so, so I'm no newbie (certainly not a guru ether). My experiences are that:
Mandrake (7, 8, 9) was pretty polished, but too complicated under the hood, and rpm-hell was a real concern back when I used it. No, the tool Mandrake provided to fix that didn't work out too well.
Slackware was ***** awesomely stable and fast. Swaret and slapt-get left quite a lot to be desired, and applying security patches to self-compiled software got to be a pain from an admin standpoint.
Gentoo was cool, no complaints. I did ***** up my compiler settings and have to start over. That is obviously not the distros fault.
Debian stable is my distro of choice on the server end. Applying security updates is a no-brainer, and it currently moves just fast enough to keep a modern distro going without sacrificing stability or having to go through your config files everyday.
After falling in love with Debian, I checked out Ubuntu, as it was basically Debian with some cool desktop stuff thrown in. I was, and still am, amazed at its polish and performance. No, its not perfect, but its really trying to get there. The community seems really good, too.
So, whats the deal? - tokyomonster, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10I've been trying a couple different distro's and here's my quick take.
Ubuntu is good for beginners, but too watered down for my tastes.
Fedora is easy, fast, and you can find a ton of support. (www.fedorafaq.org is great)
Slackware is faster, but a bit more advanced..it's great with dropline gnome. mmmm..
And I've just tried suse. I've had problems with it here and there, but it seems to be a very clean, intuitive distro. XGL/Compiz is great on top of gnome.
My perfect balance is using slackware at work, and suse at home. YAST is TERRIBLE though..it's slow, and...SLOW!
Use the smart package manager, you can get it from yast, or by searching on the web. It's WAY faster and just as easy.
Also, while I started out loving KDE i've found the UI is clunky and slow. Gnome is much for flexible and fast. - uownedge, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Ubuntu is good if you want something easy to install and use in general, but I wouldn't necessarily agree that it's always the best option for a newbie. A lot of people ask me what I think would be the best distro for them to start with. I usually go over a short list (usually 3) of distros that I personally like, explain in brief the differences, and explain which choice I think is the best for that person and why.
I recommend Gentoo fairly often, because it teaches you a lot about Linux as well as your computer, and the guide is ridiculously easy to follow -- anyone can do it. I personally believe that people who spend time on a computer daily should have at least *some* kind of understanding of how it works. No need for a completely working knowledge of the technology behind it, but the basic things going on behind the OS are important, like how your computer is configured to talk to the network, what display resolution and color depth is all about, and the difference between the "terminal" in Linux and the x.org GUI.
For some people, this stuff is of course, way too deep, and something like Ubuntu is a much better choice, but for those ready and willing to learn, Gentoo is an excellent Distribution.
Of course, once it's installed, it becomes the lazy man's Linux, what with Portage and all...but what can I say? I'm a lazy man! :) - thelinuxnewbie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Part 2 is on the way... It will include OpenSuse 10.1, PCLinuxOS .93a and possibly more. I will also give reasoning for not including some of the other very reputable Linux distros out there.
- Waterrat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7 Your right, Unbuntu should not be at the top of every list.
Just the users of this distro tend to be a bit pushy.
I took the test and the top three it chose for me were Linspire,Mandriva, and PCLinux.
- KWhat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Lazy men make good programmers =P
- EGOvoruhk, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8I really though Fedora Core would've been in the top 3 recommendations
- Mortiferous, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Im running an ATI 9800 pro and Linux works fine with me. The nvidia cards do have better support but its not like it was hard to get this card working. Ill even post the steps: (Type these into a terminal)
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-$(uname -r)
$ sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx
$ sudo aticonfig --initial
$ sudo aticonfig –overlay-type=Xv
Worked fine for me. - CurtHowland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Gentoo is Pablum.
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a project that provides you with step-by-step instructions for building your own custom Linux system, entirely from source code. - geninstability, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Ummmm...if you aren't savvy enough to know that "distro" is short for "distribution," you probably shouldn't be using Linux. Or shoelaces for that matter...
- sholdowa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5This article is appalling for it's ommissions. However, if you're going to migrate to linux, you'll almost certainly have a mate that's going to help you get over that initial hump. There's only one distro to install, and that's the one he's using.
Let's be honest, they're all the same under the bonnet. The only difference is if you want your updates delivering as .rpms or .debs. The rest is primarily branding. - CurtHowland, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7http://www.gimp.org/
- Double-Z, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Cool, interesting reading, and thanks for the links above, guys.
I'm a lifetime Windows user, and still use it for work and play on a daily basis. I've been trying Linux every 6 months for the last 10 years. In the last two years, Linux has come on leaps and bounds. It is so nearly ready for what I'd call "prime-time". All it needs now is a common install procedure (I know, there is already) to make it easy for the untrained masses. My father wouldn't know what to do with all this SUDO business! I just love the Package Managers, Windows would benefit from something like that.
My secondary machine and my home server are Linux based now. It has recently taken me about a month of actual use to get to nearly the same level I am in Windows. There's more satisfaction using Linux, as you are more involved with what's going on than in Windows. There's a certain pleasure I get from being able to set up a LAMP server on my own. And dragging the old PC's out of the attic to give them a fresh purpose.
For me, I love Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS and DSL, but I'm still searching for the perfect tiny Distro for setting up the LAMP server.
Different tools for different jobs, that's how I see it the "best OS" arguments that follow any mention of Windows, Linux or Mac. I love them all. I can't wait to have a tri-boot machine :) - illicium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"Seriously, you haven't really tried linux until you compile the kernel while reading the instructions via a second console using lynx."
You are too right. - jonnyeh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Thanks tokyomonster! The slowness of YaST was my only complaint about SuSE, which means it is now a perfect linux distro!! yay!
- sailor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4FC5 is one of the best distros out there...easy to install even for a newbie.
Has all the latest software, repositories and several great online comunities.
Each distro has it's quirks with some hardware...pick what's best for your particular machine... - seuaniu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@KWhat:
Macromedia (Adobe?) is currently working on a new flash player for linux, and there is an open source one available that is currently usable, but not perfect. Its going through heavy development. - KWhat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6You guys are all complaining about fedora.... I don’t understand how so many people can ues it. Its slow, bloated, and a huge pain in the ass to manage. Every time there is an upgrade everything breaks and there are constant issues with their GUI utilities ***** up my config files. I prefer a distro that does what I tell it and only what I tell it. That was part of the reason I moved off windows. Incase your wondering my top picks were gentoo and slackware.
- CurtHowland, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5That's not a "Linux" problem, that's a problem with your xconfig file. It still had the wrong driver listed in it, and it did exactly what it was supposed to do. Dump you back to a command prompt.
If you're on Debian, run "# dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" and have it re-detect the correct driver.
Windows _must_ give you basic VGA, because Windows is GUI _ONLY_. Giving you a command prompt in Windows is less than useless. - Battlecry, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10This is a pretty helpful article on which Linux Distro (Distribution) to pick. Without this article's help, I may never have decided on a Linux Distro (Distribution). I think I'll go play with my Linux Distro (Distribution) right now!
- transeunte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I tried running Ubuntu on an ATI Radeon 9200SE and both Ubuntu's ATI and VESA drivers seem very unstable. I tried _a lot_ of different approaches (including the infamous fglrx driver) and couldn't get it working as it should.
I really liked the OS, so I'm planning buying an Nvidia card.
P.S.: this "Distro War" is becoming really annoying. - MaHaGoN, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5His information about Mepis is terrible. Mepis prides itself on having some of the best Hardware detection out there. That is one of its main priorities, and every box I have ever installed it on, including those with wireless cards (often most would not even work with ndiswrapper) has worked right off the install, and even on the LiveCD. Also, he mentions that it did not find his screens native resolution, well, if he had read documentation he would know that as you boot on the liveCD if you press f3 you can select any resolution you wish Xorg to boot on, and will stay in such a configuration after install. (You don't even need to read, if you even took time to look at the grub screen you can figure that one out) Also, the KDE implementation in Mepis is far greater than that in Kubuntu, because Mepis is created with KDE in mind, where as Kubuntu is just Ubuntu with KDE slapped on it and a few changes. Not as well supported? It has the greatest linux community forum I have ever been apart of. www.mepislovers.com which everyone there has offered amazing advice and help.
Sure, I'll admit I am biased towards Mepis, it is the distro I run at home, and will continue to run for some time. I have been through quite a few distros, and this is the one I have found to be the one I find the best. I just wish all these sites that are trying to get people into linux would stop jumping on the Ubunutu bandwagon and would actually give other distros a chance. Its a shame that it seems like a lot of Digg has already jumped on it too :-/
MaHaGoN - Inaeth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@TomP
In my experience, and mind you, I do not "get" photo editing at all, so take this with a grain of salt, the main difference between Photoshop and the Gimp is user experience and indoctrination. If you are used to Photoshop, the Gimp will be difficult to learn, because you are used to only one way of doing things. In my case, having gone through some of the tutorials on the Web for learning the Gimp, I find Photoshop completely incomprehensible. Nothing is where it should be! :) - Waterrat, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9 I agree with you here.
I'd used Windows for over 10 years before I jumped ship...After a lot of research,I chose Linspire and also PCLinux. - thelinuxnewbie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I included both "distro" and "distribution" because someone searching for a helpful article on picking a distro might not search for "distro" they might search for "distribution." I've found quite a few helpful articles through digg.com by searching with Google. Just trying to be helpful bro. ;)
- variable, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Arguing about which distro is better is kind of stupid. It's good enough that people are using Linux at all, right? Everyone benefits no matter which distro people are using.
Just use whatever works for you. - eqisow, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7You forgot Xubuntu and Edubuntu, you insensitive clod.
(Double-Z beat me to it) - conedude13, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I would totally go back to ubuntu if i didn't have to pay for cedega to play my video games.
- sailor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Yeah, Where is FC5...it is what I use on both my laptop and desktop...
Stupid test suggest Mandriva, which I have tried, but will never use again... - DarthTurducken, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Wasn't Distro that guy from GI Joe?
- RetroRufio, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7@Avogadro65
I don't think they like our jokes :( - thelinuxnewbie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That's the exact attitude I found while I was searching for the "right" distro... and it's irritating. Not everyone knows where to begin, not everyone knows all the resources that are out there. To me this is a good starting point. It's not the end-all to getting the right one. Sure, there are lots of other articles out there, but sooo many of them conclude, "Try a bunch and see what you like." Well, not everyone has the time or patience to do that, and it's trying that some people are to short-sighted to figure that out. What I wanted was a Linux user to tell me what I should try and why. Maybe I will like it, maybe I won't, but at least I didn't have to wade through endless forum flame-wars to figure it out.
- gharding, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I came out with Debian, which is funny because that's all I use for Linux systems. That quiz was annoying as hell though.. two questions then hit next?
- DAC1138, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6ANOTHER "How to picj a Linux Distro" article? Give me a f***ing break!
Step 1: Use your brain
Step 2: Use your brain
Step 3: Use your brain, and choose any of the 10,000 linux distros avalible. Don't let a guide tell you what you want, use your own personal preferances to decide. Even if it means trying 2 or 3 distros.
Oh, and if you guys think I'm overreacting on the "Yet another linux distro article"...follow up.
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=16&t=3074
http://www.freeos.com/articles/3777/
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Choosing_a_Linux_distribution
http://www.crucialp.com/resources/tutorials/web-hosting/choosing-your-linux-distro.php
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2865
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/5030/1/
I'd post more, but I dont want to flood the comments with my gibberish and nonsense. - TomP, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7I will switch to linux the day photoshop is possible and stable.
- MrTea, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Where's Fedora Core 5? I wanted to see what the author thought about yum.
- JustMatt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3After reading this, I have come to the conclusion that Distro stands for Distribution.
- bhowell, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Link to the actual test: http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/
- dumbh8r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I learned more about Linux when I switched to Gentoo than I ever did using Red Hat or Mandrake. And as good as their docs are, they made the notion of recompiling my kernel seem trivial.
- tsch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I had never used Linux before I burned a Slax livecd and booted it on my MacBook Pro. I have really enjoyed using Slax/KDE, and now plan to play with KDE more in the future. In fact, I'm considering putting a KDE install on my parents' desktop since all they use it for is email. My experience using KDE/Slax has also made me want to check out Gnome, just to see what other GUI options are like.
So my recommendation for the best Linux distro for n00bz like me that aren't interested in futzing around with a command line? Any live cd. Slax was ideal for me since it's such a small dl. - CurtHowland, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Debian indeed. It was the first distribution I tried in 1995, and I have been using it ever since.
Once in a while someone says, "try this, it's up to date and easy", and I tell them that Debian Unstable had that same stuff months before. Stable for servers, Unstable for the desktop with up-to-date software.
XGL, on the other hand, isn't in Debian yet and Novel/SuSE has it. That's neat!
One caveat: I always keep an up-to-date KNOPPIX disk around, usually more than one so I can give them away. Recovery and repair, be it Linux or Windows, has never been so easy.
Curt- -
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