digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About

Which Linux Desktop Packs The Most Punch?

crn.com — System builders considering a Linux desktop are faced with a dizzying array of choices. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of Linux distributions to choose from. Narrowing the field of contenders basically comes down to what works best for both the system builder and its customers.

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 24, 2006

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

63 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+34Crappy review, utterly worthless in every sense. The "editor" obviously hasn't even booted any of the three amazingly mediocre choices---rather, they've simply read and regurgitated the blurbs on the back of the media boxes.
  • sweintraub, on 10/12/2007, -11/+26this is FUD

    the only distro to choose is Ubuntu. A few years ago, I would have said Fedora but Red Hat is following the $$...pre Microsoft deal, I might have said look at Novell. However at this point and time, Ubuntu is the easiest, most feature packed, and has the best community. The only exception I can think of is if you have an old laptop and DSL might be a better choice.

    If you are not a n00b, try gentoo - but this isn't the audience of the article.
  • aragon127, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, Suse & Gentoo. IMHO best 4 out there for most users.
  • rickcarson, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14I know quite a few non n00bs who switched from Gentoo to Ubuntu.

    Just because something is easy to use, doesn't mean that it is only for idiots!

    About half of the power users I know would rather be using their power for fighting difficult problems.

    The other half are happy as a pig in mud wrestling with basic things that should be easy but aren't. These are the same kind of blokes who in the software development world create incredibly complex fully automated build systems with 300+ steps, which could actually be replaced with "copy the compiled exe from directory a on your local machine to directory b on the server"
  • michuk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Quite good article, however it talks about non-free distros only. If you are interested in a comparison of free and non-free Linux flavors altogether, can check out the Linux Distro Comparison at http://polishlinux.org/choose/comparison/
  • SEMW, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11As I said above, it's not a general Linux distro review, it's a review of distros from companies that provide contractual, enterprise level support contracts, for commercial OEMs to bundle with PCs sold. Hence why they reviewed SuSE Enterprise rather than the free version.
  • somerandomnerd, on 10/12/2007, -8/+17"the only distro to choose is Ubuntu"

    Spoken like a true fanboy.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13 I find it disturbing how quick many Ubuntu people are at digging anyone down that does not use their distro and says something positive about another one.
    I've been on Digg a goodly long time and don't go Digging down Ubuntu info and posts, but you seem eager to bury mine.
    it's this sort of behavior that makes all users of Ubuntu
    look bad and keeps people like me from EVER using Ubuntu.


  • SEMW, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Whilst I agree with you that for the general user wanting to switch to Linux, Ubuntu is the best, the article wasn't about the best distro for the user to switch to; it was about the best desktop for system builders -- OEMs -- to bundle with PCs. That means sticking to commercial distributions with enterprise support contracts (e.g. hence why they reviewed SuSE Enterprise rather than the free version).

    (BTW, just because you disagree with something, doesn't make it FUD).
  • berwiki, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7They didnt mention one thing about Ubuntu or Gentoo (easiest to most configurable, IMO)

    I honestly feel sorry for someone who wanted to learn a thing or two about linux and found this article.
  • somerandomnerd, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Human beings who don't mind not being able to play MP3s out of the box...
  • davefretty, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Ubuntu or Open Suse are the best free distros out there, even considering the fact that there's no codec support.
    p.s on old hardware Xubuntu and really old hardware dsl.
    Don't go paying for Linspire, SLED or Xandros. Especially Linspire because Freespire is just as good.
  • p0und, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6"And what do I choose if I don't like Gnome and find kUbuntu to be too bugy?"

    slackware
  • Nodren, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3zulugrid:
    try getting a nvidia card, they got great linux support, and you can pick up a decent card(like one that can handle wow, or doom 3 but definately not oblivion) for $40 bucks off newegg.

    sembetu:
    forking apps is what has kept linux from becoming mainstream. your average user doesnt care, nor does he want to deal with hundreds of different distrobutions. they'd rather just install something and have it work.

    now as much for open source as the next guy, but i'm also for convenience, and if ubuntu is gonna put in proprietary drivers so it can better reach a larger target audience, that's the big deal?

    unfortunately we live in a world where we just need to use non-free programs(graphics card drivers, flash, etc) i install all these anyway, and if you've ever wanted to play a video game or browse a web page, you do too, so stop complaining at ubuntu, and complain to ati, nvidia, and adobe for keeping the programs proprietary.
  • subgeniusd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@Waterrat--I saw this story in upcoming and your comment which is straight and to the point and just fine. I was thinking of coming in with a remark about Xandros but I know better here in the Ubuntu forum annex.

    I'm not even commenting on the Xandros 4.0 business edition story presently in upcoming. U-boyz....
  • somerandomnerd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Your comment didn't say anything useful. If it wasn't the first comment, then it probably wouldn't have been marked down, but first posts that don't add something to the article tend to get dugg down for being a bit "first post!"-y.

    But then, it might just have been Ubuntu fanboys, I don't know.
  • Schpariel, on 10/12/2007, -25/+28ubuntu ftw
  • Ademan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@Nordren

    I totally agree, there's no sense in being a FOSS zealot when it inhibits the growth of the platform. Fact of the matter is that allowing the proprietary drivers allows ubuntu to reach a wider audience, and in turn it grabs more users, which should in theory produce more contributors to linux and other open source projects, which in turn produces more users and so on. So its beneficial to the linux community as a whole to ease up on the anti-proprietary sentiments, who knows, if linux gains a large enough market share, nvidia and ati COULD cave in to requests for open drivers.

    cheers
    -Dan
  • clawoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Ad hominem, fanboy? :) I used (USED, NOT PLAYED WITH) a variant of Slackware for about a year and then I migrated to Ubuntu. Why? It filled most of my needs, had a great community, fairly decent package manager & regular updates. I just got tired of ./configure, make, make install. After >10 years of existence Linux should have evolved from that, don't you think?

    Calling people around bitches is not going to get you any respect neither here or anywhere.
  • burke, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I agree with you pretty much completely. If you're slightly above n00b status, but don't want to take the plunge and fail a gentoo installation, try http://sabayonlinux.org . It's the most Ubuntu-like Gentoo distro I've ever seen.
  • MacParrot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'm pulling for Linux to actually become usable out of the box for everyone. Both Microsoft and Apple need competition (and I'm a Mac user) to keep from becoming stale.

    There are a lot of Linux power users that digg down anyone and everything that isn't free and/or open source and all you are doing is preventing Linux from becoming a real asset to those that might otherwise choose Vista or OS X.

    It isn't a matter of dumbing it down, it's getting Linux to the point where anyone's mother or non-techy friend can use it and install it with useful stuff right out of the box (ROOTB). This means you need dedicated support staff that is willing to walk people through their difficulties without screaming "YOU FRIGGING NOOB!" when they might ask a stupid question. Support personnel costs money as does office space and all the rest of the things that goes with making a commitment to something you sell that could be great.

    You can say what you want about Apple or Microsoft, but when they sell a product, they back it up with helpful staff to support those products. Linux will remain only a friend of the computer elite until someone makes a stand for operability and profit over open source.
  • Justathought, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes, I am in agreement. Although I haven' t tried as many as you have, I did my share of testing too. For me, PCLinuxOS beat out SUSE, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, SiplyMephis, and Freespire. I have been using PCLinuxOS for about 3 or 4 months now and I am thrilled. The others are nice too, but I felt that PCLinuxOS had the best combination of power and ease of use. YMMV.
  • dukeinlondon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Does Canonical actively canvass OEMs with a special offering ? If they do, that's a big omission by the author.
  • williebee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have tried 50 or 60 livecd OS's in past 4 years, and PCLinuxOS (bigdaddy)
    is the best. IMHO of course.
  • sembetu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3************
    Ubuntu will be a non-free distro on the next incarnation. Proprietary drivers are making their way to the distro that said

    "Ubuntu is entirely committed to the principles of open source software development; no part of it will ever be proprietary, and we encourage people to use it, improve it and pass it on."

    I don't recommend Ubuntu to anyone anymore after they betrayed their philosophy AND the most vocal userbase, the early adopter FOSS geeks who wanted something like Debian, but not stopped in time.
    ***************

    Time for a fork?
  • somerandomnerd, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5What, all over the place, confused, and unable to work at it's full potential?
  • bliz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1bsd is dying.
  • Nerevar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't know where some of you get off claiming Gentoo is a good pick for most users. Gentoo has never been very user friendly.

    I would say Suse and Ubuntu are the best as far as ease of use. (I'm a Kubuntu user.)
  • DeadPenguin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Only three package managers?
    What about portage/emerge?
    What about Arch's Pacman?
    read below
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_management_system

    I agree that most linux distros are very similar. I have used more than 9 distros and I am no expert.
  • hakrzcode, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If a system builder is having to choose between "hundreds" of Linux Systems to choose from, then he/she/it is not a system builder.
  • prototypeangel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"which desktop linux packs the most punch"
    The article sucked. After a certain point, all distros are the same. Only their package management differ, and for that too, there's only either yum or yast, or apt almighty.

    The point is that it's comparing all the distros on their look and feel and ease of use. When any desktop can be made to look like the other distros, and also plenty of support is available. Linux Distros were different once upon a time, and there are only minor differences in them. I've used nine distros and know.
  • somerandomnerd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Nodren- don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Ubuntu. I love it, I use it whenever possible. But I'm not a fanboy- that is, I'm not going to go shouting about how it's better than everything else, ever, and anything that doesn't tell everyone to use Ubuntu is FUD.

    If you think that it's the "only choice"- particularly for people who are building and selling systems, then you obviously haven't bothered looking at the alternatives.

    There's a reason why Microsoft have adopted a "divide and conquer" policy towards Linux. Why bother trying to destroy or discredit every single distro, when you can just hand someone a gun and watch them destroy or discredit each other?
  • tylerni7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I started off on Mandrake (bad choice, it was stupid) and then moved to Gentoo, and then to Slackware. Now I just use Ubuntu. I mean sure, if everyone used some other distro, I'd probably use that. However, right now there is a ton of support for Ubuntu, and it's just simple. So for all you Ubuntu haters out there that say Ubuntu is just for n00bs... screw you
  • stmiller, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Anyone use Mandriva? It seems to have a large user base.
  • DeadPenguin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Article is garbage. Title should have been which newb distro should you use. Which distro is the closest to windows. Which OS is the easiest. etc.... That said anyone not using windows is a good thing.
    For all you fanboys spouting off about Ubuntu its just Debian for noobs.
    Saying "best distro" is just flame bait. It is the distro that is right for your needs. IMO the top three are Slackware, Gentoo, and Debian. I believe I would say Gentoo "packs the most punch."
  • Nodren, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4"Spoken like a true fanboy."

    you try using gentoo, fedora, opensuse or whatever. and you'll find ubuntu just simply "works".

    a simple point, gedit under fedora, decides that when you scroll down a document with the wheel mouse, then click where you want to edit, it jumps you back up to the beginning of the document, forcing you to scroll down again(highly annoying yet probably easily fixed). this bug doesnt exist in ubuntu. one example of MANY similar problems where a program behaves in a weird way, or just simply doesnt work like it really should. these problems dont exist in ubuntu.

    so that point made, what's so bad about being a fan of something that works?
  • int19h, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Ubuntu offers support? http://www.ubuntu.com/support
  • bluehatbluehat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The level of maturity that is shown in most of these comments is obvious. The word "noob" used as if it had any real meaning. Comments like, "ubuntu is the best", is completely without merit. The educated will read this article and know better. As for the rest, they will post their rants about "1337 Ubuntu RulZ n00Bz" and show their true intentions.
  • Xilon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1All the mentioned distros are not free.

    Look at Linspire... linspire is basically Debian + KDE + bloat + whatever else to make it appealing.

    Though Kubuntu kinda matches the same description... :S
  • nucleocide, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4Other than SuSE (when the hell did it become SLED?) I cannot figure out why they chose this arbitrary list of distro's. I'll have to agree with the previous statement that the author is regurgitating more than anything.

    Oh, and Ubuntu is the least Linux Linux distro that I have ever used. It's a good first step if you want to get into Linux (or if you want to give grandma an OS and don't want to fix her spyware problems every week) but you noob fanboys have got to get over it eventually. And all you Ubuntu bitches who want to digg me down should first go play with Slackware for a year.
  • ubuntuguy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1crappy review - and it doesnt even mention Ubuntu.

  • talk41, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0um, this guy agrees with you....see this article
    http://www.crn.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=?articleId=192203540
    this review is for system builders...the link above is for users. he reviews FREE distros
  • OMRebel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@ nucleocide

    I dugg ya down simply because you are acting like a smart ass, not because of being a "fanboy".
  • mgajda, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1They missed major players: Red Hat and Ubuntu.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Elive FTW
  • robuk24, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3How come the most popular Linux distribution Ubuntu is not even mentioned once? Seems very strange.
  • SteveMax, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4Ubuntu will be a non-free distro on the next incarnation. Proprietary drivers are making their way to the distro that said

    "Ubuntu is entirely committed to the principles of open source software development; no part of it will ever be proprietary, and we encourage people to use it, improve it and pass it on."

    I don't recommend Ubuntu to anyone anymore after they betrayed their philosophy AND the most vocal userbase, the early adopter FOSS geeks who wanted something like Debian, but not stopped in time.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3@Nodren:

    "you try using gentoo, fedora, opensuse or whatever. and you'll find ubuntu just simply 'works'."

    Ubuntu doesn't simply "work". I've been wanting to use Ubuntu for years, but never have any luck getting it to work with my video drivers. The current version won't let me boot the live CD or even attempt an install due to poor video card support.
  • mistergosh, on 10/12/2007, -7/+5And what do I choose if I don't like Gnome and find kUbuntu to be too bugy?
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 64 of 64 discussions

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...


© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.