Your favourite non-Ubuntu distro? (Debian-based also welcome)

Patrick, you sound like good Gentoo material.

 

That is a definite issue that I have with Ubuntu.

I think it's good to support the core Debian and it's pretty stable. It might not be the best for the most recent laptops, for e.g., since Debian is often behind on stuff but if you can compile and do advanced work, you can deal with it. I am not at that level yet so I prefer to use a 'secondary' distro that is more bleeding edge or "up-to-date" plus I might be too busy (it's time consuming to do that stuff sometimes).

You don't think what? You can't disprove my speculation! Can you predict the future? You read Shuttleworth's and the entire co. of Canonical's plans? You don't know where they're going, do you? I didn't think so.

Read what the other guy said. He intrepreted my post accurately.

 

Been there, done that, to lazy to do it again. Same story with lfs. Good times.... good times.

 

Lol have fun, and don't screw anything up.
I like running Compiz Standalone, it's awesome.
I'll probably install Chakra just because of the more uptodate packages soon.

 

Messing stuff up is half the fun! The other half is connecting to remote computers and running rm -rf.

 

Well, it is Arch, but it's Linux as well. All the same linux theory goes in. There are some minor variations, but mostly, it's the same. And the benefits far outweigh the cons

 

My view is Linux is Linux. One just needs to spend a bit more, or a bit less, on any distribution, to tune it the way they like.

Some distributions are more attuned to some approaches than others, and hence many of us have preferences.

I started out with Red Hat in 1998, and switched to SuSE in 2001. I stayed with SuSE when with openSUSE-10.1 it switched from SuSE to openSUSE. Familiarity is a major reason why I use openSUSE. In particular what I like are:

• superb KDE implementation (great KDE-3.5.10 implementation and ok KDE-4.1.3 upgradeable to 4.2 via community repositories)
• YaST administrative tool - one either loves it or hates it. I like it.
• Packman packagers of 3rd party software - provide state of the art multimedia packaging http://packman.links2linux.de/
• Build Service is providing capability to easily create one's own distribution and submit new packages for ongoing packaging http://en.opensuse.org/Build_Service ,
• good community on Forums, IRC channels, list servers http://en.opensuse.org/Communicate
• closer to open source free software than many other distributions (disadvantage being it takes a bit more effort for new users to install proprietary drivers and codecs (although experienced openSUSE users don't have this difficulty))

Some openSUSE/linux concepts:
http://en.opensuse.org/Concepts

Some FUD dispelling: http://en.opensuse.org/FAQ:Novell-MS

But other distributions are good as well.

I believe having multiple distributions for the community/users to try is handy. My wish would be for distribution builders/packagers to agree more on their file and configuration structure, so that applications could be installed cross distribution a bit easier.

 

What?

Okay, so just because Ubuntu is popular, it must be evil, and Mark must be planning on world domination.

Please remove that purple horse from your cupboard. It must be there, you can't disprove my speculation!

 

Yeah I really like OpenSuSe....Yast is awesome.

 

I see no reason to turn away from a popular OS just because it's popular. It's like not watching a tv show or playing a game just because it's good. There must be a reason that it's good. It's as if people are turning away from it just to be against the 'evil corporation' that it might become and supporting the 'underdogs' just because.

If an OS suits your style and requirements, then there's nothing wrong with it. If it's popular, then even better. If you need help on certain things, it'll be easier to find.

There are certain characteristics about Ubuntu that I don't like, but I won't hesitate to recommend Ubuntu to a person just entering the world of Linux. When I used Windows, the fixed Ubuntu release cycle was a great idea to me; but when I've switched to Arch, the release cycle became less appealing. It's all relative, I guess.

It's a bit like Goldilocks. This distro is too firm, this is too soft, etc, until you arrive at the one that suits you the best. We may argue about various characteristics in each distro, but everyone has their own personal 'firmness' they enjoy.

 

If I was going to use an Ubuntu-based distro, I would rather use Mint.

Ubuntu is supposed to be a Debian-based distro, but it really is not that anymore. Ubuntu is its own thing now that is not really that compatible with Debian.

If you like to do power-user type of things with Linux, I would steer clear of Ubuntu. If you are a noob, then maybe you should give Ubuntu a twirl.

 

My favorites in Linux world are: Slitaz, Puppy, Arch, Linux Mint, and Antix.

I am using Linux Mint for daily work, I plan to return to Arch to make it working for me in the way I want. I have puppy on my usb stick, to enjoy it, and I have Slitaz on a separate partition to slowly construct from something which I would use more and more every day. I have been using Antix for more than one year and liked it, but there were some issues (like consuming too much of CPU power when multiple browser windows are open, and too much of experimenting with the system which I was able to revert) which made me to return back to Mint for daily work.

However, tiny Slitaz and Puppy are champions in my heart.

I also liked to use a version of FreeBSD called RoFreesbie, and would probably convert to it if its development would not stop (as it seems).

 

My Faves, being a KDE Knerd, are: Mandriva, MEPIS, SUSE, Fedora. I stuck with MEPIS cause it's Debian, and was easier for me because I got weined in recent years on Kubuntu...i.e. no learning curve re commands.

 

I've dabbled in a few different distros in the past, but the one I most often go back to is Gentoo. The ability to tailor and optimize the entire environment specifically for my hardware and trim anything I didn't need or want is very appealing to me. My only problem with it is that I always know that I could tailor it even *more* specifically for my machine, if only I understood all of the available options better (e.g. compiler flags and such).

Also, the portage package management system is very effective and easy to use.

 

I have been using Gentoo for about a week now, and really like it. I can't even explain how much I like building everything from the ground up.

 

Puppy and Arch

 

Debian is my favorite. Personally I don't like Ubuntu and Bubuntu and whatever buntu out there, every time I tend to "ok let's give it another shot, so much hype about it", it fails on me, leaving me with a sad face.

 

I second that!

For me the lack of tools like Yast is a drawback of many other distros. I am a Linux user since 1992, and sure,
I could configure everything using a dozen configuration files, as I did back in the early days.

But why should especially people new to Linux have to do this nowadays? Progress in tools that make the system
easier to use is an important thing. It is vital to attract new users to Linux.

 

I personally use Debian, but I've also used openSUSE and it works well.