On Sat, 10 Dec 2011 08:46:16 -0500 LinuxIsOne <linuxis...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 5:11 PM, Frank Steinmetzger <war...@gmx.de> > wrote: > > > > I did this in the past. But recently I’m reassessing this, with > > Ubuntu changing > > the default look and the way it works with every other release > > (remember the > > hassle about window buttons to the left by default?). I can’t really > > explain > > -- let alone justify -- to a newbie, who had to adapt from Win to > > Ubuntu that > > he has to do so again, whether he wants to or not. Plus it seems to > > me they are trying to become Apple in the Linux world, with own > > services (and design). > > I am totally at a loss with entry-level distros right now. > > > > I tried Mint, also the new one with Gnome 3. The praised Mint menu > > seems overloaded to me (it shows too much at once IMHO). I somehow > > dislike custom layers over a standard interface, much like, if I > > bought an HTC Android, I would reflash it without Sense UI, but I’m > > digressing. > > > > OpenSuse seems even more overloaded. Albeit it provides a whole > > environment, > > Yast was full of stuff a simple user will never need. It also > > caused a very long and voluminous installation process. > > I must add though that I peeked into both Mint and Suse only for a > > day or so, > > without ever using it myself, so I don’t know jack about update > > procedures. > > > > A friend of mine wanted Linux, so I installed Debian stable for her > > with KDE > > 4.4. It’s not bleeding edge, but it works because it doesn’t change > > much (hence > > keeps working) and because she doesn’t do a lot of fancy stuff. > > (And also because I used Debian testing for a while, so I know a > > bit about how to do some > > helpdesking). > > > > I have come to conclusion that almost all Linux work almost in the > same way since they have the same kernel, however, this is what I > think. Not quite. A very small selection of all possible Unixes work the same. Ubuntu and Debian are quite similar as they have common roots. RedHat works rather like an old Fedora (and to some degree that's almost exactly what it is). Gentoo looks and feels like whatever you decide to make it to be (because it is so highly configurable and adaptable) The fact is that the kernel make very little difference to how the overall system works. YOU do not interact with the kernel, YOU interact with a collection of programs called "userland", and these things can all be very different. For example, I'm looking at three computers right now that all run Linux, and they are all very very different: - this laptop, which is set up as a traditional Unix with X, - my phone running Android - my wireless router/modem which runs busybox Be careful of making rash conclusions about Linux. A Linux system is not "like" anything particularly, it is whatever the person who built it decided it should be. What you will find is that desktop Linuxes share many common elements. This is not surprising - all versions of Windows share many common elements too. -- Alan McKinnnon alan.mckin...@gmail.com
