--- In [email protected], "Bob" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Why did you choose the distribution of Linux that you did from all the
> other choices?
>
> There are, as you know, over 300 flavors of Linux available. A handful
> are well known (like Mandriva, Ubuntu, Fedora, SUSE, Debian, Gentoo),
> and there are many that are offshoots of those. Each has its strong
> points and weak points.
>
> I've been trying to decide which to put on my new system (a Q9300
> [Core 2 Quad] based Intel processor on a LAN Party DK mobo).
>
> I like the support of Ubuntu, the past pleasures and ease of Mandriva,
> the power of Fedora and SUSE, etc.. I don't like the (administrative)
> limitations on Ubuntu, the commercialism of Mandriva, the experimental
> nature of Fedora, etc.. And I've always wanted to get Gentoo onto my
> system, but have never had a completely successful installation (on
> previous systems).
>
> Any suggestions, comments, but most of all the reason you chose the
> distribution that you did, will be appreciated. Thanks.
>
I have used all of the distros you mentioned and quite a few more and
can safely say that there is no perfect distro. Every distro has its
strengths and weaknesses and it is basically a matter of choosing the
one that works for you.
Things to consider are:
ease of installation (winner Ubuntu, due to Wubi, the simplicity and
the fact that you do all of your decision making and can walk away
while it does its thing)
package manager (winner, any Debian based distro. RPM no matter how
good just does not rate against the durability of apt)
desktop (winner, the one that uses the one that you prefer)
hardware compatibility (winner, the one that detects and installs
everything properly)
support (winner, Ubuntu due to the sheer size of the community, the
number of forums it has and LTS)
stability vs. bleeding edge (depends on how you work and what you
want, stability tends toward Debian or an LTS version of Ubuntu with
several competing for bleeding edge honors including Fedora, Ubuntu's
latest and Sidux)
Number of packages available (winner is Ubuntu with Debian coming in
second. Honorable mention to Gentoo and other source based distros, if
you can handle the time involved in compiling from source)
Speed (use a faster desktop or compile from source like Gentoo does)
Ease of use (Winnners are PCLOS, Mint and SimplyMEPIS)
Features (Winners are Mandriva and SUSE)
Extra tools (Winners are Mint, Mandriva/ PCLOS and SUSE)
Eye candy and best looking (winner is SUSE or Mandriva)
Name (winner Red Hat/ Fedora and SUSE/ Novell which have the added
weight of their parent companies behind them and are well known in
business circles, CENTOS and Ubuntu are up and coming contenders)
Ones to consider that probably won't win in any one category, but are
good general all around performers are PCLOS and SimplyMEPIS. Ones to
consider if you want something different are Sabayon, gOS, OpenGEU,
Slax and Elive.
>From my experience the problems with distros are:
Ubuntu, no extra tools and no restricted extras available by default
Fedora, RPM and breakage and no restricted drivers by default
Mandriva, RPM and breakage
SUSE, RPM and breakage
Debian, dated and lacks character
PCLOS, limited repositories and gets outdated quickly, but uses
Synaptic with RPM which is good
MEPIS, slow development due to few developers
Mint, can break of you try to incorporate too much of Ubuntu
Xandros, dated repositories and Windows wannabe
Freespire, future is unknown due to takeover by Xandros
Sidux, can be prone to crashes and other problems related to being
experimental
Sabayon, slow download and large size of installation
Slax, meant for usb keys and running from CD, but can work on older
computers well
If you don't plan on installing much and play it safe then an RPM
distro can work well for you. This doubles your options. I have a soft
spot for Mandriva as it was my first distro, but alas it does not
match my style as I push it too hard and it breaks on me. I like SUSE,
but the same can be said for it only it breaks easier. I have never
warmed to Fedora, although I used it for a couple of years. It just
seems too clinical to me, like it is made by engineers or accountants
for the same. Also it can be frustrating, especially for newbies as it
has its own way of doing things and none of it easier than the
competition.
All of the above reflects my bias and is therefore just opinion. For
me the best distro is Ubuntu due to the fact that it just offers the
most of everything, most choice, most support, most packages, etc. I
like choice and install lots. My second favourite distro right now is
SimplyMEPIS 8, but you have to like KDE as it is the default desktop,
but you can install gnome and others quite easily. It is solid Debian
with some added features. Distros I currently have installed are:
Ubuntu 8.04, Ubuntu 8.10 64-bit, Kubuntu 8.10, Fedora 9 64-bit,
Mandriva 2008, SimplyMEPIS 8, Sidux, Sabayon, PCLOS 2007, and a couple
other smaller ones that I forget. I have 12 partitions so you say that
I multiple boot. On my eeePC, I have Xandros 4, Ubuntu 8.04, Ubuntu
8.10 and I think Mandriva or MEPIS on SD card. I don't like to be limited.
Best of luck,
Roy
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