I think that there are no distros that "just work." In fact there are no *operating systems* that "just work." That's why Windows comes installed on most machines -- it has been tuned to that machine. If you were to buy a new generic copy of Windows and install it on a random box, it would likely not "just work." In fact, there are broad categories of older machines for which Windows 7 doesn't even *pretend* to work on.
But all of that is transparent to someone who just goes out and buys a computer with Windows because all the installation and tuning is already done. If you do something that makes your machine different, then all sorts of problems arise. Do a Google search on "HP Code Purple" for instance. In contrast, when you install a Linux distro on your box, it's like installing a fresh copy of Windows. There will likely something that isn't perfect. You either have the choice of changing distros or getting on the web and seeing who else had the same installation issues and fixed them. I dont' mind tinkering, so it doesn't bother me if I have to download and alternate driver, etc. But, if you want a distro that "just works" on a specific box, you likely would have to do a search for that particular box and see what issues people have had when they installed linux. And, some problems are universal. A couple of years ago, for instance, there were issues in all distros with Radeon support. Now those have mostly been fixed. billo On Tue, 19 Apr 2011, Jeremiah Bess wrote:
This is getting to be an interesting thread. I can see what you are talking about Ken about distro-bashing. But Roy brings up a good point: Where are the distros that just work? I am finishing up a TDY 6 months away from home. I came out with my 2 year old laptop with Win 7 and Backtrack dual booting. I removed backtrack and installed my favorite distro (Mandriva which I use at home on several computers). The speed and reliability of Mandriva were not present on my laptop, and made me seriously reconsider why I used it in the first place. I tried several other popular distros, SuSe, Ubuntu, etc, but I just couldn't get the performance I wanted from any of them. I know Ubuntu is Debian based, but they seem to be two different beasts. In the case of Markas, Roy, myself, and tons of other users searching for a new distro, which ones are the ones that just work? Jeremiah E. Bess Network Ninja, Penguin Geek, Father of four On Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 13:23, Ken Muller <[email protected]> wrote: Not to be a dead horse, but arguing about which Linux distro is the best ends up with people simply going in circles.I've never installed a Linux distro that didn't do at least one thing well, and thats exactly what makes Linux what is...choice! There are those of us that love Debian and will always attempt to defend it, but if you've had problems with it then it's not the distro for you. Distrowatch.org is a great place to find a ton of information about most distros out there. You can even search based on what you are looking for, beginner, KDE, server, GNOME, secure, etc. Remember...some of us have had lots of trouble with Windows...not one beats us to death trying to convince us how great it is tho. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Linux Users Group. To post a message, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit our group at http://groups.google.com/group/linuxusersgroup -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Linux Users Group. To post a message, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit our group at http://groups.google.com/group/linuxusersgroup
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