Peter Alcibiades wrote:
Of course its a thorny issue, and it depends what you want, who you are, and
what your machine is. I don't think you lose anything by moving from
Ubuntu. Like many other long term Linux users, I'm a bit baffled by its
popularity.
I totally agree with what Peter has written. However, I have a couple of
chip in's.
I too never understood the popularity of Ubuntu.
On old machines try Zenwalk (slackware based and uses Xfce). If this is
still too slow, try a minimal Debian with fluxbox as the WM. If this is too
slow, Puppy.
On older machines or even new one's where you want speed try
Vectorlinux. A new V 6 is out soon.
If you want to learn, really learn, Linux, but do not have unlimited time
and energy to do it (if you do, Linux from Scratch is the one), get
Slackware and study the user guide.
Vector is Slacky based
If you are an active user, but don't like the command line, and speed of
machine is not an issue, Mandriva. If you can manage with the slightly
reduced package selection in its repositories, PCLinux is also a sensible
choice. Mandriva is larger and better resourced, PCL is a bit of a one man
band, but a very good community. Its derived from Mandriva. But be
prepared in both cases to do a new install when you want to upgrade, which
will probably be every couple of years or so. Do not install Mandriva 2009
if you want to use KDE. In that case use 2008.1 And use the ONE version, not
the FREE version.
if you download flv's from youtube (I do) then 2008.1 with KDE and
Kaffeine is ideal. I moved to 2009 and kaffeine is sound only. Need to
sort that one.
If you want to your base machine on 2009 then use nxserver and SSH.
Indeed when you get more proficient you will end up getting your desktop
via NXclient-server rather than the normal way (long story).
Another alternative (and slightly behind the times in kernel etc) is
Xandros. It just works out of the box for... well just about everythign.
But you got to pay.
For them, Mandriva or PCL will be a lot better.
You should use the 386 not the 64 bit version of Debian, unless you really
need to address the extra memory.
PCLinuxOS is very good indeed.
My own strategy with Debian has been, stay with Stable until Testing has
been in the field for a year or so, and is on RC1 or RC2. Then move to
Testing. I've had some problems however lately installing the latest build
of Lenny, which suggest rather that the smart thing is probably to stay with
Stable all the time. I used to install Mandriva for naive users because it
was easier to administer, but then discovered that administering it was the
last thing they had in mind!
Mandriva can be a pain when you get tinto the nuitty gritty, but out of
the box on this corporate network... It detected everything out of the
box (or should that be CD). Much easier that windows.
PS I'm not slagging windows. Unlike many Linux users I think windows is
a good OS.
Its hard to judge from people's posts, so it would be a hard choice, but
tentatively, for you, I'd go to Mandriva One 2008.1, KDE version. Or PCL.
You can try Mandriva out as a live CD first.
But in the end, for the committed, Debian is where we end up, and if you
stick with Linux, you'll end up there too. Its just a question of when.
One day you wake up, look at your machine, and you know this is the time to
go to Debian.
Debian or Mandriva will do equally well on laptops.
I aggree. One thing about Ubuntu. As it tries to become a "jack of all
trades" it is becoming slower.
I see that Vector LInux 6 has a new setup and new wifi setup. (wifi
drove me away from it to Xandros back in the old days) so give it a try.
It is really fast.
If it don't work then try Mandriva.
Cheers
Bob
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