Linux Flavours

[Krypto]

Well I'm thinking of making the big switch over to Linux, have tried a few of them out some work, some don't, but thats life.

Have been having a look at Mandriva One 2009, is anyone using it and is it any good? Also is it worth going for the PowerPack Version or not?

All suggestions are welcome.

[johnake]

I currently use Mandriva Powerpack 2009 and I can tell you I'm happy with it. The KDE desktop rulls and it is user friendlier. It has a lot of community resources all over the internet.

[Krypto]

Thanks johnake, forgot to add onto the previous post which is preferable Gnome or KDE? Are there any advantages/disadvantages between them?

[johnake]

Well, I would suggest KDE if you are a Windows user. It is more user friendlier than Gnome and it has more features. Gnome keeps it simple and more stable I would say. There are many debates over the internet concerning KDE vs. Gnome. Both project do a great job and I think choosing one despite of another its just a matter of choice.
Cheers and have fun in Linux. You will discover a new world!

[dezza]

I've tried several distributions and I also asked myself the very same question when I wanted to find out what everyone liked so much about Linux ..

The answer you will get from me has two paths you can choose ..

My favorite distributions of all times are Debian, ArchLinux, and Gentoo, although I really disliked Gentoo in the end when I left it, and there were several reasons to that!

Debian is really a great great system, not only for servers but also for workstations.. There is a reason why Ubuntu got so popular, mainly because it adopted their package-manager "apt-get" which lets you install packages trough an enormous index of good reputated completely open-source and free software, and Debian is very critical at bad licenses. The thing I do not like about Debian is that while they are good at modifying each software-package to fit together with the rest of the Debian system the packages tend to get a little to static, they simply make the choices for you sometimes, and also you will start with a few services (daemons) on even the most clean install you can make (for example inetd) and I like running services standalone and not trough inetd.

The thing I HATE HATE HATE about Ubuntu is that you can adopt one tutorial, howto or guide from Debian and expect it to work on Ubuntu because they like to asspowder their users with network managers and other useless gui's which could just utilize the great utilities of a standard debian installation to manage or change these configs. Also I hate that whatever you put in your USB-port is always recognized as a CAMERA when it's a standard USB Mass Storage-driver.. At least that was like it when I tried it last, and some of my friends tell me they've corrected that, but still it is NOT Debian, and it will never be, and I think they are stuck where they are now, although I really think they've attracted like 2-4% more Linux-users just because of their distribution so I keep my mouth shut, although I think it is much easier to use Debian for a Workstation system than Ubuntu..

ArchLinux I really saw for nothing when I first got a glimpse at it, but first after trying it I understand what really makes it so useful.. Pacman & ABS really works so good together that you will never talk about source-distributions or binary-distributions again (FreeBSD, Gentoo are source-distributions - Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu are not ..) cause you can use the best parts of both!!

ABS consists of alot of build-scripts for applications (The recipes for how your applications are compiled from source and turned into a binary which you can execute and run) this gives unlimited possibilities of tweaking, meanwhile still managed by pacman which you can compare to apt-get..

If you ask me, forget about starting on Linux on Mandriva, OpenSuSE, Ubuntu, Mint, PCLinuxOS or whatever these dists are called, these are all a full package of applications and managers for your system, kinda like Vista.. I hate them, honestly.. They twist your brain into thinking Linux is Windows, or is it? When I first started Linux in 2001, I was 11 years old, these days you had kernel 2.4 and you had to do SCSI-emulation to get burning to CD-R working, and sometimes you even had to configure and compile your own kernel just to add the capability or to get the last piece of hardware to work ! I learned alot from this, and did drive alot of people on IRC crazy asking stupid questions about Debian where I started, but I learned to do it the RIGHT way, and I learned to UTILIZE the functions and kernel of Linux, and that's how it should be .. Cause in the end, don't you ask yourself why do you want to make the switch? To learn more about systems, you do not learn more about systems by installing Ubuntu.. You learn more about crappy written wiki-pages and irritating work-arounds that worked so fine on Debian before they were ported to Ubuntu .. Instead learn to use man-pages and google, and you will find your way to the Linux-distribution of your choice when you first understand the underlying applications!

[Krypto]

Thanks for the reply.

I ditched Mandriva as I could not get along with it, the only good part about it was it recognized all my hardware especially my graphics card, unlike so many other distro's that do not like Nvidia cards (6800GT & 8600GT).

I've since been using Ubuntu 8.04 and have reinstalled it several times now after following their forums and it then removing other dependant packages which wiped out virtually all my settings and was left with no gui or even net access. A big downside is that Ubuntu forums are really slow and keep going down constantly.

Have had a look at Arch but I tested it on my other PC which had no net connection so I was not able to test it to it's full potential, will have to try it again then I will be able to install the gui to it. Just wish it was a bit more user friendly for the novice!

I have various distro's that I've burnt over the last few weeks and have tested, Ubuntu 8.04 & 8.10, Mandriva 2009 PowerPack, OpenSuse 11, Fedora 9, Centos, Mint, PC-BSD 7 and probably more.

I have the Debian Etch 4.0r5 DVD's x 3 and as no release date has been confirmed yet for 'Lenny' would that be adequate or would I be better off downloading the 'lenny beta2 release' OR the 'current weekly snapshot' and do I really need to download all the DVD's? or is the first one sufficient, as I presume the other just contain all the packages?

Which would be better Debian or Arch (if I can figure it out)?

Also what gfx card is best for linux in general (make & model).

[dezza]

Krypto, the wiki has alot of good documentation on setting up ArchLinux from the start to installing a window-manager like mine Openbox ..

Running ArchLinux Kernel 2.6.27 with Openbox and PyPanel on top.







and currently ... a few days ago ..



NVIDIA is absolutely the best support for Linux, you will have to use the official driver, most Linux-distributions come with a driver named "nv" but you have to replace that with "nvidia" (after installing the nvidia-package) in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

Depends what you need what is best..

I think you will have fun following the Beginners Guide with ArchLinux and setting up Xorg yourself and afterwards a Window-manager, if you download Debian you do not have any guide to follow except for the dry install-wizard or some random sites on the internet, Debian is not that good at documentation, but it really is a great system for a server, and also for the workstation, but it has a higher learning curve, but it doesn't mean it's better for the workstation, just different, I wouldn't choose Arch over Debian but right now I like Arch!