OT: Favorite Linux Distro

Skutarth · Post by **Skutarth** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 12:34 pm

I just wanted to what people are using. I am using SuSE, which is pretty good. I'm going to have to guess that the most popular is going to be Slackware, though.

Ares · Post by **Ares** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 12:54 pm

Im using mandrake on my linux machine... just got the computer from a friend last week and didnt know any of the hardware. I knew mandrake has good auto-detection and easy install, and i already had a cd for it, so i just used it. I would use slackware but I guess im classified as a linux newb (been using windows since i first touched a computer, just switched one computer to linux).

Rizzy · Post by **Rizzy** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 1:01 pm

I'm using debian, its the only distrubition I've ever used.
Maybe cuz I haven't been using linux all that long.

Post by **drcode** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 1:24 pm

Gentoo is what I use, mainly because it's good for developers (makes it easy to update individual packages without having to update the whole system). My favorite commercial distribution is SuSE, although I haven't tried Mandrake yet.

Post by **wjp** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 1:56 pm

Gentoo.

Post by **Darke** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:11 pm

Gentoo. (Genthree? given the comments...) SuSE's great though.

Iceshard- · Post by **Iceshard-** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:18 pm

Sorry, I don't use Linux, but I thought, since it was the topic, that this might be funny for some of you. (Mentions SuSe, too

)

http://www.strangehorizons.com/index.pl ... dger.shtml

Covenant · Post by **Covenant** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 10:52 am

I used Debian with my old 486. Then I switched to Mandrake with my P3... that was the worst decision I have ever take.

Now I use SuSE 9 and I'm very happy, it's a very good distro. But I have started with Gentoo in my work and probably will switch soon here.

So IMHO I think that SuSE is better for linux newbies and Gentoo for people with more experience with *nix systems.

Of course this is for a normal machine... if you want to install linux on a badger the thing changes

Ares · Post by **Ares** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 6:02 pm

what was wrong with mandrake?

just curious, cause its the only one ive ever really used (successfully), and if it sucked, I wanna switch

i tried knoppix, but cant do a hd install because my linux machines hard drive is only 1.5 g...

Post by **artaxerxes** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 5:01 am

I use Mandrake all the way through... Never had to complain, perfect autodetection, even managed to convince my wife to use it from now on.

We watch TV on it (with a TV card - very easily setup with drakeTV), and do all the usual stuff you do on a workstation/personal desktop.

On a related note, I've been asked by a friend to setup a network for people that contracted him. Their main server is a Dell PowerEdge which had Windows 2003 Server installed on it. I got a bit reluctant to install Mandrake on it, thinking it would barf on the RAID controller cards and all the stuff that make that machine special. Well, I popped in the CD, removed the Windows partition, added LVM, formatted the drives, installed the system, setup the root password, installed the bootloader (which defaulted to SMP since the PowerEdge had HyperThreading) and rebooted! It worked the first time! Everything _FULLY_ detected. RAID controller was automatically detected and appropriate drivers were loaded, I really had nothing to do at all! Just amazing. My bud told me how painful it was to install Windows 2003 server on that machine and for Mandrake (9.2) it was just a breeze.
For completion, this server will be used to run Kolab, so that clients using XP and Outlook can still have groupware functionality (using a plugin).

Artaxerxes

Ares · Post by **Ares** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 12:03 pm

Thats why I use mandrake 9.2

problem with linux is all the damn dependencies!!! want to update kde but missing some lib

SB-X · Post by **SB-X** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 12:04 pm

> if it sucked, I wanna switch

Only you would know if it sucked or not.

Ares · Post by **Ares** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 4:23 pm

well, as ive only really used mandrake, I cant really compare it with other distros. I heard slackware was good, and I think fedora/red hat's good... slackwares out of the picture; im new with linux, and I dont know any of my machines hardware. I just wanna know if I there are better distros that are still newb-friendly.

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 8:08 pm

There is SuSE.

Post by **nadir** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 10:25 pm

Gentoo is ok for a one man workstation, but the whole "download source, compile, install" sequence is silly if you have several machines.

I use Debian on my box and all of my servers (12 at the moment). Updates and upgrades are easy and I have a private apt repo with special packages which need to be installed on all boxes.

RedHat Enterprise or SuSE Enterprise are the way to go if you want commercial support from HW/SW vendors (e.g. you need one of these if you want to run Oracle, WebSphere or some other commercial product, unless you don't need the support - they run fine on Debian otherwise).

Mandrake is quite good.

Slackware is classic and simple.

Just my 2¢

Tristan

Post by **drcode** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 7:09 am

12 servers? I assume that's at work:-)

Axel DominatoR · Post by **Axel DominatoR** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 2:51 am

Gentoo ^_^
I used a lot of distros ( starting with slackware, redhat, suse, mandrake, debian )
but I agree with DrCrode... Gentoo is perfect for a developer or for anyone that wants a system that auto-updates and configure all the OS really for YOUR machine.
Well there is binary portage, too so you must not download sources and compile if you don't want to...
just read about -k option in emerge
Axel

Apathas · Post by **Apathas** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 2:44 pm

Slackware!

draconx · Post by **draconx** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 5:20 pm

I use gentoo, but i run Debian on my crappy old pentium

I've tried Mandrake, but after apt and portage.... the rpm system just doesn't seem as good anymore...

Ares · Post by **Ares** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 12:23 am

From what ive read, the rpm system sucks.

from what ive seen, the rpm system sucks.
I wanted to try gentoo but it seemed reall complicated, so I decided to try later when I have time. Ive read that portage is awesome.

Post by **wjp** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 1:38 am

There's always yum or apt-get for rpm.

MemoryDragon · Post by **MemoryDragon** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 11:27 am

I used to use various distros over the years.
SLS, Suse, Redhat, Gentoo

but recently ( a year ago) I settled down for Debian (unstable on most machines)
I was almost happy with Gentoo, but the endless compile cycles were a total pain, and the configurability not that much better, the same goes for speed.

With Debian I am almost perfectly happy, besides that unstable breaks stuff a tad too often and testing is too much out of date. What Debian would need would be a step between Unstable and Testing which does not break stuff anymore, but where you don?t have to wait half a year to get a newer kde version.

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 11:55 am

<-- Red Hat 9.0 all the way.

(Dual partition with Windows XP. On on the XP side right now)

- Wizardry Dragon

Daemongar · Post by **Daemongar** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 7:13 am

Dual boot Windows 2000/Mandrake 9.2

I can't stand XP – removed it from my system – may give it a go when SP2 comes out. Still too many ways to trash a system. Also, it’s easier to create a dual-boot with Windows 2000. YMMV.

But no matter what distro I use, I still find myself in the “no matter what application you want to install, you need a file you don’t have” syndrome. I either need to read a book or start digging more into the Linux side.

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 11:11 am

I had that trying to install the Linux sound archetecture files required for Rosegarden. It's just a matter of following the chain back and then installing in the proper order.

Frustrating, but not overly complex. (At least, for RH)

- Wizardry Dragon

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 4:32 pm

I've heard about all those problems with dependencies and stuff, the "well known" dependency hell. Never ever had them myself. I use SuSE.

SB-X · Post by **SB-X** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 6:24 pm

What does SuSE do different?

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 6:30 pm

Different in what aspect?

SB-X · Post by **SB-X** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 7:26 pm

In how it handles application installs & dependencies. I thought you implied you never had those problems because you use SuSE.

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 7:31 pm

Well, I don't really know what's different, as it uses RPMs as well. The fact is I've never had dependency problems, and I have installed several things and done updates and stuff.

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 8:42 pm

"and stuff"

Like ... ?

- Wizardry Dragon

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 9:00 pm

Like installing two different versions of some package and having them simultaneously without interfering with each other.

For example Python 2.2 and 2.3

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 9:11 pm

I have that on Red Hat with no hitch, the old beta version of PHP and the new release.

- Wizardry Dragon

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 9:34 pm

with the linux standards base, thats pretty much a given for any package system

I use debian.

the main problem with gentoo is that for most people, there isn't a tacit advantage to compiling the entire system... most people on x86/PPC platforms have similar enough CPUs, my Barton chip is the same as someone's else.

the only thing that would be different is the rest of the hardware... thats all handled thru the kernel.

unless you are running new, unheard of, or rare hardware, there is probably little benefit from compiling the entire system versus using the complete binary package for your CPU(aka a stage 3 tarball).

Axel DominatoR · Post by **Axel DominatoR** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 2:02 am

Well not exactly... I have a K6-200 and an Athlon XP-m 2800...
Each of the system really improves in speed when compiled with the right flags.
For example I usually use -O3 while mostly distros compiles with -O2...
I know that not always -O3 is faster than -O2, but I usually notice a speed improvement.
Oh, it's also the only distro that I made working everywhere!
I installed gentoo in about ten computers... sure it's not ready-to-go as Mandrake, but really it does ANYTHING work... it only needs a bit of patience to configure...
Axel

Ares · Post by **Ares** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 7:48 pm

I have a question: would the cpu manufacturer affect the performance of XFree86? Because I got a old computer with a cyrix(?) II 300 mhz processor, and while in a desktop manager, it runs slower than my old 150 mhz. Anyone know what other things effect this (other than video card)?

Post by **Colourless** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 4:49 am

Cyrix... there's your problem.

Ares · Post by **Ares** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 1:42 pm

is cyrix a crappy cpu?

should I just ditch it and find a cheap P2 or P3?

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 3:58 pm

The really old Cyrix CPUs (anything 100 MHz and under) were pretty good, but the later ones were really bad. My uncle had a PC with Cyrix 200 MHz CPU, and it fried after some time, so he replaced it with a 233 or 266 MHz one, and it fried after some more time, so he replaced it again, and the third one did fry as well.

Navigating through some forums, I found out it was common for those CPUs to fry. Also, there was a gaming news page I used to visit, I don't remember which; the page went for some days without updates, then at last there was an update where the editor said the page would be up to date with news as soon as he got a new motherboard and CPU. He clarified that his Cyrix CPU fried and he didn't have the buck to get a quick replacement at the moment.

MFlint · Post by **MFlint** » Tue May 04, 2004 4:11 pm

I used RedHat 9.0 on my Dell laptop for since it was released. RedCarpet by ximian and Yum makes short work of dependencies. I have since switched to OS X which is now my favorite unix.

Ares · Post by **Ares** » Wed May 05, 2004 5:44 am

Thanks Gradilla. Im seeing if I can get a Duron or Athlon with a new and better mobo.