New Poll: Which Linux distro are you using?
I’d like to know what distro you guys are using right now. I am currently using Ubuntu Feisty on my laptop and also am currently waiting for the new release, Gutsy Gibbon. Just several days more and I’d do an upgrade! :D Hooray!
In any case, I’d like to know what you are using so I could also have an idea what you are comfortable using, especially when people ask for Linux recommendations. I generally recommend Ubuntu to my newbie friends. But I am not averse to other distros. Well, I am biased towards Debian-based ones, though. :P I love the Synaptic package manager more than I liked the old Yast.
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POSTED IN: Poll Question, The Free World.
14 opinions for New Poll: Which Linux distro are you using?
Richard Chapman
Oct 6, 2007 at 7:15 am
More and more I’m reading about people trying Ubuntu. Unfortunately I occasionally read about Ubuntu failing them in some way, which then turns into “Linux sucks” or “don’t bother with Linux because it doesn’t detect wireless cards”. Do you see the slight difference? Ubuntu turned into Linux. Ubuntu is “a” Linux distro but it’s not Linux. Some people don’t seem to understand that Ubuntu is not Linux, so I’m glad to see a site like yours educating people about the variety of Linux distros. I currently use PCLinuxOS, but I’ve used the Fedoras and tested Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mepis (which I liked a lot), Suse, Puppy, DSL and 64Studio.
Ahmad
Oct 6, 2007 at 8:45 pm
mmm…., i asked for ubuntu 7.04 live cd from the web site, they send it to me afetr three weeks, now i have the cd which i know that i can install ubuntu from it, but before installing it i have downloaded the latest ATI driver from the web site and madwifi drivers for atheros wifi card, now i wiould like to ask you if you know!!
i have acer aspire 3050 laptop, and i have ubuntu 7.04 cd and ATI drivers, and madwifi drivers, it is ok for Ati drivers but can you help me and teach me how to install madwifi, actully i read the way on how to in the web site of madwifi, but when i boot my laptop via cd in live mode and when i wrote the comands the terminal gave me many errors so now the question: is that because i am booting from live mode, in other words if i install ubuntu on the hard drive shall i see the same error messeges
thx.
and sorry for my bad nglish :)
Jeff
Oct 8, 2007 at 7:40 am
On my main PC I use Ubuntu (Fiesty) most of the time but occasionally I hot swap Linux Mint (Cassandra). I just installed Damn Small Linux on an old pc to see how it performs on old hardware. I can’t get enough Linux.
Andy
Oct 8, 2007 at 8:49 am
I use Ubuntu Gutsy on my Compal HEL80 laptop. I’m also Using Sabayon Linux 3.4 and just in case XP pro. I also use Ubuntu Server 6.06 for my web / ftp / backup / file server. I love Ubuntu for it’s lazy man’s Linux thing, but Sabayon Is my distro. I love it’s stability and the basic install is phenomenal for what it has already setup. Because it’s based on gentoo I never recommend it for noobs because the terminal scares folks. I will always recommend Ubuntu, freespire, MEPIS, or even DreamLinux to noobs, and While I love Gentoo I am using a milestone version of Gutsy because it’s quick and easy and I need to do a full reload of my laptop after I houseclean my Home Directories.
As a side note, I’d love to give this advice to people, make different users for different DE’s. KDE, Xfce, GNOME, fluxbox, Ion3, whatever. It is always nice to not worry about DE’s arguing over config files. I’ve even made different users for when I want to play WoW, NeverWinter Nights or just watch movies online. It makes it so nice to tweak settings and not worry. I’ve made a local fileshare that links to all my user profiles with my songs, movies, images and docs so I don’t have to dup them. I’m planning on reloading to make that special area it’s own partition. Essentially my home user dirs only hold config files.
Bob
Oct 8, 2007 at 6:18 pm
I started about a year ago with Ubuntu but switched to PCLinuxOS a couple months ago. I found PCLinuxOS to do a better job of hardware plug and play identification with my setup at installation and hardly ever have a need to use the terminal mode. I haven’t had a need to call upon their tech support forums but have found lots of good information and education from their on line magazine.
Will
Oct 18, 2007 at 7:01 am
I use the following distros:
xubuntu
dreamlinux
vixta
All have different features and some are more suitable depending on the computer its being installed on. Xubuntu is a more asthetically pleasing take on ubuntu for myself and ubuntu is great for detecting hardware. Dreamlinux is a streamlined mac osx look with a very easy to use control panel and easy to add additional hardware or configure graphics cards. Vixta is quite new so i havent had chance to test it fully but its damn droolworthy in looks!
Clair
Oct 19, 2007 at 1:20 am
@Ahmad: I will ask one of my colleagues who is using an Acer :)
@Jeff: You’re not alone. A bunch of my friends have the same hobby ;) My boss has been considering Mint for our desktops. We’d probably test drive it on one while upgrading the rest of the machines to Gutsy.
@Bob: I was just chatting with another Linux user this morning and he was telling me the goodness of hardware detection and support in PCLinuxOS. Some of us in the office are curious about it but we’re biased towards Debian-based distros so I am not quite sure when we’re really going to test it on the desktops.
@Will: I asked a friend who checked out Dream. He has a bad experience with the upgrade. Packages were broken, he said. How about you?
Nick Di
Oct 25, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Well, I am a newbie to linux, but an old newbie. I decided to load Ubuntu, Feisty on to my laptop first as a virtual set up using Vm ware but it just did not work out with my windows XP OPS. So I took the plunge and went 100% ubuntu and wala, it set up nicely. I was able to get everything working including my wireless centrano connection via the router gateway. The only hitch i had was with evolution, the e-mail package. It did not want to handle my g-mail. in time i worked out the glich and it works fine now. Yesterday, I upgraded to the gusty version of ubuntu and so far it appears to work without a problem with the basic functions. i haven’t tried all applications yet.
I would consider myself nothing more than an average user that has had most of his experience with Dos, and Windows in the past. Computers are sort of a hobby for me. I enjoy what you can do with a computer and the vast access you have to information. I decided to try a linux distro because I believe in the open source movement as a means for seniors to still be able to use computers and the internet without the heavy costs imposed upon them by Mr. Gates and Microsoft. Whatever happened to laws against monopolies.
khmzungu
Oct 31, 2007 at 4:19 am
Hi everybody,
I tested and used several Linux distros.
For my opinion Ubuntu has still a lot of problems.
A lot of things do not work out of the box.
Problems with dual core processors and dual graphics.
Wireless is a pain.
Watching videos online is a pain.
64bit problems with flash and many other things.
And Ubuntu is quite slow compared to windows and other Linux distros.
PCLinuxOS is great as long you don’t have a dual core processor with dual graphics card SLI.
Many things work out of the box and it is fast and stable.
Ideal distros in my opinion for switching from windows.
Now here is my favourite.
Sabayon.
In case you have a high end PC with raid 0, dual core and dual SLI graphics it is the distros fro you.
Not the mini edition.
I mean the whole DVD.
It just works.
It is totally fast and stable.
And it just looks great and to 95% everything works out of the box.
But please be aware.
Sabayon is not for low end PC’s.
32bit or 64bit it just works.
Even flash works in 64bit out of the box.
There are others I tested like Mepis and dreamlinux but they still need quite a lot of work.
But still they worked better and faster as Ubuntu.
Hope that helped a little.
Kurt Moeller
Nov 9, 2007 at 10:07 am
I am not new to linux but decided to start using it for my dev desktop. I burned about 10-15 livecds, installed some, tried some, etc… and honestly… could not really get any satisfaction. I tried Mint Linux on a whim and was amazed how it detected hardware that I was getting google-headaches from trying to find the drivers for with other distros. That even includes ubuntu, debian included which Mint is based on. So this one gets my vote.
I also have debian on an old laptop which can only boot from a floppy. Debian seems to have the best floppy+network install out there. Was really wanting to try puppy linux on that thing since it’s really slow with debian.
Clair
Nov 16, 2007 at 7:55 am
Hi, Kurt! Thanks for sharing your experience about trying out 10-15 live cds. Wow! How many days did you give each distro a go?
Hi, khmzungu! Hardware compatibility does matter a lot. I can relate somehow. In any case, it’s good you’ve found a Linux distro you like!
khmzungu
Nov 17, 2007 at 11:10 am
Hi claire,
thanks.
I hope you will be a new happy Linux user.
all the best.
Kurt Moeller
Nov 20, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Clair - I didn’t have a set time for each one… some I couldn’t even get through startup. I would start working on them and say… wait, I don’t have to do this, then burn another cd and try another one. Some of them I went back to… like I have used debian before on my laptop a lot and I kind of wanted that one to work so I messed with it for a while.
BTW… still happy with Mint and I guess I didn’t think i would be. I like Xfce a lot too…. which I find much simplier than KDE… for those of us who don’t mind clicking through windows and menus once and a while :-).
I have successfully gotten…
- amarok working with my old windows itunes library and syncing with my ipod (which I installed rockbox on)
- skype up and working with USB headset
- virtualbox with a winxp image for testing and flex builder work
- been able to mount external NTFS drives and convert them to ext3 (back up, format type conversions)
- got bluefish editor up and running for web-dev
I have had problems figuring out how to get eclipse working but I am pretty sure it’s just cause I am not really familiar with and a little dense.
My point was… I was able to get this all up and running fairly quickly (required for my work) with out much fuss (missing libraries, compiles not working, installed apps not launching,etc etc). I think that is what usually keeps people from sticking with linux as their main system.
Clair
Nov 20, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Hi, Kurt! Ah, that’s why you tried out quite a lot. Glad to read about what you’ve been able to setup on it. You like Bluefish? Have you also tried out Quanta and others like it? I actually mainly use text editors like Emacs and Geany plus the webdeveloper toolbar on Firefox. In any case, it was nice for you because you didn’t really have much difficulty to make sure you have your system working for you.
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