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Thread: Looking for a new linux distro

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by wiskic10_4 View Post

    BTW - when are we going to allow the [img] tag again? I have over 100 posts and a good amount of greenies - it's not like I'm going to spam the site with pr0n or goatses
    mehehehe you might not but there are others whom would be to tempted to.

  2. #12
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    Anyone have any other opinions other than trying Slackware? I will try that, and thanks, but I'd like a few distros to try out and then pick which one I like the best. Then again, if the opinion is unanimous then I probably should just go with slackware.

  3. #13
    Senior Member wiskic10_4's Avatar
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    SUSE, OpenBSD, FreeBSD and Mandriva have all been mentioned.

    Why have you decided to go away from Ubuntu/Debian?

    I personally liked Debian when I tried it many moons ago - but, iirc, it was a massive download - way more crap than I ever needed. I'm sure there is a way to install it w/out all the crap. Of course, there's Ubuntu, based on Debian, which is what you were using. Anything that you don't like about it? I mean - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

    I never cared for RedHat - it just seemed too Mickey-Mouse and bloated for me - almost like Linux emulating Windows. I've also tried Ubuntu and SUSE, but I didn't care for either - I don't remember why really - probably because it wasn't Slackware.

    Slackware was the first Linux distro I used, and it's what I know. It works for what I need it to do, and I love it. Good ol' dependable Slackware. Yep.
    My Corner of the Intarwebz: Jeremy Dean Online

  4. #14
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    Debian is pretty decent, i've been using it for a long time. It's feels lightweight and it can take a decent beating and it's like a stubborn mule sometimes.

    and if you've been using Ubuntu then the transition is going to be pretty darn painless.

    I suggest that you just download a heap of different Distro's and test each one on your machine for 1week, just do your normal activitie's and make a note or mental note with the pro's / con's you felt while using each distro and remember to use the different GUI's not just KDE or Gnome. As the different GUI's can really change the look and feel of the OS that's running in the background.

    then afterwards you will be able to select the winnnAR

  5. #15
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by wiskic10_4 View Post
    Meh. Less is more IMHO. Especially on a desktop. I won't even use desktop icons anymore, opting for a dock instead. I certainly don't need an animated wallpaper!
    I kinda pointed out that the Wall Paper thing was just Eye Candy. It looks nice is all. I didn't say it was something that would do anything.

    As for Docks, I Love them. I think it's a nice jump from having a Desktop where you had a bunch of Icons, and now, you don't need to. When I got my new Computer, and booted it up, I noticed it had a Dock (Windows 7 Premium something or other) and I made a few new launchers in the Dock for other stuff.

    I added a few things to the ones it already had, and then with the ones I made myself, I don't have to sit there looking through 800 things on my desktop, and can easily open things I want.

    I do a lot of stuff sometimes that is basically screwing with Archivers, and Compression tools, so I made one for those, and then added all the stuff I needed to it, which would have taken up like 12 slots on my Desktop, and it only uses ONE, which is sweet.

    I also have one for Games so I can have that instead of like 50 icons.

    it's not like I'm going to spam the site with pr0n or goatses
    I would.

  6. #16
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by metguru View Post
    Anyone have any other opinions other than trying Slackware? I will try that, and thanks, but I'd like a few distros to try out and then pick which one I like the best. Then again, if the opinion is unanimous then I probably should just go with slackware.
    Well, other than the Sticky I have in this forum showing all the versions I know enough about to talk about, others have added to it as well.

    If you want my personal opinion, after almost 10 years now of using Linux and BSD, the things I've learned are as follows:

    Most Linux distros are basically the same. It won't matter what you pick either way, except for a few:

    Ubuntu blows. I don't like it. It's the reason I don't normally reply to people on here who ask about it because if it works for you, then good, use it, I just don't like it, and if someone sees me talking badly about it, they may not try it and it may work great for them, so, instead of messing up someone's chances, I just simply don't talk about it.

    Debian, which Ubuntu is made from, however, I LOVE. I have Debian installed, and have been using it nicely for years now. I haven't had to format that drive or do anything to it for like 3 years. It's been running the whole time other than the odd reboot for Kernel updates.

    Other than that I can't say a word of bad about Debian, it's great.

    I don't know how someone would say it was bloated or that they had more than they needed. Unless they chose to install everything for some reason.

    If you want to use Debian without a bunch of stuff you don't need, do this:

    Go to the Debian site, and download the "Net Installer". This is basically a VERY minimal disk with almost nothing on it, and it basically boots up your machine enough to get a Network Connection going so you can install EXACTLY what you want.

    I do this when I install Debian. Once I've got the installer going, I add a few packages like KDE and Window Maker, and then, I finish up. You'll have basically a minimalistic looking system, and from there, you can install what you want.

    Mandriva - For some reason I keep on trying this thing out thinking they'll some day fix it up again and make it nice like they used to have it. Mandriva used to be awesome, but anymore, it kinda blows too.

    Slackware - This is the one I myself, and a lot of others, have said to try. It's a very nice distro of Linux, and the installer is text based.

    If you want help installing Slackware, just look up the Tutorials, and find my Slackware installation tutorials. They're nice I think, and I did a pretty OK job making it super simple to understand. I went as far as saying which button to press and how many times to press it to install Slackware.

    Now, one thing you should know, is that Slackware is NOT a Bloated distro, and it also doesn't have all that many applications compared to others. So you'll want to look into "SlackBuilds" and "LinuxPackages" since they have more software. It has a decent amount, but it's basically going to come with KDE, and the KDE Apps that come with a basic installation, and nothing more.

    So just remember that you won't have hundreds of apps extra like some distros.

    OpenSUSE / SUSE Linux - The versions of OpenSUSE that are out right now, are nothing compared to what they used to be. SuSE Linux 8.1 and 8.2 Professional, along with versions like 9.x and stuff, were a hundred times better than the ones out now. However, that doesn't mean you should try it.

    Out of the box, you'll probably want to set up a few things, and with a little customization you can make it look great.

    Now, to make all that **** I just said not to hard to read, basically, for Linux, try these:

    Slackware
    Debian
    OpenSUSE / SUSE

    Others are OK too, but those are the main ones.

    Don't forget that FreeBSD is free to download and use too. If you're having trouble picking some version of Linux you want to use, or just can't decide, give FreeBSD a go.

    There's also NetBSD, OpenBSD, DragonFlyBSD, DesktopBSD, and PC-BSD you can get too.

    FreeBSD is the more popular one, and the best one in my opinion.

    NetBSD is made to be portable, and work on everything from a phone to a Microwave.

    OpenBSD is made by an ******* with an attitude problem who thinks it's the most secure and awesome thing ever, when really it's NetBSD's code base with everything turned off by default (Lol, there is WAY more too it than this obviously, but, I like poking fun at it because I can't stand Theo).

    Dragon Fly BSD, is FreeBSD 4.0 and on that was forked right around the release of FreeBSD 5. Dragonfly is basically the 4.0 versions of FreeBSD with some changes.

    PC-BSD and DesktopBSD, are both FreeBSD versions that try to make it more Desktop User Friendly. It's basically a pretty GUI version of FreeBSD.

    I have FreeBSD 8.1-RELEASE currently on my laptop, and it looks amazing.

    So, basically, to make this short:

    Try Slackware, SUSE, and Debian, and if you don't like those, you can keep trying even though most other versions of Linux out there are a rip off of one or more of those lol, and, if all else fails; BSD has been around for over 20 years and works great.

  7. #17
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    slackware/freeBSD, imo. Suse is a major pain in the ass and more of a hobby. You could download any thumbdrive sized linux cut and make it what u want...it's generally about which programs you're used to using and how comfy u r's with them...
    Every now and then, one of you won't annoy me.

  8. #18
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    I haven't ever had any real issues with SUSE. The versions being released right now aren't anything compared to the 8.1 and 8.2 days where everything worked out of the box, but the most I've ever had to do was set up a few things myself, which took like a half hour to make it look and act how I wanted.

    I've used it for Desktops, Servers, and as a "almost headless" Server (Basically, install SUSE on a Machine, set up the FTP Server, and then not really ever turn the monitor on because YAST without a GUI works fine over SSH, and installing updates and even rebooting remotely is very simple, and the machine only came down when I installed a Kernel update).

  9. #19
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    Why have you decided to go away from Ubuntu/Debian?
    I haven't 'decided' to go away. I have simply become much more comfortable with unix command lines in general, to the point where I'm more comfortable in a unix shell than windows cmd, so I figured I have the chance to branch out to new distributions and don't want to be close minded. So no, I don't have any issues with debian (I do however think ubuntu is a 'dumbed down' debian), just that I'd like to try something different and become more comfortable with different distros and possibly find another that I enjoy as much as debian.

    The truth of the matter is though that I will be having little to no files on the actual partition that I am installing this linux distro. (They will all be on other physical drives and partitions) So I might just install slackware and if I have any issues that cause me to dislike it I can try BSD [edit: and SUSE] or go with Debian again (or continue to try new distros). So once I install theres still no data on the drive tying me down and keeping me from a reformat.
    Last edited by metguru; January 10th, 2011 at 12:43 AM.

  10. #20
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    If you just don't care about GUIs or tools to hold your hand to configure things as you're saying, then BSD and Slackware are your choices. Slackware is more BSD like than other distros, and BSD doesn't.... I don't think there is anything to really configure your system other than Vi. By default you have no GUI much like Slackware, which you can of course set yourself to have a GUI by default...

    And of course, BSD by default after install, there is no sound. You have to do a small edit to one of the boot files after you do kldload_snd and then cat /dev/snd or something like that (Can't remember the exact one, I did it for my laptop a while ago and haven't since) but basically you won't have sound or anything without setting that up with Vi.

    BSD also uses Csh instead of Bash by default. Bash is available as are like 40 other shells in the ports, but by default you have Csh.

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