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RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

dj-toonz — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 18:43:27 GMT

This is only my say lol at the moment for me it has to be fedora core 9 as every other distro that I've tried from ubuntu 7.10,8.04 - right down to Gentoo wouldn't pick the E220 up (without downloading the network manager 0.7.x software & then that came with other software you had to install before it worked) try doing that under windows when that's your only connection, so fedora core 9 gets a 9/10 for me, why 9 is because my laptop is running on a sis graphics chip & cant get the 3D compiz effects working :-(. I've tried other distro's but none wont install on a 1.3 Gig laptop with 256 MEG of ram & a 160 Gig ide Hard drive, ubuntu gets to the live stage, but trying to install it onto the hard drive is a nightmare, freezes at 10% then i have to shut down the laptop, gentoo installs but wont let work with the modem :-( I haven't tried Suse or mandriva as i've found fedora to be stable & much better then xp home what was on this laptop when i bought it :P just my views in the subject

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

Attercop — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:33:53 GMT

I started out on Kubuntu but i've used Ubuntu for quite a while now. I find the Gnome desktop environment much more attractive, easier to use for any level of experience, and not as crash happy as KDE. I'd change my vote but i can't. Maybe a reset is in order to purge all the old votes that have changed since.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

SirTom909 — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:17:22 GMT

well i opted for SuSE Linux, all our web servers in work run on it and its my fav distro

but

FreeBSD 7.0 is my OS of choice, besides OSX of course.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

chaos_rogue — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:34:50 GMT

I tried using Ubuntu fiesty fawn on my laptop, but it would fail to boot into the desktop 2 out of 4 times, so now i use Debian Etch, and i have had no probs with it booting at all...

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

elcartero — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:33:20 GMT

Mepis for me........

Straightforward installation from live-CD
Easy package management via Synaptic
Super forum

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

gn2 — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:41:32 GMT

I voted other.

Xubuntu 7.10 64-bit on my desktop PC.

Zenwalk 4.8 on my P3 laptop.

It has to be Xfce for me, Gnome too bloaty and KDE too fiddly.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

ASheridan — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 00:09:19 GMT

Ubuntu does seem quite nice, but I use programs from both the Gnome and KDE groups, but trying to install KDE on Ubuntu, or Gnome on Kubuntu became so complex, I gave it up and opted for a distro that had them both by default. I used to use SUSE 10.2 and SLED 10 at work, and Mandriva Spring 2007 at home, but Mandriva didn't recognise my SCSI hard drive, so I plumped for Fedora 7 instead, and it's been great.

My only real bugbear (apart from the obvious hardware peripherals issues!) is that I can't install iTunes or Flash CS3 (Flash MX and Flash 8 are working fine though)

Well, thats my two-pence...

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

PlaneMan — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:31:55 GMT

[quote][b]Mang0Ju1ce (28/12/2007)[/b][hr]My Kubuntu 7.10 (64 bit) died a few weeks ago and this gave me the perfect opportunity to try out Mint, and I am very impressed with it. I've never got to grips with Ubuntu, but I am loving this, everything works perfectly, even things that didn't work under Ubuntu :)[/quote]

Mint for me as well. Easy to use and everyhting I've tried so far has just worked. Much faster than XP Home as well.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

bigdaddy — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:24:16 GMT

I'm having more and more fun with Ubuntu. I have managed to get DVB-T working. How I don't know, but it works.:D

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

Mang0Ju1ce — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 13:15:02 GMT

My Kubuntu 7.10 (64 bit) died a few weeks ago and this gave me the perfect opportunity to try out Mint, and I am very impressed with it. I've never got to grips with Ubuntu, but I am loving this, everything works perfectly, even things that didn't work under Ubuntu :)

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

The VFM (Value For Money) Addict — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:12:02 GMT

What about "Puppy Linux"? I always have a flash drive in my pocket with Puppy on it ready to boot and run from on just about any PC that can boot from USB, new or old.

I hate having to carry a Live CD around.....:P:D

Cheers,
VFM

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

-Wiz!- — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 20:17:36 GMT

The vote should really be reset...new versions distros are now about. I have already voted and would change now if i could. :)

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

Bruce R — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 20:15:41 GMT

Hi Folks

Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) is definitely the one that starts to rock.

Compiz variable-translucency 3D windows are great, but it's the user-friendly package repository access that's its greatest strength, with fifty plus packages already added since release !

With UK and France legal (but US illegal) plugins already installed, if they play their cards right, the forthcoming Gutsy Gibbon-based LinuxMint Daryna could be the LiveCD that folk start carrying into PC World et al, saying 'but will it take this ?'

Now. off to the Gutsy Gibbon 'club' to see what else I can learn !

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

TRS80 — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:27:36 GMT

I've tried a number of distro's, most installed without probs except for SUSE which crashed every time. Current favourite is not a true linux distro as it's Linspire but it's the only one that connected to my wireless network without trouble. Second would be Mandriva as that connected with a bit of fiddling. Mint worked after using ndiswrapper but I've given up on (K)Ubuntu - installs and runs OK but despite reading forums on connecting wirelessly I've given up trying - better things to do with my life.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

Bruce R — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 18:05:14 GMT

As of Today, my favourite distribution is Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon, which I have running well on three different old technology PCs, starting with an 1133Mhz, 512M RAM Tualatin.

Feature-wise, it's 'the one', with a superb new Add/Remove Applications capability simply listing all the Ubuntu repository packages available or already installed, plus simple information about each package.

It supports Kaffeine installation provided that libxine1-plugins is Synaptic Searched and installed, allowing use of my AverTV A800 USB-2 module or an old A771 PCI card, providing high quality Freeview reception and display with a decent graphics card and TFT display. It now supports an EN8500GTS card and a 20.1" 1400x1050 display, plus Amarok for my MP3audio collection, all whilst I explore further.

Other features are less newbie-friendly so I'm looking forward to LinuxMint Daryna which is due soon and apparently Gutsy Gibbon-based (Cassandra was Feisty Fawn-based.)

Meanwhile, Gutsy Gibbon looks good enough for me, the Ubuntu 'Community' team have done a great job !

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

alan2273 — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:28:34 GMT

Thanks for your reply Bruce.
After using Linux for a couple of years now it seemed to me that Mint was about the easiest for a beginner to install, but as you point out, with help from people such as you I have becomes a bit more familiar with Linux so I have tended not to worry to much about the ease of installation, so have not looked at it from a newbies point of view.
I also prefer the Gnome desktop, so although pclinux2007 is getting some good reviews, I will stay with Mint.
As a replacement for Windows, Linux OS's are moving ever closer to bridging the gap to a desktop replacement.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

Bruce R — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 08:44:51 GMT

Hi alan2273
I'm pleased to hear that my inputs have helped you, thank you for that thought.

Regarding LinuxMint v3.1 Celena, it's rather more newbie-frightening in installation, but that's not the problem or even that the fancy black colour scheme is less readable, it's because it's less stable than
v3.0 Cassandra once installed, being fussier about which hardware it likes.
I hope that makes sense, but it sounds as if you might know better than me why this is so ?

At least Celena has retained the immediately obvious and unique menu structure of Cassandra to which one can a little less easily than Cassandra add other Ubuntu packages (with the exception of Kaffeine)

For me, Cassandra plus a pre-installed and configured Kaffeine as per PC Linux OS-2007 would have been a much better new configuration. I suspect that it would also have greater mass appeal and be closer to being the Linux breakthrough and simpler alternative to Windows that is needed.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

alan2273 — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 23:46:40 GMT

Hi Bruce R, nice to see you on this forum (you have helped me a few times on Linux forums.)
I have to disagree with you on saying Mint Celena is losing its way, what do you base that on?.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

Bruce R — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:01:37 GMT

From Old Fogey to Old Phart, thank you for the welcome.

I am intermittently active on a number of Linux Forums and seem to have prompted Ubuntu adoption of a better version of GpartEd, the only version that works consistently as a LiveCD, v0.3.3.0, and seems to be the basis for the Gutsy Gibbon partition editor, with easy windows screen dumps for documentation.

Letters to Micromart or to the 'Ask' pages are a better public forum for passing on hard learnt tips, whilst forums are better for reaching enthusiasts. Thanks to Letters, the recent MicroMart CD has included the invaluable yet genuinely free SelfImage-121, the only imaging software that consistently works for Linux.

Sadly, the enthusiasts seem to find difficulty communicating with more general users, not even seeing the importance of a user-friendly Linux breakthrough. LinuxMint Cassandra was a useful step but has now gone off track with Celena, but Gutsy Gibbon Beta is showing some promise, hence my previous comments.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

ricedg — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:39:18 GMT

Always wondered if it was the Bruce Milsom I used to work with.
By the looks of the avatar it may well be...

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

oldphart — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:22:11 GMT

Ah, finally, Bruce R joins the forum, rather than bending Simon's ear via the letter column. Welcome.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

Bruce R — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 22:39:31 GMT

Started off being Ubuntu Dapper Drake - ie 6.06.1 (the version that worked), then Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn but is currently the Ubuntu derivative Linux Mint Cassandra v3.0 (NOT v3.1 Celena which sucks)
Whilst waiting to see if Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon v7.10 is 'the one' I have played with PCLinuxOS-2007 which so far is the only distribution with an embedded, working version of Kaffeine for my AverTV A800 Freeview tuner. (All other distribution added installations fail to scan or list stations, whilst Gutsy Gibbon beta won't then play them.)
In terms of newbie user-friendly and most obvious operation Cassandra Mint is 'the one' so it's a pity that other versions are already getting 'off track' for a general Linux breakthrough.

Perhaps April 2008 Ubuntu Hardy Heron will be the distribution that actually makes it ?

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

52nd_State — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 20:01:08 GMT

PS to the above,
I managed to get all my videos and music to play,install Beryl and can do most things that I could do with Windows without using the command line.Thats how far Linux has come in the past few years.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

52nd_State — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 19:52:04 GMT

linux newbie here,ubuntu 6.10 with beryl is fantastic but out the box,Sabayon is pretty friendly.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

Dr-Jon — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:12:57 GMT

well i have opensuse 10.2 on here and kubuntu on my other machine but my fav is still suse 10.2...tried 10.3 beta could not get the network set up so back to 10.2

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

lawgiver — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:00:28 GMT

I have down loaded about 15 distro's looking for the right one for me, and PClinuxOS is about the best followed by Ubuntu.

Linux is like a classic car, pop the bonnet and tinker all day long.;)

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

hansonlee — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 18:45:10 GMT

Ubuntu is just how Linux should be,top marks!

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

NattyFido — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 22:27:37 GMT

My first Linux distro was RedHat 7 and that put me off for a long time!
Then I kept reading about this great new distro that was good for noobs, Ubuntu, so I tried it and liked it, apart from trying to get it to play MPGs and WMVs (what is the point of Totem if it doesn't play MPGs?). Sorted that out and decided to try some others, I am currently running openSUSE 10.2. It is a lot slower than Ubuntu, but works fine. Going to try Fedora next.

Ubuntu gets my vote, works great on old hardware (P2 266MHz 96 MHz SDRAM 3.2GB HD!!!)

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

pjc — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 17:21:32 GMT

Got to be PCLinuxOS for me, I'm just about to try the latest release, its fab for someone who hasnt used linux in years and 'just runs'

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

davecs — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 20:16:35 GMT

Mint is a makeover of Ubuntu, uses the same repos and everything.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

stevelincsuk — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 05:49:12 GMT

For now its ubuntu, although im going to also give mint and PCLinuxOS a run too :cool:

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

Mr Green — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 19:21:10 GMT

Arch ....

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

0_poster — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 11:57:45 GMT

try PCLinuxOS then... talk/vote!

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

davecs — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 10:55:32 GMT

Unfortunately my opinion is not treated as authoratitively or read by as many people as yours. Your opinion can make or break a distro, mine cannot.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

DJ — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:54:27 GMT

[quote][b]davecs (30/11/2006)[/b][hr]Hi just got today's Micro Mart, clearly David Johnson doesn't agree with the forum members here![/quote]

This poll is not scientific. It shows what all MM forum users (irrespective of their level of knowledge) have chosen as their favourite distribution. More popular distributions are likely to get more votes than less popular ones - that doesn't necessarily mean that they're the best, just that every person hasn't tried every distribution.

I reviewed five distributions and, using my experience gained from using and developing Linux over the last ten years and my knowledge of usability, chose the one I thought was best for someone who knows nothing about Linux.

You don't have to agree with me and my choice cannot possibly be right for every potential Linux user on the planet (since distribution choice depends on each user's requirements, level of knowledge and hardware), but I have a right to give my carefully considered opinion, as do you.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

davecs — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 16:27:02 GMT

Hi just got today's Micro Mart, clearly David Johnson doesn't agree with the forum members here!

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

V-600 — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 10:24:25 GMT

i voted for ubuntu.......how wrong i was. i think i must be the only person to have problems with it. don't get me wrong it is easy to use and very friendly but it won't connect to the internet and suse 10.1 will. for a begginner like me that makes suse the winner.

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

malc_wright — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 14:49:49 GMT

I voted for Suse, however I'm now moving over to Kubuntu, why?

Well in order to get useful things like MP3 play back on any mainstream linux distro, you have to search out additional repositories for the codecs not supported officially by the distro.

Now Suse came up with 'Super ' or 'Slick' with version 10. This little beauty contains Lame, Faad, Win32codec et al and was a downloadable CD. Suse 10.1 will let you use this earlier CD as an 'installation source', however it protests that the signature is 'bad'.

10.1 also declares the signatures on the additional repositories as 'bad' even though the links to them are contained on the 'OpenSuse' Web site. Now you can tick a box so you aren't constantly reminded of these 'bad' signatures, but it doesn't work.

Maybe Suse 10.2 will remove this irritation.

Until then it's Kubuntu 6.06 for me, sorry I can't vote twice it's against the rules.

Mad Malc

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

Attercop — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 19:27:28 GMT

Ubuntu is fantastic, but as i just can't get along with Gnome it's Kubuntu all the way babyyy!

RE: Your Favourite Linux Distro

DJ — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:26:01 GMT

[quote][b]GordonsNutCrab (17/08/2006)[/b][hr]lol i tried to install latest xandros on my latest rig...it didnt detect my lcd monitors refresh rate and stayed off sync and i couldnt get it installed (lol couldnt even see desktop !!!)[/quote]

There could be a couple of reasons for that. Possibly the driver for your card is significantly broken (what's the card?) but significant bugs like that don't normally last very long before they're fixed. It could also be your monitor that's buggy - Linux will talk to the monitor and ask it what modes it supports so it can autodetect the best one to use, but some buggy monitors don't properly support this and claim to support modes that they don't...