• What distro do you use and why?
    134 replies, posted
I'm a first time poster in linux forum. I've been using Windows all my life and I'm curious as to why some people use linux instead. There would be many reasons why linux might be more suitable, but for you, what was it that made you make the move to linux? And why that particular distro?
I use Arch or Archbang. I prefer Arch based distros because I prefer to set everything up myself.
Ubuntu. It may sound funny, but once you've got it set up everything is just so much simpler. The only drawback imo is the lack of games.
Arch on a spare laptop of mine because it's good honest nerdy fun.
Arch or a minimal Debian netinstall, so I pick what I want and don't want, and set things up how I want them without hassle
I love Arch because it leaves everything up to me. I am in full control of my system.
I use gentoo because I don't get out much and need a timesink
KraffsLinux, because I'm trying to learn how linux works. [img]http://imgur.com/2BRjR.jpg[/img]
Crunchbang, because I am horribly in love with both Debian and sexy desktops, and Crunchbang has lots of awesome stuff pre-installed and a great window manager.
Arch if I need something set up quickly, Gentoo if I have the time.
Arch, I like knowing my way around my system.
[QUOTE=kraffslol;32081342]KraffsLinux, because I'm trying to learn how linux works.[/QUOTE]A google search doesn't bring anything up for "KraffsLinux", care to link it? Or is it something custom you made, given your signature vs. the name of the distro?
Currently, Fedora because it has Gnome 3 and I didn't feel like installing Arch. I've also used: Ubuntu, because it's easy with some cool exclusive utilities Arch, for the good nerdy fun and drunken sense of absolute power Crunchbang, for the sexy Openbox setup Debian (minimal net-install), for the same sense of power, but with apt
Thank you all for suggestions. I've looked up all the distros you guys mentioned, they look sexy! I really want one now. Can you suggest some distros that would be good for my needs? [URL="http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/notebook/0000/Acer/Aspire5610/Aspire5610sp2.shtml"]1. Smoothly run with this shitty laptop.[/URL] 2. Easy installation and uninstallation. I installed Ubuntu once on my labtop and fucked me up big time with "grub error" or something. 3. Natively support dual-boot. I heard Ubuntu does this. Correct me if I am wrong. 4. Sexy looking desktop 5. Good driver support. I don't know how to write drivers. 6. Easily set up wireless network and connect to internet 7. I don't game at all, so doesn't matter if it supports games. 8. I'll mostly use it for just watching movies, surfing net, programming ruby on rails. 9. Really easy set up overall. I don't want to look up internet hours and hours trying to sound card working, change screen resolution etc. Everything Easy would be nice. Thank you.
There's Zorin OS. It has a nice Windows 7 feel. [url]http://zorin-os.com/[/url] I also like Linux Mint. It's very easy to use. [url]http://www.linuxmint.com/[/url]
1. I'll skip this because the specs are good enough to run Linux in general 2. The distros that I know that have an easy installation process are Ubuntu and Linux Mint (there are several others as well). 3. Every OS supports dual-booting (that part of the booting process isn't part of the OS), you can set it up to have 5 linux distros and 2 Windows if you really wanted to. 4. The great thing about Linux is you have enough customisability to create your own sexy looking desktop. 5. Drivers are a bit different in Linux. I've got a link below that has more information. Also, you don't have to write your own drivers. 6. Wireless might take a bit of tweaking to do (some aspects of it are a little sketchy) but it shouldn't be hard to look up problems if any occurs. 7. Support for games is on the limited side for Linux anyways. It's getting better though. 8. There's a few video players, browsers available so you have a good choice. Linux also supports Ruby. 9. It's fairly easy to set up after you've done it a few times. One thing to note is it will take you a while for the first few times installing because it's a learning experience. After setting everything up and functionality works, the only real set up things you'll do is making things look better as well as installing packages that meet your needs. One key thing to note are every linux distro is the same OS, so if it runs on one distro, it'll run on another. The only real difference between distros is the package manager and the set-up process (which varies in difficulty). [url=http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/index.php/2006/12/04/i_m_an_experienced_windows_user_get_me_o]Here's some pretty good info to show you some key differences between things.[/url]
I don't like Zorin OS. It's just stripped-down Ubuntu with Gnome 2 with some themeing software slapped on top. The best choice for you is Ubuntu. It is a very complete distro. The Software Center lets you both browse the repository and buy proprietary software, like games, directly from the desktop. You also get Ubuntu's cloud storage service (Ubuntu One), the Ubuntu One Music Store, etc. If you don't like the default desktop, you can install whatever you like alongside Unity, like KDE (kubuntu-desktop package iirc). But you may disagree with me. Pretty much anything will fulfill those requirements. Heck, all of the drivers the average man needs are packaged in with the kernel. You could be like me and get Fedora, or you could do LMDE (a rolling-release (constant updates, no version number) version of Linux Mint). It's your choice. The core of all of these are the same, and most of them have all of the same desktop environments.
[QUOTE=Chezhead;32081802]Crunchbang, because I am horribly in love with both Debian and sexy desktops, and Crunchbang has lots of awesome stuff pre-installed and a great window manager.[/QUOTE] Crunchbang is awesome.
[QUOTE=Chezhead;32084803]A google search doesn't bring anything up for "KraffsLinux", care to link it? Or is it something custom you made, given your signature vs. the name of the distro?[/QUOTE] I'ts my own compiled from scratch GNU/Linux :>
[QUOTE=ASmellyOgre;32085968]I don't like Zorin OS. It's just stripped-down Ubuntu with Gnome 2 with some themeing software slapped on top. The best choice for you is Ubuntu. It is a very complete distro. The Software Center lets you both browse the repository and buy proprietary software, like games, directly from the desktop. You also get Ubuntu's cloud storage service (Ubuntu One), the Ubuntu One Music Store, etc. If you don't like the default desktop, you can install whatever you like alongside Unity, like KDE (kubuntu-desktop package iirc). But you may disagree with me. Pretty much anything will fulfill those requirements. Heck, all of the drivers the average man needs are packaged in with the kernel. You could be like me and get Fedora, or you could do LMDE (a rolling-release (constant updates, no version number) version of Linux Mint). It's your choice. The core of all of these are the same, and most of them have all of the same desktop environments.[/QUOTE] True, true. But I personally think it's perfect for long term PC users (Like my younger siblings).
[QUOTE=kraffslol;32091055]I'ts my own compiled from scratch GNU/Linux :>[/QUOTE]as in gentoo or as in lfs
[QUOTE=benc1213;32088030]Crunchbang is awesome.[/QUOTE] It sure is. [editline]3rd September 2011[/editline] I would actually recommend it to the OP. The graphical install is just as easy as Ubuntu, I had no troubles whatsoever with it. It has a very sexy desktop, has lots of awesome stuff in the install from the start, and runs smooth. I haven't had any problems with it yet, and I've been web browsing, watching anime, graphics editing, IRC chatting, adding languages, and such.
[QUOTE=ButtsexV17;32095731]as in gentoo or as in lfs[/QUOTE] As in lfs
I'd like to try lfs sometime. It would make a pretty neat project.
I installed lfs in a VM once but I didn't really have the time to maintain it. I probably could have made life easier by installing a package manager but why spoil all the fun
[QUOTE=kraffslol;32098904]As in lfs[/QUOTE] I was seening if I can do lfs as a senior project. I hope I can.
[QUOTE=BrainDeath;32077952]Arch on a spare laptop of mine because it's good honest nerdy fun.[/QUOTE] ^ THIS ^ Also, I'm a control freak.
Debian Squeeze on my main laptop & server Usually run the same on my other servers depending on my mood. I use them for 2 reasons: Stable if you know what you are doing + I'm used to them - have been using them since... damn.. can't even remember when I first started using debian.. like 8 years ago?
Fedora 17, when I'm feeling adventurous! Because it doesn't make sense not to live on the edge and be using the newest and most awesome stuff! At least, not until it crashes. But it's usually fixable. I love it here! :D
I use a minimal debian netinstall on my old Thinkpad for basic stuff. It is usually just used to test stuff out so I often reinstall everything to start from scratch when I'm done with a project. My primary laptop usually dual boots Windows and some random distro. For the time being it is running Arch which runs really great after they released the new install disk.
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