[TwinQY]

Would you be using Lunar Linux then?
 
If so, then you'd definitely rank in the world's top five...

 

[Silent One]

  Would you be using Lunar Linux then?
 
If so, then you'd definitely rank in the world's top five...

 

 I only learned of it with your mention. So, what is this group claiming... 33% more what, exactly? Have you checked 'em out? Like 'em?

 

[TwinQY]

So it's an offshoot of Sorcerer Linux, back in the day that was a really novel source-based distro, think they're still around. 
 
In Lunar, modules are "ebuilds" in a sense, and the moonbase is similar to the portage tree. It's just a different approach to source distros, so rather than political differences, it all has to do with implementation.
 
It's alright. I still use Exherbo because it walks that fine line between the holistic approach like Gentoo, and the granular, but down-to-earth simpleness of Crux/Lunar.

 

[Silent One]

I am green, lacking all kinds of keyboard wizardry. Have no idea which one to jump in to for general computing. Previously, I only played around with a half dozen distros to check out music players/servers.
 
A lot that stuff was pre-packaged and had almost a Win7 feel to it. So, I didn't worry about what I didn't know. 
 
Well...
 
...until I met my supercharged linux using members here.

 Now I wanna be startin' somethin' and learnin'! 

 

[TwinQY]

When in doubt - something like a Debian/CentOS base would be a nice start. Lots of support, transparent enough that you can get down and dirty if you wish, but you can choose to avoid the complexity as well. Of course YMMV, this is just what I've noticed from other people's experiences with their first serious-usage distros.
 
Of course, nothing wrong with a little Xubuntu. I'd start from scratch and do a minimal network install myself, a fantastic setup.

 

[Silent One]

I still have Xubuntu and a few others cluttering up my HDD along side Win7. Thinking about a clean re-install of Win7 and Linux...

 

[TwinQY]

Forgive my particularly short memory span - what had been the turning point with Xubuntu again? It's Gnome-y but it's not that bad.

 

[proton007]

I still have Xubuntu and a few others cluttering up my HDD along side Win7. Thinking about a clean re-install of Win7 and Linux...

For a relatively painless system an Ubuntu-flavor or Mint would do great.
Others have a learning curve.

 

[Silent One]

   
For a relatively painless system an Ubuntu-flavor or Mint would do great.
Others have a learning curve.

 
I have Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu and another one (can't remember the name) on the HDD and Mint installed on a SDCard. All the installing, un-installing, re-installing kinda mucked things up a bit. Have not used any of 'em in about 18 months.
 
A new start in November...

 

[suicidal_orange]

Yeah you definitely need a fresh start - you'd have to upgrade to every new version since you used it (around every April and October) which would take longer than downloading and installing the latest version.
 
If you've tried all the *ubuntu-s why not try another distro for a change?  Fedora and Suse also have very friendly installers so should install without issue.  Though if you really want to understand Linux Arch would be a good option as it forces you to manually run commands to enable things and edit config files, but doesn't take hours to install like Gentoo or Lunar.  Just don't install the Cinnamon desktop!

 

[TwinQY]

I've subscribed to the belief that most network minimal installs for any distro will force you onto manual configuration, although I realize that there's a mythos attached to Arch and it's why people argue for the appeal.
 
Hey, I've got stage3 installs down under 40 minutes as a habit, usually. Just mess around with the kernel after the install, meanwhile enable everything under the sun, cuts down on config time.
Actually for whatever reason, file transfer while boostrapping with Arch took longer on the Lifebook than a full-on install of Exherbo (since it DLs the system tarball), now those are sad USB transfer speeds o.o Would have network installed with Arch but the Atheros wireless card (and I do mean actual card that's how old this thing is) would not start while it worked aces on Exherbo hmm.

 

[Silent One]

Interesting... will have a look!

 

[suicidal_orange]

  I've subscribed to the belief that most network minimal installs for any distro will force you onto manual configuration, although I realize that there's a mythos attached to Arch and it's why people argue for the appeal.
 
Hey, I've got stage3 installs down under 40 minutes as a habit, usually. Just mess around with the kernel after the install, meanwhile enable everything under the sun, cuts down on config time.
Actually for whatever reason, file transfer while boostrapping with Arch took longer on the Lifebook than a full-on install of Exherbo (since it DLs the system tarball), now those are sad USB transfer speeds o.o Would have network installed with Arch but the Atheros wireless card (and I do mean actual card that's how old this thing is) would not start while it worked aces on Exherbo hmm.

I'm not attached to Arch at all but damn near all the other package based distros (Slackware excluded) seem to be aiming for "user friendliness" these days, so the Arch install was refreshing.
 
Exherbo is a strange one - it's not even on distrowatch!  Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places which is why I'm not finding what I want.  Will have to give it a go over the weekend

 

[TwinQY]

Debian just gave me a "noob" slap in the face for doing something too noob-like - I think the underlyings are alive and well, minimal network installs usually get rid of the gaudy trappings.
At least those usual bootstrap-installers are simple to get the hang of - stuff like FreeBSD, or ultra-convoluted bootstraps like Bedrock and Aboriginal, those got on my nerves last week, and all I wanted to do was install the former to ZFS...
 
They're against propagating their existence, it made a huge stink a while back, as well as them leaving Gentoo land in bad taste. Not to mention they're in a constant state of development. If you do decide to install, keep in mind that there's little to no documentation (they're working on that, but the original intent was against documentation because they wanted you to talk it out with them and help develop). So why go Exherbo? Paludis and its build system is nicely integrated, a lot of the base system started from a blank plate, their ebuilds are...well...Anyways, it's there, it's fun to try, I kept to it, you might not, who knows.
 
Right now, I'm waiting for Alpine to fully move onto musl, playing around with Bedrock since Sabotage insists on not working.

 

[proton007]

Arch *used to* be easier for beginners to pick up. But the recent changes have pushed it into the harder category.  Still, its not very difficult. The most confusing part was UEFI. A successful install doesn't guarantee the system will boot, because there are boot settings to change in UEFI.
 
The best I've found so far in terms of learning is LFS, but it needs a lot of time and reading. A faster machine helps A LOT. You'll get some gray hair but lots of knowledge.
 
For a completely different experience, Elementary OS is also one of the options. Looks very clean and minimalist.
 
Maybe some day I'll give FreeBSD a try.