[nelamvr6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hase /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'll throw in my two cents as well. I started in 1999 with Mandrake, switched to Gentoo and now run Debian/Ubuntu all over. I might be switching to Debian on everything because I am tired of Ubuntu updates breaking things. (I just broke sound upgrading to 7.10.)

Check out Linux Mint!

The Mint Update tool will vet all updates, you won't ever break your system by updating!

You can check it out here: Linux Mint

 

[iggee85]

Have used Fedora, SuSE and Gentoo in the past until I found Ubuntu. Quit Fedora and SuSE because of RPM dependency hell. Gentoo was great but I spent too much time fiddling with it. Then I tried Breezy on a whim (I was slightly pessimistic) and stuck with it ever since.
I find it really great for the desktop as long as you have linux friendly hardware.

 

[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OverlordXenu /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ubuntu is NOT a server OS. It is a desktop OS for people who want a simpler Linux. Personally, I use Debian or RedHat on my servers. (Web servers, databases, etc.) Also, I can't really see how people can use Linux for listening to music...Foobar is just too perfect.

Ubuntu is pretty Debian with regular updates. It too can be a server OS though personally I would roll my own or install openbsd.

As for listening to music...quodlibet, Listen, Amarok or Songbird, any of these work well, but if one LUSTS after foobar, just install it, Wine runs it fine.

 

[Basil101]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chu /img/forum/go_quote.gif I asked this in another thread but didn't get much of a response I am looking for an extreemly bare bones linux distro, pretty much the bare minimun I need to avoid having to bootstrap a compiler (i.e. probably just gcc + kernel + bash). Does such a distro exist? Google isn't helping much because of the distro of the same name.

This tiny distro fits entirely on a floppy drive; OS on a Floppy
Damn Small Linux and Puppy are two more very small distros (<100MB).
If that doesn't suit you could build your own distro;
Welcome to Linux From Scratch!

EDIT; List of small distros;
Small Unix

 

[Fitz]

Slackware now and forever. At one point or another I've tried SUSE, Red Hat, Debian, Mandrake, and Linux From Scratch, but I always came back to Slackware in no time at all.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I've stuck with Red Hat/Fedora since RH 7.3. There's just a comfort level with it and it has served me well.

I've used Ubuntu on a few occasions and thought it good. We put my mother on it several months back and that's going well. Love her, but she is completely computer illiterate. She even gets nervous turning it on and off. If anything says Linux is ready for prime time, it is this.

 

[progo]

I play with Gentoo. My desktop has it. My server has it. To be honest a Ubuntu or Debian would be a bit better on desk, but what the heck, this works as well. Gentoo is the first real dive into the linux world and I think it's the best possible: you get to know these little OS details more quick than with most of the other distros.

And the handbook is very clear and nicely written.

 

[Daveze]

I've had run-ins with Fedora, Ubuntu, Xubuntu and DSL: all of which were met with minimal success, all of which were my fault.

I tried installing the above on my crudbox PII, I could get the first two to run, until I tried installing a wireless card that seemed to be impossible to install (problematic chipset). Now it has major issues, courtesy of only achieving most of the wireless card installation, it now crashes at the point when it tries to get the wireless card happening during boot-up.

I'm no longer a poor uni student, bound to twiddling time away on the crudbox. I intend to dispose of crudbox and replace it with some form of tricked-out-box, that'll function as music/entertainment, at that point I'll revisit Linux...

 

[Arainach]

Quote:

Originally Posted by progo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I play with Gentoo. My desktop has it. My server has it. To be honest a Ubuntu or Debian would be a bit better on desk, but what the heck, this works as well. Gentoo is the first real dive into the linux world and I think it's the best possible: you get to know these little OS details more quick than with most of the other distros. And the handbook is very clear and nicely written.

Watching code fly by compiling doesn't teach you anything.

I used Gentoo for quite a few years. And to be honest if I could be given a machine with Linux installed to use and administer, it'd be my first choice. But I'm so sick of the install process, so I've moved completely to Ubuntu.

 

[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif We put my mother on it several months back and that's going well. Love her, but she is completely computer illiterate. She even gets nervous turning it on and off. If anything says Linux is ready for prime time, it is this.

Wow how interesting! Good stuff for you mum and fantastic that it is working out for her. For the last few months my jobs have been really moving away from "windows-centric" software and I find myself using Leopard for school and Ubuntu 7.10 for all my home stuff.

I'm contemplating trying out Gentoo when I get a new hdd just for kicks, but Windows seems to be moving further and further away from my daily task solutions. Photo editing is really the only place I personally feel Windows has it all. PS CS3/Lightroom is a very nice system for me, and I'm willing to reboot just to handle my family memories.

 

[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arainach /img/forum/go_quote.gif I used Gentoo for quite a few years. And to be honest if I could be given a machine with Linux installed to use and administer, it'd be my first choice. But I'm so sick of the install process, so I've moved completely to Ubuntu.

What about the performance benefits of rolling your own? It has been a long time since I've rolled my own, 8 years maybe? Anyhow, since Debian was on the scene I have been an avid fan but then Ubuntu came along and really polished the desktop experience with its prompt updates. For a server, I would use OpenBSD first, if I had to go linux I would go Debian Stable, but for desktop/workstation I do want some eyecandy that is both pretty and very functional. KDE 4, Gnome/Compiz seem to be really close to getting at the finesse that Tiger and Leopard have (even though some aspects of the former outpace the latter, but Apple seems to do it better overall).

Still, I wonder if optimizing everything again, with Gentoo would increase performance on the desktop to warrant the time compiling? With the new quad core systems, I can't seem compiling taking that long.

 

[Chu]

Gentoo improving performance is a bit of a myth.

Also, there is a reason that people don't use aggressive compiler flags by default -- they're buggy and the resultant binary needs to be tested. I've had trivial school projects in college break when using crazy optimizations (with both Sun and Gnu compilers) with clean code, I can't imagine compiling an entire distro using them.

 

[Honken]

Not to mention that it takes AGES to compile stuff compared to binary stuff. IF there was a performance gain in Gentoo, it'd still feel slow because of that.

 

[Arainach]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zanth /img/forum/go_quote.gif What about the performance benefits of rolling your own? It has been a long time since I've rolled my own, 8 years maybe? Anyhow, since Debian was on the scene I have been an avid fan but then Ubuntu came along and really polished the desktop experience with its prompt updates. For a server, I would use OpenBSD first, if I had to go linux I would go Debian Stable, but for desktop/workstation I do want some eyecandy that is both pretty and very functional. KDE 4, Gnome/Compiz seem to be really close to getting at the finesse that Tiger and Leopard have (even though some aspects of the former outpace the latter, but Apple seems to do it better overall). Still, I wonder if optimizing everything again, with Gentoo would increase performance on the desktop to warrant the time compiling? With the new quad core systems, I can't seem compiling taking that long.

99.9% of your programs' execution time is spent idle waiting for human input. Program speed really isn't that much of an issue. Any tiny performance gains, even in programs you use every day, will be far outweighed by waiting hours on long compile jobs.

 

[c0mfortably_numb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chu /img/forum/go_quote.gif Gentoo improving performance is a bit of a myth. Also, there is a reason that people don't use aggressive compiler flags by default -- they're buggy and the resultant binary needs to be tested. I've had trivial school projects in college break when using crazy optimizations (with both Sun and Gnu compilers) with clean code, I can't imagine compiling an entire distro using them.

Gentoo was a huge PITA (for me at least), if anyone is attempting to install it make sure you don't have an insane gf/bf. A couple years ago I was 2 days into the install and my now ex decided that the computer was to noisy went over and shut the computer off

I come out from the shower and I was like what happened to the computer?! Needless to say I wasted 2 days for nothing, I finally got it up a few days later but the it definitely wasn't worth the hype, o and one update broke the whole install

Ubuntu seems to run great even though it's not really a roll it your self distro, I've also played around with Freebsd. I would go with Freebsd before I ever try Gentoo again.