Favorite Distro

[TheNNS]

What's your favorite linux distro? tell us why.

[mikeandike22]

Obviously Ubuntu.
But I should point out that a lot of people like MEPIS not me personally buy just a suggestion for your poll.

[hollystyles]

I like Gentoo for it's flexability even shitty DELL's can run it fast cos you can really optimize the kernal in an easy way.

I like Ubuntu/kubuntu cos you can chuck it on old laptops and pc's and it's easy peasy!

[jbennet]

I like suse/ubuntu/fedora/mandriva but they hate my machines!

Got to love texstars PCLinux OS though

[mikeandike22]

Obviously Ubuntu. But I should point out that a lot of people like MEPIS not me personally buy just a suggestion for your poll.

I forgot to mention why I like Ubuntu. I like debian distros for one and also I just like the community. As for MEPIS it is also a debian distro and the latest version is actually based off of Ubuntu the only difference is that it comes with porprietary (not opensource) software and I think to install it you have to pay for it, but the livecd (simplyMEPIS) is free.

[pty]

I like ubuntu on the desktop because I like Gnome and I like having all my hardware discovered first time.

I run Redhat (well, CentOS) on my servers because I'm more familiar with it (used it since version 7.2).

[AN | Patrick]

Depending on what im using the linux distrobution for. I prefer Fedora, centOS and Debian.

[John A]

Just for kicks, you should look at the poll that was posted on Cboard:
http://cboard.cprogramming.com/showthread.php?t=81459

[1337_MilkMan]

SuSe 10.1 becuase I made some of the security scripts for it!

[Ancient Dragon]

Ubuntu may be ok for just casual users, but is terrible for c/c++ programming. I tried it on my computer, easy to install but does not include any developers tools such as GNU compilers. I now use fedora 5 which is a lot more complete. Don't know anything about the other versions of linux.

[John A]

Ubuntu may be ok for just casual users, but is terrible for c/c++ programming.

Yes, I think you're right about that. This forum may have a lot of programmers, but I think that there's a lot of "regular" users here that don't know much about programming, too.

On the CBoard poll, Gentoo and Ubuntu are tied at 19%, which suggests that programmers prefer something more powerfull.

[java_roshan]

Kubuntu. I haven't installled it yet, though. I use the LIVE CD at times. I'll buy a new HDD and install Kubuntu, in a few weeks.

[eddieduce]

I am new to Linux and have started with Ubuntu 6.0 . It seems to be a good program but what I did not like is that there is no way to use one browser for ANY type of webpage (ie- plugins).

Which is the best free Distro that supports the majority of the plugins?

I have not tested the new version of Ubuntu. I have also heard and downloaded SUSE but not tested it.

[pty]

I am new to Linux and have started with Ubuntu 6.0 . It seems to be a good program but what I did not like is that there is no way to use one browser for ANY type of webpage (ie- plugins). Which is the best free Distro that supports the majority of the plugins? I have not tested the new version of Ubuntu. I have also heard and downloaded SUSE but not tested it.

You can use most standard plugins with Ubuntu; they are not distributed because they (flash, realplayer, sun's java) are not under the GPL.

To get these 'restricted formats' working in ubuntu I suggest you have a read of this or consider using the automatix script (a script that installs flash, loads of codecs, sun java, dvd watching tools and a host of other goodies.

You will find that no 'free' distribution will package these by default however some paid for ones (linspire, suse professional, redhat enterprise, xandros etc) will do.

[John A]

It seems to be a good program but what I did not like is that there is no way to use one browser for ANY type of webpage (ie- plugins)..

What do you mean?

Firefox is one of the most popular web browsers available for Linux, and it supports a multitude of plugins: Java, RealPlayer, WMV, etc. -- even QuickTime is supported with Wine. Don't believe me? This should help you: http://yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialMozillaConfiguration.html

[eddieduce]

What do you mean? Firefox is one of the most popular web browsers available for Linux, and it supports a multitude of plugins: Java, RealPlayer, WMV, etc. -- even QuickTime is supported with Wine. Don't believe me? This should help you: http://yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialMozillaConfiguration.html

Yes. I got those installed on my machine exept for Shockwave. I was trying to find a work arround for this but as I learned more about other programs that were "capable" of showing these types of pages it semed there were other plugins that would not work.

[John A]

Yes. I got those installed on my machine exept for Shockwave. I was trying to find a work arround for this but as I learned more about other programs that were "capable" of showing these types of pages it semed there were other plugins that would not work.

Shockwave is a Windows/Mac-only plugin, so the only way to use it is to use something like Wine or Crossover Office. Crossover Office has very good support for Shockwave, and is probably the easiest and most reliable method, if you're willing to spend the money.

You can also use Wine, as described in this howto (note that you'll need the Windows version of Firefox for this to work): http://www.ubuntux.org/shockwave-player-ubuntu-linux

Hope this helps

[jbennet]

why no debian?

Oh yeah, question - xp willl be unsupported soon so im killing my dual boot and single booting linux - what i want to know is can i connect to my college VPN from it and can i run MS Access 2003 and VB6 in crossover office

[pty]

why no debian? Oh yeah, question - xp willl be unsupported soon so im killing my dual boot and single booting linux - what i want to know is can i connect to my college VPN from it and can i run MS Access 2003 and VB6 in crossover office

Windows XP support will continue until at leat 2009 for regular users and 2014 (or there abouts) for businesses.

[jbennet]

1 year after vista its critical updates only
2 years after vista comes out its unsupported (2009)

2009 is only 2.5 years away - xp came out in 2001.
The same was with NT4 - 1996 to 2004 then it got extended to 2006

Your saying xp is still ok is like someone saying NT was still ok in 2002