choosing your own distro

[imfromleix]

Looking for a linux distro then do your self a favor don't forget to have a serious look at PclinuxoS. I find it simple and straight forward. Although if you are like me, you continue looking and testing. Ubuntu is great but PclinuxoS has that something that brings me back to it. Not funded by any big Corp. but it works.

[DimaYasny]

Fedora for me. the speed of response to BZs is the best I've seen, and everything works out of the box, without trying to be like windows (like ubuntu/pclos/opensuse do)

[theemerchant]

I'd go for Kubuntu. But if you're so much accustomed to Windows and want to have that sort of feeling when using Linux, I suggest you try to use Linux Mint.

Just be sure you have an account on their forums cause I'm sure you'll experience some bugs along the way. But trust me, you'll love it.

[jbennet]

Fedora for me. the speed of response to BZs is the best I've seen, and everything works out of the box, without trying to be like windows (like ubuntu/pclos/opensuse do)

I like fedora but had a crap experience with 11. Its installer crashed constantly unless you chose the defaults (showed how little testing they did - try setting a GRUB password, then renaming an OS entry - every time it leads to a fatal error).

Also its package manager was unbelievably slow.

For me, I use Ubuntu (Karmic beta), for the reason that its up to date, easy to get installed and to get multimedia etc.. working

[ThinkFree]

I like fedora but had a crap experience with 11. Its installer crashed constantly unless you chose the defaults (showed how little testing they did - try setting a GRUB password, then renaming an OS entry - every time it leads to a fatal error).

Same experience with me. Fedora11 isn't as good as it's earlier versions.

I keep going back to ubuntu, or its lighter cousin kbuntu.

[jbennet]

Same. And Kubuntu isnt lighter (if anything, Kubuntu is heavier) - maybe you mean Xubuntu?

Yeah i meant xbuntu... however, I haven't INSTALLED a linux distro on a physical machine in ages.

I mainly use it through Vmware. God bless Vmware - the perfect test environment.

[jbennet]

You know whats awesome. Build an ubuntu (or whatever) system in a VM then use a tool called Remastersys which can create an installable livecd from a currently running system e.g i install and update ubuntu, get flash, dvd, java etc... sorted out as well as any apps i want, then rebuild it (Into a DVD iso) for install onto a physical box

use "remastersys dist"

Can you do that in a VM environment though then run disc on an actual real physical machine?

[jbennet]

Yes, thats what I did, installed then patched a system in VirtualBox and then installed the resulting image on a real machine

[blud]

That is also a way that most people (at least ones that I know) make images used for external bootable devices (DVD, USB, PXE, etc.). Make an image in Virtualbox (or VMware) then write that image to a bootable media device (in your case a hard disk).

[Crash~Override]

Ubuntu for me! I tried fedora 11 but didn't have a good first experience. I might give it a shot later on. But for now Ubuntu karmi koala is the winner for me!!!!!!!!!!

[jbennet]

fedora 11s installer is crap. Crashes all the time during partitioning, generally bricking windows in the process. fedora is so buggy.

[DimaYasny]

fedora 11s installer is crap. Crashes all the time during partitioning, generally bricking windows in the process. fedora is so buggy.

worked for me every time I ran it - on lg, hp, dell, lenovo laptops, different desktops and quite a few VMs...

what am I doing wrong? ;)

[jbennet]

worked for me every time I ran it - on lg, hp, dell, lenovo laptops, different desktops and quite a few VMs...
what am I doing wrong? ;)

On thier bugzilla there are ~200 reports about it. Crashes with python errors around 60% of the time if you try and do anything other than the defaults e.g install GRUB to another disk, set GRUB password, use LUKS encryption

[Crash~Override]

hopefully the fedora 12 which is set to release in a few days wont be as bad. I am waiting to try it out....

[DimaYasny]

There are bugs everywhere, where there is software actively developed :) if you want an OS with a small amount of bugs on your desktop, stick to RHEL Desktop edition. No bleeding edge software, but it works nicely.

[jbennet]

stick to RHEL Desktop edition. No bleeding edge software, but it works nicely.

Doesnt support my wireless card and has issues with the backlight on my laptop. And i need Office 2007 document support.

[DimaYasny]

well then, you have to take your chances with the not so well tested software.

[jbennet]

Ive just installed OpenSuse 11.2

Hated 11.1 (the package management was crap beyond belief) but 11.2 keeps all the good bits and none of the bad. Liking it so far (using GNOME btw)