Which linux distro do you use, and why?

ntomer · 6th June 2007, 11:52

Hi,

I am a born-again Linux-convert; and a big fan of Ubuntu. Earlier I had used RedHat and Fedora but came back to Windows due to many problems like un-availability of many codecs, lack of a good Office application, lack of good development IDEs on Linux etc.

But with the advent of Ubuntu, all these issues are foregone. Installing it is a breeze, it comes pre-installed with all codecs, OpenOffice has improved tremendously (alothough I haven't found a good replacement for MS Project yet), NetBeans is available for Linux and works like a charm.

Ubuntu is described as Linux for beginners; I wonder why? Is there anything, which I am missing; or using a Linux with easy UI is just uncool?

Cheers

Nitin

normally_crazy · 6th June 2007, 12:16

OT - Can I have a dual boot system with Vista and Ubuntu ? Anyone tried it yet ?

ajitkommini · 6th June 2007, 12:23

Home : Dual boot RH 2.4 kernel and Win2k
Office : WinXP sadly

DCEite · 6th June 2007, 12:24

I heard Ubuntu is being shipped for free. Anyone got links? I already got Sun Solairs DVDs for free.

ntomer · 6th June 2007, 12:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

OT - Can I have a dual boot system with Vista and Ubuntu ? Anyone tried it yet ?

My home desktop is a dual boot system with Windows XP and Ubuntu. The link from where I got the info says it will work with Vista as well.

Here is the linky - Hack Attack: How to triple-boot Windows XP, Vista, and Ubuntu - Lifehacker

Cheers

\N

zenx · 6th June 2007, 12:32

Ubuntu WAS shipping free upto edgy eft - with feisty fawn they've stopped. U could copy the disc from someone who has it tho.
I'm planning to get my dad a laptop and quietly install ubuntu + OO on it. OO's not that great but for 95% of the stuff, just works. Our entire company's using this combo.
The Synaptic pkg manager makes things far easier than on Windoze machines - plus 7.04 is wayy faster than 6.10
Tip : try using swiftfox - esp if you use a lot of extansions - not so much for speed as for reduced and controlled memory footprint.

tsk1979 · 6th June 2007, 12:42

My first distro was redhat (5 I think).
After that I tried out Redhat 6/7 before getting bored and irritated with redhat.
Tried fedora, but did not like it much. So my Redhat association is at work only mostly.

At home front it was mandrake earlier, then I discovered gentoo. Build up the entire system from scratch on my 64bit AMD, tweaked for maximum performance.

Now that motherboards dead(lasted just 3 years inspite of being ASUS). So I am no longer in linux land at home, except that sometimes I do a liveCD boot on my laptop(Knoppix).
Recently that CD went bust too.
when I build my home system now, I will dual boot into gentoo and winXP

abhibh · 6th June 2007, 14:40

I use ubuntu and keopnix but only as a Live cd to boot and stuf and not as afull operating system. As an operating system i trust only windows for my needs.

But ubuntu is a revolution to linux IMHO

ballkey · 6th June 2007, 15:10

Errm. BSD is not a Linux distro, dude

devarshi84 · 6th June 2007, 15:26

there are lots of Distributions and all are targetted towards different audience.

I would vote for xandros. It's one of the OS to be covered by microsoft protection.

hemi · 6th June 2007, 15:33

My first distro was suse 9.1.followed by Linspire and knoppix live cd's.
Recently installed Fedora Core 6..amazins OS,stable,not a resource hogger,got most used apps inbuilt but one problem...wont play any media files like mp3,dat,mpg,etc due to some patent or copyrights issues.

ntomer · 6th June 2007, 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by ballkey

Errm. BSD is not a Linux distro, dude

Yeah, BSD is Unix-like and Linux-like (as it's web-site says), but is NOT either of these ;-)

\N

mohit · 6th June 2007, 18:46

Remember installing Linux for the first time on my 486. It was Slackware - came free with PC Quest (IIRC). Now I have a Ubuntu Feisty Fawn in a virtual PC installed on my XP machine. Didn't want to re-install everything so found this shortcut that works seamlessly. In fact I run another instance of Windows XP in a virtual environment to test some stuff.

Quote:

OT - Can I have a dual boot system with Vista and Ubuntu ? Anyone tried it yet ?

Try Virtualization if you don't want to re-install everything.

mohit · 6th June 2007, 18:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by ntomer

Here is the linky - Hack Attack: How to triple-boot Windows XP, Vista, and Ubuntu - Lifehacker
\N

Thanks a ton! This looks promising. Will definitely give it a shot to see if I can get it running.

revvedup · 6th June 2007, 19:06

First linux os I tried was slax followed by dynebolic(very nice multimedia os with a pleothra of software bundled along with it) ,fedora and ubuntu.I liked slax and dynebolic more than the others although I have tried them using their live cd's only. I recently received three ubuntu fiesty fawn cd's(two 32 bit and one 64 bit) from cannonical limited.I can send you any one of these if you want or you can get one for yourself free from https://shipit.ubuntu.com/ The features which linux offers are better than any paid os like windows and yet it requires less hardware resources,it is also free and best of all you can contribute to the code and customise it.There is nothing that beats linux.I still wonder why people say wow when they hear V***TA.

Vaise which one do you prefer Gimp or Photoshop.

View Poll Results: Which Linux distro you use, and why?
Ubuntu/Kubuntu	115	61.83%
Mandriva	2	1.08%
Debian	14	7.53%
Gentoo	4	2.15%
Red Hat	37	19.89%
Slackware	6	3.23%
SuSE	16	8.60%
TurboLinux	0	0%
BSD	7	3.76%
Any other	24	12.90%
Fedora	28	15.05%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 186. You may not vote on this poll

6th June 2007, 11:52	#1
ntomer BHPian Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Vancouver Posts: 647 Thanked: 144 Times	Which linux distro do you use, and why? Hi, I am a born-again Linux-convert; and a big fan of Ubuntu. Earlier I had used RedHat and Fedora but came back to Windows due to many problems like un-availability of many codecs, lack of a good Office application, lack of good development IDEs on Linux etc. But with the advent of Ubuntu, all these issues are foregone. Installing it is a breeze, it comes pre-installed with all codecs, OpenOffice has improved tremendously (alothough I haven't found a good replacement for MS Project yet), NetBeans is available for Linux and works like a charm. Ubuntu is described as Linux for beginners; I wonder why? Is there anything, which I am missing; or using a Linux with easy UI is just uncool? Cheers Nitin Last edited by ntomer : 6th June 2007 at 11:58.
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6th June 2007, 12:16	#2
normally_crazy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 4,305 Thanked: 543 Times View My Garage	OT - Can I have a dual boot system with Vista and Ubuntu ? Anyone tried it yet ?
	() Thanks

6th June 2007, 12:23	#3
ajitkommini BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 488 Thanked: 124 Times	Home : Dual boot RH 2.4 kernel and Win2k Office : WinXP sadly
	() Thanks

6th June 2007, 12:24	#4
DCEite Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: NCR Posts: 3,588 Thanked: 3,483 Times	I heard Ubuntu is being shipped for free. Anyone got links? I already got Sun Solairs DVDs for free.
	() Thanks

6th June 2007, 12:32	#6
zenx Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,164 Thanked: 162 Times View My Garage	Ubuntu WAS shipping free upto edgy eft - with feisty fawn they've stopped. U could copy the disc from someone who has it tho. I'm planning to get my dad a laptop and quietly install ubuntu + OO on it. OO's not that great but for 95% of the stuff, just works. Our entire company's using this combo. The Synaptic pkg manager makes things far easier than on Windoze machines - plus 7.04 is wayy faster than 6.10 Tip : try using swiftfox - esp if you use a lot of extansions - not so much for speed as for reduced and controlled memory footprint.
	() Thanks

6th June 2007, 12:42	#7
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,688 Thanked: 23,489 Times View My Garage	My first distro was redhat (5 I think). After that I tried out Redhat 6/7 before getting bored and irritated with redhat. Tried fedora, but did not like it much. So my Redhat association is at work only mostly. At home front it was mandrake earlier, then I discovered gentoo. Build up the entire system from scratch on my 64bit AMD, tweaked for maximum performance. Now that motherboards dead(lasted just 3 years inspite of being ASUS). So I am no longer in linux land at home, except that sometimes I do a liveCD boot on my laptop(Knoppix). Recently that CD went bust too. when I build my home system now, I will dual boot into gentoo and winXP
	() Thanks

6th June 2007, 14:40	#8
abhibh Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Back in the HOOD near you! Posts: 2,768 Thanked: 39 Times	I use ubuntu and keopnix but only as a Live cd to boot and stuf and not as afull operating system. As an operating system i trust only windows for my needs. But ubuntu is a revolution to linux IMHO
	() Thanks

6th June 2007, 15:10	#9
ballkey BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Chennai Posts: 439 Thanked: 84 Times	Errm. BSD is not a Linux distro, dude
	() Thanks

6th June 2007, 15:26	#10
devarshi84 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Ahmedabad - Tor Posts: 4,024 Thanked: 213 Times View My Garage	there are lots of Distributions and all are targetted towards different audience. I would vote for xandros. It's one of the OS to be covered by microsoft protection.
	() Thanks

6th June 2007, 15:33	#11
hemi BHPian Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Mysore Posts: 62 Thanked: 0 Times	My first distro was suse 9.1.followed by Linspire and knoppix live cd's. Recently installed Fedora Core 6..amazins OS,stable,not a resource hogger,got most used apps inbuilt but one problem...wont play any media files like mp3,dat,mpg,etc due to some patent or copyrights issues.
	() Thanks

6th June 2007, 19:06	#15
revvedup BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Delhi Posts: 269 Thanked: 24 Times	First linux os I tried was slax followed by dynebolic(very nice multimedia os with a pleothra of software bundled along with it) ,fedora and ubuntu.I liked slax and dynebolic more than the others although I have tried them using their live cd's only. I recently received three ubuntu fiesty fawn cd's(two 32 bit and one 64 bit) from cannonical limited.I can send you any one of these if you want or you can get one for yourself free from https://shipit.ubuntu.com/ The features which linux offers are better than any paid os like windows and yet it requires less hardware resources,it is also free and best of all you can contribute to the code and customise it.There is nothing that beats linux.I still wonder why people say wow when they hear V**TA. Vaise which one do you prefer Gimp or Photoshop. Last edited by revvedup : 6th June 2007 at 19:11.*
	() Thanks