Choosing linux distro

[leolaw]

I have started using linux last summer but due to working environment, i was forced to use windows. But to make the story short, my comptuer recently have inflected with virus, so i need to reformat my comptuer, and I am considering switching back to linux again.

Do you know which distro I should use at this point of time? I was using Red Hat 9 before that.

Any suggestion would help.
Thx !

 

[P0ldy]

No, it's difficult to say.

 

[thelamer]

Ubuntu in general you can pick your speciality port of ubuntu from there . And I don't wanna get flamed for saying this but ubuntu is probally the most user friendly distro out there .

 

[sourceninja]

ubuntu is great for getting a system up and working and they keep the packages fairly current. Plus it uses apt for package managment which to me is much better then rpms. But, if you liked redhat, you might concider fedora core 4. Its a really nice setup, and its very current and stable.

 

[stonecold3169]

ubuntu is a godsend. I have a system with Gentoo, Ubuntu, and WinXP pro on it and I use Ubuntu the most. Gentoo is nice, and similar in function to ubuntu actually (based on teh debian core), but the time taken to compile all emerged software is much higher then the very marginal performance gains. I love my ubuntu.

 

[nweaver]

hardcore gentoo user, I would say that compiling from source does not give any benefits. I would give a thumbs up to Ubuntu, finally installed it. Haven't used it much, but it was an easy install, and seems pretty nice.

 

[shud]

Any version of mythTV available for ubuntu?

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: shud
Any version of mythTV available for ubuntu?

mythTV is in the ubuntu repositories, unfortunetly it's the version that came out before the current one because the plugins are apparently not compatable in debian (the plugins for the current version). Some users on the forums found some workarounds though. Check out www.ubuntuforums.org , the best community I have ever found.

 

[GhettoFob]

Originally posted by: nweaver
hardcore gentoo user, I would say that compiling from source does not give any benefits. I would give a thumbs up to Ubuntu, finally installed it. Haven't used it much, but it was an easy install, and seems pretty nice.

agreed, just got my free cds from them to pass around to my friends

 

[Zelmo3]

I'm going to recommend Debian. I had both my laptop and desktop running Sarge for a while, then recently switched the laptop to Ubuntu. Sarge had an easier installer, and now that I'm using them both side-by-side I see no reason to change the desktop to Ubuntu. They're pretty much the same.
If this is for your home computer, I'd go with Debian Etch, the current testing distribution. It'll be more up-to-date than Sarge.

 

[Pabster]

Ask 100 Linux gurus what distro is the "best" you may well get 100 different (unique) responses.

Personally? I like a few distros. Knoppix (which has an awesome Myth-ready install, KnoppMYTH by the way), Fedora (4), Gentoo, and Mandriva (formerly Mandrake).

Ubuntu doesn't impress me a bit.

 

[leolaw]

hey guys, thx for replying.
Since that i have never used ubutu, i think i will give it a shot.

Let me try it tonight, and see how it is

 

[Brazen]

I personally like Fedora Core. I've never used ubuntu, but I have dabbled with a few distros and they all seem to work the same, so I don't know why ubuntu would be easier.

I do like the redhat config programs the come with Fedora and the easy installs with yum. It is also incredibly easy to install the OS, even if you don't know what you are doing. It is highly supported, with development and with an active user community. Check out fedorafaq.org, fedoraforum.org, or the homepage fedora.redhat.com

 

[Nothinman]

I personally like Fedora Core. I've never used ubuntu, but I have dabbled with a few distros and they all seem to work the same, so I don't know why ubuntu would be easier.

There's a lot more available in the basic Ubuntu repositories than in FC, enabling universe and multiverse gets you over 16,000 packages.

 

[daniel49]

Originally posted by: nweaver
hardcore gentoo user, I would say that compiling from source does not give any benefits. I would give a thumbs up to Ubuntu, finally installed it. Haven't used it much, but it was an easy install, and seems pretty nice.

cool yours finally arrived maybe mine will soon I sent for it shortly after you did I believe...beginning to think they forgot me

 

[edwardtsai]

Hi,

I am looking for comparisons of the major Linux *server* distros (such as a side-by-side comparison).

Do you have any articles you can recommend (an article covering windows, redhat, mac os x, hpux, and other major/interesting oses would be great!)

Thanks.

-Edward

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

I personally like Fedora Core. I've never used ubuntu, but I have dabbled with a few distros and they all seem to work the same, so I don't know why ubuntu would be easier.

There's a lot more available in the basic Ubuntu repositories than in FC, enabling universe and multiverse gets you over 16,000 packages.

Definately Ubuntu should be at the top of anybody's list.

Personally I prefer Debian, but Debian usually requires some customization and specific package installation to be useable as a desktop. Ubuntu is easier to get going, although they have nagging details (improvements) that annoy me.

With Ubuntu's extra repositories setup you get access to all the software that Debian supports, which is considurable. You can't go wrong there.

Originally posted by: edwardtsai
Hi,

I am looking for comparisons of the major Linux *server* distros (such as a side-by-side comparison).

Do you have any articles you can recommend (an article covering windows, redhat, mac os x, hpux, and other major/interesting oses would be great!)

Thanks.

-Edward

Probably be best to google for all that. I don't know of any specific comparisions.

Personally I feel, at the current time, the only ones worth seriously considuring would be:
Debian, Ubuntu, Slackware, Redhat (or free version like CentOS or Whitehat), Suse for Linux versions and then FreeBSD and OpenBSD for the *BSDs, and Windows 2000 pro or Windows XP pro for windows.

Most everything else is fairly worthless. HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, etc is all not worth the time of day unless you need them in a professional context. Even windows itself is fairly supsect if it wasn't for the fact that it's a requirement for commonly used software. Probably OpenSolaris in a year or two would be worth looking at.

The Linux distros closely mirror each other in capabitlies and performance.. they all use the same software it's just packaged or presented differently. The software repositories of Debian/Ubuntu make them very attractive. All the software (the 16,000+ packages) is pre-compiled and tested and there is lots of documentation on them.