Updated: Which Linux distro are you currently using?

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: Hyperblaze
question for you, what purpose does the "spare box" serve?

I used to have 6 myself and donated 2 to a friend of mine. I just had no room for it.

While I do work professionally with computers, I still need to keep my place some what date - presentable.

Spare box is mostly for if friends come over and LAN play, then I can run dedicated game servers on it, or one person doesn't have to bring their own box. Also, I take it to LAN parties rather than my main rig .. (it's in an Antec Solo and it's much smaller and lighter than my main rig) I guess "lan box" would be a better name for it ...

I also keep extra copies of any important files on it in case I should loose a drive .... much more convenient than restoring from DVDRs or CDRs ...

as far as keeping the place presentable ...
I have no more than 2 computers in any one room.
Also, the firewall doesn't have a monitor, keyboard, or mouse. The HTPC hides in my stereo cabinet, with only a keyboard and mouse in my living room hinting that there's a computer in there. The laptop can be tucked under my coffee table and out of site.

It's not like you walk into my house and see computer hardware all over the place ... (though my spare bedroom is "hardware all over the place" land ...)

EDIT: one other mention, I keep an extra 120GB drive in the "spare box" ... so if/when I feel like screwing around with a new OS ... I usually play with it on that box first .. so it doesn't interrupt anything else I am doing on any of my other boxes.
I also used to use it for VPN to do some work when on call (though now they just want me to use the company provided laptops for all working from home off hours.)

Also, as far as Donating boxes is concerned. I donate 1 or 2 boxes every year to family members. Typically, I upgrade my main box at least once per year, sometimes twice in a year ... and I give the "old" parts to family.
My cousin has a decent Barton 2500+ system that I gave him, my mom has an Athlon xp 1800+ system that I gave her, A friend at work has an old 700mhz Athlon system that I had originally gave to my grandmother as an upgrade to a P75 that I gave her a LONG time ago (that was an upgrade from a 486 DX 33 that an uncle gave her.) An uncle has my old celeron 533 system (I gave it to my cousin several years ago, before I gave him the barton.)

Sure some of those boxes are pretty old today, but compared to what they had before, they were huge upgrades ...

I don't keep extra machines that get no use here ... I only keep 1 machine that gets very low use ...

 

[Podolak]

Originally posted by: Brazen
It's amazing just a year or so ago, Fedora/CentOS would be neck-and-neck with Debian/Ubuntu, and before that the numbers would have been the opposite of what they are now. How things have changed! I'm a contributor to that change

For a while now I've noticed how much ground Ubuntu has gained. I'm just happy more and more are getting into Linux. I am still a supporter of Red Hat / Fedora Core. I started out with Red Hat 5.2 that I actually purchased from the store. My friend and I split the cost, he kept the book, I kept the disk (I still have the disk). I have tried many different distros and I will say that Ubuntu is an excellent rendition of Linux but for me, as HyperBlaze said..."Everyone has their own preferences" and mine is FC.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: Podolak

Originally posted by: Brazen
It's amazing just a year or so ago, Fedora/CentOS would be neck-and-neck with Debian/Ubuntu, and before that the numbers would have been the opposite of what they are now. How things have changed! I'm a contributor to that change

For a while now I've noticed how much ground Ubuntu has gained. I'm just happy more and more are getting into Linux. I am still a supporter of Red Hat / Fedora Core. I started out with Red Hat 5.3 that I actually purchased from the store. My friend and I split the cost, he kept the book, I kept the disk (I still have the disk). I have tried many different distros and I will say that Ubuntu is an excellent rendition of Linux but for me, as HyperBlaze said..."Everyone has their own preferences" and mine is FC.

Oh yeah, I can definately understand why people would like FC or Redhat/CentOS. I myself didn't switch until pretty late. I've learned the nuances for each camp, so at this point I could pretty much use either one, and I do check out what is going on with the new Fedora and Redhat releases. And there are some things in Fedora that I wish Ubuntu was more like, and vice versa, and the same for CentOS/Debian. Overall I like Debian/Ubuntu better, but you just have to decide which one more closely matches what you want.

So yeah I can see why some people would prefer Fedora/Redhat, and Debian/Ubuntu does suffer from fanboism. But then, doesn't everything?

 

[Podolak]

But then, doesn't everything?

Absolutely, and there really isn't anything wrong with that. People should support what they like and try and be as active as possible. Sometimes our passion gets the best of us, but I'd rather people be passionate about something than monotone about everything.

 

[bob4432]

this is a bit off topic but i figured it would be a good place to post - what is a good *nix noob distro? i will have 1 spare machine here shortly and would like to get my feet wet in *nix since there is no way i am going to go vista - i will use xp until i can't and then hopefully move to a *nix distro. only problem is i have been using windows for 12yrs+

hardware will be at least a xp2000 w/1GB of ram or possiblly a faster cpu/mb combo - possible 3000venice

thanks in advance and if you think i should just make my own thread i will...

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: bob4432
what is a good *nix noob distro? i will have 1 spare machine here shortly and would like to get my feet wet in *nix

Definetly try out Ubuntu.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Noema

Originally posted by: bob4432
what is a good *nix noob distro? i will have 1 spare machine here shortly and would like to get my feet wet in *nix

Definetly try out Ubuntu.

also, how is the server version? i am so use to guis i would like one to begin with, but would also like to set up a lamp server.

 

[Theb]

bob4432- also try out PCLinuxOS and SimplyMEPIS. They all have live CDs so it's worth downloading them and taking a look.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Theb
bob4432- also try out PCLinuxOS and SimplyMEPIS. They all have live CDs so it's worth downloading them and taking a look.

:thumbsup:

 

[Ewat]

Mandrake is now called Mandriva

I use Xubuntu on an old laptop and I plan dual boot Windows XP and Ubuntu 7.04 once it's released.

 

[Journer]

i run ubuntu on my macbook >.>

 

[R3MF]

Suse & Sabayon

voted SUSE

 

[logicmaster2003]

in addition to ELIVE ( where debian meets enlightenment ), I also have KANOTIX RC2 2006 dual-boot on my laptop... Its actually very very impressive.. boot up of 55 seconds !
In the past I have used BLAG (fedora), CENTOS and MYAH. But for over 4 months now.. I've been sticking to ELIVE cuz its just absolutely beautiful
--> http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h13/stickypookie/screenshot3.png?t=1176649510

 

[Podolak]

Originally posted by: Ewat
Mandrake is now called Mandriva

Fixed, sorry everyone!

in addition to ELIVE ( where debian meets enlightenment )

So then...should ELIVE be considered a separate distro?

this is a bit off topic but i figured it would be a good place to post - what is a good *nix noob distro? i will have 1 spare machine here shortly and would like to get my feet wet in *nix since there is no way i am going to go vista - i will use xp until i can't and then hopefully move to a *nix distro. only problem is i have been using windows for 12yrs+

hardware will be at least a xp2000 w/1GB of ram or possiblly a faster cpu/mb combo - possible 3000venice

thanks in advance and if you think i should just make my own thread i will...

Bob, I have no problem with you asking the question in this thread, though you are certainly welcome to start another if you so desire.

In my opinion most mainstream distros are fairly easy to get started with. They are generally very intuitive to get installed and there is a lot of information for specific configurations in forums across the Internet. In a previous post I stated that I support FC. However, Ubuntu does seem even easier than most for people with no experience. If you are having trouble deciding, go with what your friends use. That way you have someone you know already to ask questions right away.

Good luck and welcome to Linux.

 

[Echinos]

Feisty Fawn Beta Ubuntu on my laptop
FC6 at work
Debian unstable at home, will be going to Feisty when my AMD64 X2 6000 arrives.
Played with puppy linux as well on some older hardware, and a games PC for my 2-year-old with EduPup (http://www.giovelug.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=98)