• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Which Linux Distribution?

Whyatt

Scholar
W
Joined
Jan 22, 2002
Messages
87
So I've been convinced and addicted to using Linux through the excellent Mandrake 9.2 and like KDE (im using version 3.1) over Gnome.

But now I'm addicted, which distrubtion is "best"?

Mandrake
SUSE
Fedora (RedHat)
Gentoo (or what ever it's called)

I need one that can run most software and easily.

I also like pretty things so want KDE 3.2

I know opinions can be pretty divided on this but still, what do people think?
 
I've used Mandrake for years. It's a great desktop distro. I loaded the Community version 10 on my laptop a couple of weeks ago and it is noticably more responsive than 9.2 was.

I haven't got around to loading it on this machine though.
 
Yeah, I'm loving Mandrake 9.2, but not sure about going to "community 10 " as I'm pretty new to linux and so I probably couldn't tell if I'm doing something wrong or If it was a bug. How stable is it?
 
I've had problems with installing Mandrake 10 - I have an external USB (or firewire) HD and the installer keeps throwing a wobbly.
 
I've had a few problems with Mandrake 10 on my laptop; mostly solved by sticking with the 2.4.25 kernel rather than going to 2.6.3 - maybe 2.6 is still a bit new for random laptop use.

Anyway, even with the 2.4 kernel, 10 feels faster than 9.2 and a few things that didn't work on 9.2 now work properly on 10.

The main trick with Linux for home use is to have /home on a separate partition with all your files on it. Then you can install pretty much any version of any distro on the root partition and it will pick up all your settings when you log in (e.g. my desktop PC runs Mandrake 9.1 but Konqueror still has all the SuSE bookmarks because I used to run SuSE 8.2).
 
I've been using Mandrake since 8.1 and it just keeps getting better.

Using 9.2 now and very happy with it. I will probably buy the 10.0 release when it appears as MandrakeSoft could really use the cash. I've been mooching off them for too long.

At work I have used Caldera OpenLinux (don't think it exists anymore but it was surprisingly good), RedHat 9.0 (and fedora) and Slackware (which I couldn't get on with at all).

One problem I have had though is the upgrading of Mandrake. Each time I upgraded it kecked up my install and I had to do a fresh install instead. My home directory is on a separate partition so it wasn't a problem. Still, it's a bit annoying.

Has anyone had problems doing an upgrade with Mandrake?
The last specific time it happened was when I went from 9.0 to 9.1. The upgrade failed completely and I had to format the root partition and start again.
 
Oleron said:
Has anyone had problems doing an upgrade with Mandrake?
The last specific time it happened was when I went from 9.0 to 9.1. The upgrade failed completely and I had to format the root partition and start again.
Click to expand...
I think my 9.1 -? 9.2 upgrade went OK; but 9.2 -> 10 threw up lots of problems. It sort of worked, but I found it easier to do a clean install of 10 in the end.
 
Having /home on a seperate partion is genius!

I've just had the .iso's for mandrake 10 sent to me by opendata.co.uk for £2.49, but will probably give Suse a try too.

Oh and thanks for the link to the previous thread. I din't check. sorry.

I notice there is quite a lot of Linux users on randi.org, it must be the intelligence of skeptics that do it!!
 
Whyatt said:
Having /home on a seperate partion is genius!

I've just had the .iso's for mandrake 10 sent to me by opendata.co.uk for £2.49, but will probably give Suse a try too.

Oh and thanks for the link to the previous thread. I din't check. sorry.

I notice there is quite a lot of Linux users on randi.org, it must be the intelligence of skeptics that do it!!
Click to expand...

Nah it's just there are many of us here of the type that says "I wonder what happens if I..."
 
iain said:
I think my 9.1 -? 9.2 upgrade went OK; but 9.2 -> 10 threw up lots of problems. It sort of worked, but I found it easier to do a clean install of 10 in the end.
Click to expand...

I suppose it's a better idea to do a clean install anyway. I would usually give this advice to windows users so why should I give linux any less consideration.
 
Yeah, a clean install seems a better idea. What are tha advantages of an upgrade? Is it just that it's quicker, or does it preserve preferences? ansd if I copy home to my windows partion, then do a fresh instal, then copy back. Wouldn't that do the same?

My home doesn't have programs in, just documents. Oh except for firefox.

Sorry If thats a very dumb idea. Still new to this.

(Which is why I'm gona avoid slackware and Gentoo

:D )
 
Whyatt said:
Yeah, a clean install seems a better idea. What are tha advantages of an upgrade? Is it just that it's quicker, or does it preserve preferences? ansd if I copy home to my windows partion, then do a fresh instal, then copy back. Wouldn't that do the same?
Click to expand...
In Linux the applications aren't normally in you're home directory (though they can be) but configuration files are. For example, KDE will be in the root partition, but your kde settings are in a diectory called .kde in your home directory. If you look for directories beginning with a dot, you'll find lots and most are configuration.

No reason at all why you can't back up the files before doing an upgrade (and copying to a windows partition is a backup). An upgrade won't delete files in the root partition; a new install will. Copying files to a Windows partition may cause some problems - e.g. file ownership and permissions might get messed up along the way. Also, some of us don't have Windows partitions :D

My home doesn't have programs in, just documents. Oh except for firefox.

Sorry If thats a very dumb idea. Still new to this.
Click to expand...
No, sounds about right.
 
The only caveat with installing programs in your home folder is that they won't be available to other users on your system. This can also be a good thing but in the case of a program like firefox or blender, if each user installs their own copy it will waste disk space.

I install such programs under /usr/local which all users have access to. I will then write a script to launch them and place that script in /usr/bin then all users can run it.

If you are the only user on your machine then it doesn't really matter.

Here is a pretty thorough description of the file system layout. This stuff is important to the admin of a machine but for end users the file system is really quite transparent which is a good thing.:D
 
I use Debian. I would not recommend the current stable version (woody) to a newcomer to linux, but I have heard the test distro (sarge) is quite user friendly as opposed to user hostile.

I found suse to be the best 'pay for' distro I have used but I last used it at 6.4. I then went to mandrake 9/0 and then 9.1 but found it far too restrictive, yes it set evrything up and worked fine, but just not me. A friend sent me the debian disks and I am at home.

I got the fedora core 1 cd's on a magazine cover DVD recently and burned them from ISO, I was impressed on how it detected everything, but it just didn't feel right to me, maybe I just like doing far too much via the shell, where as fedora everything was GUI based. I have used the fedora I installed on that machine to install the latest lfs (linux from scratch) which is a challange and is probably the most rewarding.

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

For those of you that do not know, basically its a make your own, download the tarballs and install away, takes a long time, can be frustrating, but you do not have to bow down to others rules. It also gives you a really good insight into how the linux / gnu system works which is good for future problem solving. If you have the time, I would recommend it. Also if you have the spare disk space, run it as a 2nd linux installation separate from what you use.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom