joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
 ·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| Recommended Linux Distro I have a PC which I'd like to re-purpose to run Linux.
Which distro is the one currently considered most popular?
I know I'm in for a bit of a learning curve, I just want to be sure I am starting in the right place, once I know which distribution to start with, I'll search for the 'idiot guides' to help me through.
Planning to use it for server, web browsing, and maybe minor video encode/decode. Nothing too crazy.
Joe | |
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firephoto
KDE
Premium
join:2003-03-18
 ·Verizon west (ex G..
| said by joetaxpayer  :I have a PC which I'd like to re-purpose to run Linux. Which distro is the one currently considered most popular? That'd be Ubuntu. »www.ubuntu.com/
I answer that in the sense of 'considered' because there are other very large deployments of other distros but Ubuntu is probably the most common for the average person installing somethign on their own. The offical forums and casual support in other places seems a bit ... overwhelmed with young people.(put nicely)
I don't recommend it because I run Kubuntu »www.kubuntu.org/ but I've always ran KDE so it's just easiest right now for me and lets me get some of the newest KDE software. It's the same base system with a different desktop and default applications. It allows more of a 'get it your way' kind of attitude instead of being stuck with what someone else gives you.
FYI the Distrowatch ranking is going to tell you what other people like yourself that got directed to go look at it are clicking through to. Kind of a "i don't know anything about distros and haven't used one" popularity ranking. I'm not a fan, but the site will list out most of the distros.
You're probably not going to get much more diversity than you get in this forum as far as people using different distros and talking about it in the same place. Most other sites are distro specific or separate the flavors. 
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joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA | Thank you both. I'll look at Ubuntu. | |
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SirMeowmixIII
join:2009-06-15
Birmingham, AL
| As often as these threads pop-up let me state that I will never tire of them, they are much more refreshing than the "What's the best antivirus", "What virus is this?", or "What's the best firewall" threads that seem to saturate the security and Win32 forums. | |
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 | i2Fuzzy
join:2009-02-25
Keller, TX
·AT&T DSL Service
| Re: Recommended Linux Distro said by SirMeowmixIII :As often as these threads pop-up let me state that I will never tire of them, they are much more refreshing than the "What's the best antivirus", "What virus is this?", or "What's the best firewall" threads that seem to saturate the security and Win32 forums. I agree there.
OT: I would say use Mint, though. It's based off of Ubuntu, but it has many useful things included with it that Ubuntu does not. I wish I was on Mint, but I don't feel like redoing my system again this week :P
Hey, SirMeowMix, what would you say is the best distro for learning some more advanced features? CentOS with Gnome? Fedora? OpenSUSE?
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| | SirMeowmixIII
join:2009-06-15
Birmingham, AL
| Re: Recommended Linux Distro said by joetaxpayer :I understand. I am a Mac user and frequent the appropriate group. I find myself with a PC and the choice between trashing it or getting some use running Linux. I could have done a better job googling but finding two people kind enough to shoot a fast reply set me on the right path. My next question, if any, will be well researched and very specific. Oh no no, you're reading into what I wrote incorrectly. Rather, it was me pointing a egotistical finger at the Win32 folks not at your question. The "What distro" comes up quite often here, but again, I'll never get tired of it and will freely volunteer my opinion. You're doing just fine, please don't read any negative connotation towards what I wrote directed at you. | |
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joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| Re: Recommended Linux Distro said by SirMeowmixIII :You're doing just fine, please don't read any negative connotation towards what I wrote directed at you. Much appreciated. I am (overly) sensitive to the "did you google it" and RTFM first approach that's so common. Before posting I knew the question was pretty general if not ignorant, just wanted to acknowledge that. I am taking one crack at turning into a Hackintosh, if that fails I have the Ubuntu disc ready to load. | |
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Vampirefo
Premium,MVM
join:2000-12-11
Huntington, WV | I use mepis-gnome, for most new users kde is the way to go, kde is more like windows then gnome is.
If you decide to get farther away from windows try a gnome desktop.
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Best RegardsVampirefo | |
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munky99999
Munky
join:2004-04-10
canada
clubs:
| ubuntu - my choice
Strong package management. Which means it will be easy to install new packages. Etc etc. So not that hard to jump in. Great for desktops.
fedora - red hat's choice.
Very strong security features. Very strong business-application ability.
slackware (arch lives in here) - oldies choice.
Great history; massive massive massive customizability.
gentoo - linuxhardened user's choice.
Essentially you have slackware on steroids with this choice. | |
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rexbinary
Mod King
Premium
join:2005-01-26
Plano, TX | Re: Recommended Linux Distro Which distro will make me appear young and successful? | |
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Munky
join:2004-04-10
canada
clubs:
1 edit | Re: Recommended Linux Distro said by rexbinary :Which distro will make me appear young and successful? Your own distro.
What OS do you use?
[coolguy] I made my own linux OS. | |
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SirMeowmixIII
join:2009-06-15
Birmingham, AL
| If you like Ubuntu consider Debian, as it's a more polished version of Ubuntu without some of the nagging annoyances (for example a sporadically functional Glipper in 8.04 LTS). Ubuntu, like CentOS/RHEL, has a specific support life-cycle that's clearly defined. Debian takes a "when it's ready" support cycle.
It really depends on what you want to do. Fedora has a short-lived life-cycle while CentOS/RHEL is very well supported for 7 years I believe. The bad news is the CentOS/RHEL repositories leave much to be desired and are very sparse.
I prefer the Debian based systems so Ubuntu is a great transitional distribution especially towards Windows users. Sadly, while being on the cusp of panacea they often shoot themselves in the foot with glaring issues and nagging bugs which were not properly addressed. In the past they've also completely borked Xorg by pushing updates that had no hope of working correctly.
My personal requirements for a distribution are minimal bugs, a long-lived errata support cycle, prompt addressing of security issues, and a good repository system. I tend to gravitate towards Ubuntu/Debian with a preference to Debian.
My business requirements have me tending to RHEL/CentOS, both which are very fine. | |
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joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| Re: Recommended Linux Distro said by SirMeowmixIII :If you like Ubuntu consider Debian, Update - The hackintosh failed. I installed Ubuntu 9.04 and it's looking good. Nice that it came loaded with Firefox, and screen sharing was easy. Keeping in mind, I don't claim to be a tinkerer, this was easy so far.
Given how cheap drive are getting 3TB/$200 last I saw, I can use this for a TiVo backup and/or server for my Macs and work PCs. I'll play around and see if I run into any issues with this. | |
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Waldothe3rd
Premium
join:2009-02-16
Sun N Sand
 ·ViaTalk
| I run both Ubuntu 9.04 and Mint7. Personally, I find Mint more conducive to the "learning curve". Make disks and load them both on their respective partitions and play around! After you find one you like, re-evaluate your opinion after the next upgrade cycle! | |
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Anub1s
join:2003-05-04
Cleveland, OH
·AT&T Yahoo
·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: Recommended Linux Distro said by cork1958 :Ubuntu is nothing but a fanboy bloatware version of Linux. Sure it has a ton of users and killer forums, but half the reason it has such a large forums is because it ALWAYS has problems. That updater thing was always screwing up my installation. Blag, » www.blagblagblag.org/ and Zenwalk, » www.zenwalk.org/ are killer bare bones Linux distros that EVERYTHING works with, out of the box, unlike Ubuntu also. You still have to find codecs to play tunes/videos, flashplayer isn't included, etc................... FUD. Almost trollish.
If you can't use Ubuntu, it is you, not the OS.
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*Intel Core2Duo E8400,8gigs Dual CH.OCZ,1x160Gs 1x320Gs WD,PVR-250,NVIDIA 9500gt
Ubuntu 9.04 64bit | |
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Derspankster
Premium
join:2003-02-12
Marion, OH
·RoadRunner Cable
·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit | said by cork1958 :Ubuntu is nothing but a fanboy bloatware version of Linux. Sure it has a ton of users and killer forums, but half the reason it has such a large forums is because it ALWAYS has problems. That updater thing was always screwing up my installation. Blag, » www.blagblagblag.org/ and Zenwalk, » www.zenwalk.org/ are killer bare bones Linux distros that EVERYTHING works with, out of the box, unlike Ubuntu also. You still have to find codecs to play tunes/videos, flashplayer isn't included, etc................... Everything is included out of the box? "You still have to find codecs to play tunes/videos, flashplayer isn't included, etc..................." Those distros don't sound that "complete" and "working out of the box". "That updater thing was always screwing up my installation." Sounds like an (disgruntled) Ubuntu user to me.
Actually, my biggest issue with Ubuntu really has nothing to do with the OS itself. I choose to run Compiz and it's a buggy bastard to say the least. I don't need it but you kind of get used to the purty windows and all.
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Kakalaky
Premium
join:2003-04-04
Broken Arrow, OK | Since I'm tired of seeing the same answers every time:
»www.linuxfromscratch.org/
At least you would have decent idea of how linux works by the time you got it working. | |
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joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| Re: Recommended Linux Distro said by Kakalaky :Since I'm tired of seeing the same answers every time: » www.linuxfromscratch.org/At least you would have decent idea of how linux works by the time you got it working. I appreciate this kind of reply. I understand the tinkering, and people who enjoy it. Me, I installed the Ubuntu, no issue. I can access it via VNC from both my Macs and other PCs in the house. I can also access via network to move files to/from the Ubuntu box. So for now, I'm all set.
I know that software will be a random thing, and some things like iTunes are not available in Linux. I'll keep reading to see what I can and can't do on this PC. | |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
1 edit | Re: Recommended Linux Distro said by joetaxpayer :iTunes are not available in Linux. This was a barrier for me too, but unless you're syncing a device that has to have iTunes (like an iPhone) you could start purchasing your music from the Amazon MP3 store. It's all non-DRM MP3 music. Even iTunes music is now DRM-free so you should be able to play and manage it with any Linux music manager.
If you have a large library of protected iTunes music, you could explore virtualization. I know at one point Virtualbox supported USB pass-thru, so you could run Windows in a virtual machine and still sync your iPhone and/or play your music. Not sure if it still does however and it's definitely not the most elegant solution, but it works. | |
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joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| Re: Recommended Linux Distro Matt, thanks, I just offered that as an example.
I'd like to find an app that would offer the feature that lets you see the PC from your TiVo, i.e. no encode/decode, just being able to use it to store video I ripped using the "desktop to go" feature. That would let me use this for backup as well as a TiVo server. I'll google around for that. Haven't started the search. | |
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geonap
lolatidiots
join:2005-12-14
Glendale, CA | slackware is for people who know what they're doing, the upper percentile. god i love it! | |
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Ryno
The Wanderer
Premium
join:2001-04-07
Danielsville, PA | I'm not a linux user, but installed Linux Mint on an old computer a couple days ago to play with it. I had an easier time than other versions I tried for a day or two and gave up on. | |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| I've fallen in love with Mint 7 for a desktop since it's been released. It's based on Ubuntu so all Ubuntu packages work with it, but it takes a more "out of the box " usability approach. Everything works out of the box, even WMV video.
I run CentOS on our servers but if you really would like to significantly increase your understanding of Linux, I suggest a stage 1 or stage 2 Gentoo install. I had a blast with that back in the day. | |
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SLD
Premium
join:2002-04-17
·Comcast
1 edit | I run Ubuntu server on all of our Linux servers...works quite well and has great support. These are sites that rank within the top 5000 on Alexa and push up to 150,000 unique visitors per day, and up to 1GBit/sec of traffic. It is a nice, stable OS with easy firewall configuration and package management. | |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| Re: Recommended Linux Distro said by SLD :I run Ubuntu server on all of our Linux servers...works quite well and has great support. These are sites that rank within the top 5000 on Alexa and push up to 150,000 unique visitors per day, and up to 1GBit/sec of traffic. It is a nice, stable OS with easy firewall configuration and package management. One of the things that I love about Ubuntu Server (but hated at first) was it really, truly, is barebones. I do an absolute minimal install of CentOS quite a bit and still have to strip out things like bluetooth, avahi, and cups. Ubuntu Server? None of that crap! | |
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SLD
Premium
join:2002-04-17 | Re: Recommended Linux Distro Yeah, and the JEOS is great for a VMWare install. | |
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greenrider
Premium
join:2005-04-30
canada
| hi;
i think it depends on what u want to do. If you want to learn then maybe Slackware. If u want to just use it right out of box then maybe Ubuntu. Likely the one u choose will be the one u stick with and champion on replies like this. As for me, I chose Slackware and have learned a lot about Linux which, of course, is what I wanted to do.
good luck | |
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Noah Vail
Premium
join:2004-12-10
Lorton, VA
·RoadRunner Cable
| I don't have the linux experience, that a lot of folks here have. So, if I have to be surfing the *nix learning curve, I'd like the experience to be as enjoyable as possible.
I really do like having a desktop environment, but I don't have a preference; KDE - GNOME - whatever. What's important for me is a lack of driver issues. I don't expect a piece of hardware developed today to work out of the box, but if I'm working with 4 year old hardware, I'd hope we'd be past struggling with it.
I have a copy of Fedora 11 beta that I put in a boot thumb. It's been terrific in every way. It seems to work on everything. I can't remember a single driver issue on new hardware or old. I can't count how many times I've used it to get at data from a corrupted or infected hard drive.
I have a live version of Puppy that my 10 year old uses on the junk hardware I bring home. It does a lot more than I thought it would and it's hardware support seems pretty good as well.
I like smoothwall for NAT and firewall, cause I'm a sucker for a web interface.
My 16 year old wanted to setup vBulletin on a home notebook. I finally settled on openSUSE 10. It wasn't as hardware friendly as others, but it seemed to handle Apache and PHP without much of a complaint.
The next project is to try to integrate a Samba Server into an existing Windows Domain. Right now, I'm looking to use either Gentoo, CentOS or Debian.
NV
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In my perfect religion, a giant hole appears and sucks up all the lousy people.
I call it the Crapture. | |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| Re: Recommended Linux Distro said by Noah Vail :The next project is to try to integrate a Samba Server into an existing Windows Domain. Right now, I'm looking to use either Gentoo, CentOS or Debian. I wrote a how-to in 2007 for CentOS and Windows 2003 R2 that might help: »blog.wazollc.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=2 | |
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Noah Vail
Premium
join:2004-12-10
Lorton, VA
·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: Recommended Linux Distro I'll read it through when it's time. Thanks!
NV
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In my perfect religion, a giant hole appears and sucks up all the lousy people.
I call it the Crapture. | |
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BryanC1968
join:2003-06-10
Elkins, WV
·Verizon Online DSL
·Suddenlink
| said by Noah Vail :The next project is to try to integrate a Samba Server into an existing Windows Domain. Right now, I'm looking to use either Gentoo, CentOS or Debian. NV If your looking to set up just a simple network file server then give FreeNAS a look... »www.freenas.org/ ... I have been running it on an old machine I pieced together from spare parts for about 4 months now and it works great... I am actually using the embedded image running off a compact flash card... I have 2 640GB SATA drives installed for a total of 1.2TB of storage... | |
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Logan 5
Wondering what happens next..
Premium,MVM
join:2001-05-25
The WasteLAN | How's Knoppix these days? | |
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If the visual colors work on the human glitch that is OCD people will recommend it over Ubuntu for having lots of better things and make you famous. 
