Recommended Linux Distro in All Things Unix http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r22603432 en Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:16:46 EDT Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:16:46 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22637536 CableConvert : My favorite thing about Linux (ubuntu) is that its FREE! Which is especially good now that I see the new Windows 7 pricing]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22637536 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:24:29 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22632327 Noah Vail :
said by Matt See Profile :

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
I'll read it through when it's time. Thanks!
NV
--
In my perfect religion, a giant hole appears and sucks up all the lousy people.
I call it the Crapture.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22632327 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:06:30 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22629899 anon : I would recommend

arch linux
jfs filesystem (for everything, boot too)
windowmaker as a window manager

That'd be a nice, fast, quickly up and running system for you.

Personally, this time around, I'd try xfs as a filesystem, but I've not really used that for a long period of time, so I wouldn't recommend it because I've not experienced it lately. I've used jfs for years without any trouble, it's reasonably fast, recovers nicely from any occasional power cut, and so forth. xfs is probably a little faster though, and ext4 might even be faster than that.

In any case, that's what I'd recommend.

arch linux on jfs with windowmaker.

Of course you have to install the stuff yourself, configure it yourself, etc...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22629899 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:39:52 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22622477 firephoto : That's not too bad, the java jre isn't a problem because it's in the default repos and you're using gnome so the pulseaudio mess is already installed. For the config file or the installation you just need to remember to run 'sudo' before the command for things taking place outside of your /home.

For a lot of applications it's good to look at the Ubuntu PPA and see if someone else has created a package or and updated one for what you are looking for.
»https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ppas

FYI the search mechanism is a bit screwed up right now or else they've added some internal options to let people disable the ppa's from being indexed.(I know things are missing from the search ;)

Good luck and glad you're figuring some things out slowly. :)
--
~~This is not The Greatest Sig in the World without annoying urls, no. This is just a tribute.~~]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22622477 Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:50:56 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22620770 Matt :
said by tld See Profile :

said by Matt See Profile :

Linux has a steep initial learning curve, but once you figure out the basics, most tasks become much easier.
My favorite part of being a Linux user is the fact that, with Linux, there's really nothing there that you can't learn if choose to. Compare that to Windows where so many things are a total black box even to very technical users. You don't have to look any further than that cluster-f*** they call the registry to see that.
I don't think that's specific to Windows. Any closed-source OS is not going to be as transparent to the end-user.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22620770 Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:34:26 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22620161 tld :
said by Matt See Profile :

Linux has a steep initial learning curve, but once you figure out the basics, most tasks become much easier.
My favorite part of being a Linux user is the fact that, with Linux, there's really nothing there that you can't learn if choose to. Compare that to Windows where so many things are a total black box even to very technical users. You don't have to look any further than that cluster-f*** they call the registry to see that.

I've been a real die-hard Gentoo user for about six years now. I've gotten used to fairly lean "minimalist" sort of systems, and do more and more from the command line all the time. Having said that, I think Ubuntu is great. While it tends to be a little bloated for my taste, I've installed it for friends and have been really impressed. Thinking back on the choices of binary distros available before it came along, I'd say it was sorely needed.

Tom]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22620161 Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:43:49 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22620108 Vampirefo :
said by Matt See Profile :

Linux has a steep initial learning curve, but once you figure out the basics, most tasks become much easier.
[/BQUOTE

This is true, and most of us forget that initial learning curve, once you get passed that its computing as before.
--
Best Regards Vampirefo ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22620108 Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:27:32 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22619944 Matt : Linux has a steep initial learning curve, but once you figure out the basics, most tasks become much easier.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22619944 Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:44:04 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22619750 Derspankster :
said by joetaxpayer See Profile :

I am starting to understand that Linux is not really intended to be 'plug and play". Even though Ubuntu has the download option, which is cool, there are pieces of software whose installation needs a bit of intelligence.

I am looking at »galleon.sourceforge.net/index.ph···temid=51 which will let the PC be used as a server to my tivo. Admittedly, the instructions are Greek to me, I need to decide how much time to put into this. Linux for Dummies is next.
I was about as clueless about Linux as anyone going, coming from a Windows centric corporate arena where it was Windows or nothing. While I now muddle through adequately with the help of this atu forum and the Ubuntu user forums I'm no where near a Linux guru. Not that aspire to that. I have managed to build an Ubuntu media server and run Linux as my main OS.

The point I'm trying to make is that is that it's NOT that hard, you'll get there if Linux fits your needs and you commit to it.
--
my site: »www.lairdslair.com/]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22619750 Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:21:52 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22619733 joetaxpayer : I am starting to understand that Linux is not really intended to be 'plug and play". Even though Ubuntu has the download option, which is cool, there are pieces of software whose installation needs a bit of intelligence.

I am looking at »galleon.sourceforge.net/index.ph···temid=51 which will let the PC be used as a server to my tivo. Admittedly, the instructions are Greek to me, I need to decide how much time to put into this. Linux for Dummies is next. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22619733 Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:15:25 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22617771 BryanC1968 :
said by Noah Vail See Profile :

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... ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22617771 Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:31:27 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22613577 Derspankster :
said by cork1958 See Profile :

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.
--
my site: »www.lairdslair.com/]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22613577 Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:47:28 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22613312 Logan 5 : How's Knoppix these days? ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22613312 Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:16:14 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22611785 Anub1s :
said by cork1958 See Profile :

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.
--
*Intel Core2Duo E8400,8gigs Dual CH.OCZ,1x160Gs 1x320Gs WD,PVR-250,NVIDIA 9500gt
Ubuntu 9.04 64bit]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22611785 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:38:25 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22609182 Matt :
said by Noah Vail See Profile :

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]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22609182 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:33:27 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22609126 Noah Vail : 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
--
In my perfect religion, a giant hole appears and sucks up all the lousy people.
I call it the Crapture.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22609126 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:23:52 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22608701 greenrider : 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]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22608701 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:11:39 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22608567 SLD : Yeah, and the JEOS is great for a VMWare install.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22608567 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:48:07 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22608230 joetaxpayer : 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. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22608230 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:47:02 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22608075 Matt :
said by joetaxpayer See Profile :

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.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22608075 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:23:07 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22608041 joetaxpayer :
said by Kakalaky See Profile :

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.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22608041 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:18:48 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22607998 Matt :
said by SLD See Profile :

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!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22607998 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:12:15 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22607943 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.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22607943 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:02:29 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22607825 Matt : 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.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22607825 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:39:33 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22607537 Stumbles : PCLinuxOS, get it here; »www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?opti···temid=28]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22607537 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:37:11 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22607316 Ryno : 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.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22607316 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:56:01 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22607057 geonap : slackware is for people who know what they're doing, the upper percentile. god i love it!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22607057 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:50:19 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22606705 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.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22606705 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:11:22 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22606487 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...................
--
The Firefox alternative.
»www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22606487 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:09:48 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22605642 Xlogic : Really good answers above. I would add if you have a fast connection download 5 or 6 distro iso's and try them out and see what all works and what doesn't.

I have a few pc's and on my newer ones Q6700 cpu and above the Ubuntu, Mint and pclinux works great. I have 1 older pentium and puppy linux or any dristro with XFCE or LCDE works great and it seems like a whole new computer.

Have fun try a few out....

Mike
--
"Better to be a geek than an idiot."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22605642 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:32:11 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22605488 BryanC1968 : I will echo the sentiments of others here and say that Linux Mint is a really good newbie friendly choice for a Gnome disto...

For a KDE Distro... I like PCLinuxOS.. Another great newbie friendly distro...

I have had great success using both of these distros and having them just work right off the bat without having to tinker around to get something to work properly...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22605488 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:59:23 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22605416 joetaxpayer :
said by SirMeowmixIII See Profile :

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. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22605416 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:46:15 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22605156 Waldothe3rd : 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!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22605156 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:53:25 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22605092 firephoto :
said by rexbinary See Profile :

Which distro will make me appear young and successful?
RexBuntu and a PR person (yourself) issuing glowing interviews with the lead developer (yourself) and some branding and wallpapers that are not brown, orange, blue or green. :) 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. ;)
--
~~This is not The Greatest Sig in the World without annoying urls, no. This is just a tribute.~~]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22605092 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:43:07 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604988 SirMeowmixIII : 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.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604988 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:21:42 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604915 munky99999 :
said by rexbinary See Profile :

Which distro will make me appear young and successful?
Your own distro.

What OS do you use?

[coolguy] I made my own linux OS.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604915 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:08:02 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604893 rexbinary : Which distro will make me appear young and successful?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604893 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:04:45 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604884 joetaxpayer :
said by SirMeowmixIII See Profile :

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. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604884 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:04:01 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604829 No_Strings :
said by munky99999 See Profile :

slackware (arch lives in here) - oldies choice.
Hey, did you just call me old?!

... not that you'd be wrong or anything]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604829 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:51:34 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604808 munky99999 : 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.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604808 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:46:56 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604589 SirMeowmixIII :
said by joetaxpayer See Profile :

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.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604589 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:09:14 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604430 joetaxpayer :
said by SirMeowmixIII See Profile :

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 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. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604430 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:40:40 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604120 Vampirefo : 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.
--
Best Regards Vampirefo ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604120 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:56:25 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604090 i2Fuzzy :
said by SirMeowmixIII See Profile :

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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Ali Fazel
i2Telecom Representative]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604090 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:53:30 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604061 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.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22604061 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:49:01 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22603935 joetaxpayer : Thank you both. I'll look at Ubuntu. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22603935 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:32:09 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22603598 firephoto :
said by joetaxpayer See Profile :

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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~~This is not The Greatest Sig in the World without annoying urls, no. This is just a tribute.~~]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22603598 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:40:55 EDT Re: Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22603458 graysonf : Have a read up on »www.distrowatch.com]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22603458 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:16:36 EDT Recommended Linux Distro http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22603432 joetaxpayer : 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]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22603432 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:12:02 EDT