Another Linux distro discussion

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Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:35 am

I am using SLED 10 (with slicky XGL/Compiz 3d UI Laughing

- Vista eat your heart out!). I find it much easier than any other distro I tried: Mandrake/Mandriva, Fedora C1 & 3, Ubuntu 5 & 6, RedHat 7-9, SuSE 9.1-9.3 (SUSE10 is running currently on my server).

YAST is the easiest tool when it comes installing new programs/updates. Hands down.

I suggest you take a look at "apt-get". Runs on every distro. Once you get used to it you won't know how you could live without it Wink

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:23 am

I don't run it that often. I guess I'm becoming a Linuxphobe.. Laughing

No, really.. I'm probably going to wait until I build a new system to start running Linux of any distro.. Mandriva One doesn't seem to like my sound card much.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

Ubuntu is definitely worth trying. It was the only distro I found that could handle my SATA interface. Kubuntu is probably the one to choose, since it uses KDE and the root Ubuntu uses Gnome. I have come to like Gnome, but its printer handling is pants.

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:24 pm

I'd chalk up another recommendation for Kubuntu. My laptop has some issues with it, but it really is a fantastic distro.
I have heard good things about SUSE, but I'm not going to recommend it for moral reasons.

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:29 pm

I have several distros, one of them being Freespire Linux. When you install it, the layout and stuff looks good, but it doesn't like the following:

EXE Files
Second Hard Drive
CD's (unless it has anything to do with Freespire Linux )
USB Flash Drive
And Much More

As you can see, it's not very good at all. Gets a personal thumbs down from me.

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:09 pm

swissboney3 wrote:

EXE Files

Windows won't execute Linux binaries, and similarly Linux won't execute Windows binaries (.exe files). However, WINE may be able to run some Windows .exe files under Linux

swissboney3 wrote:

As you can see, it's not very good at all. Gets a personal thumbs down from me.

I honestly haven't heard any particularly fantastic things about Freespire. Just seems like an attempt by Linspire to follow Redhat and Novell by making a "community oriented" version of the distribution, but by having a free version, it loses the only real benefits it has (native Windows Media support etc), and those benefits are only really relevant if you're taking the first step from Windows to Linux and just want it to be the same.

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:51 pm

Ivor Grimey Colon wrote:

I have heard good things about SUSE, but I'm not going to recommend it for moral reasons.

I know what you mean... It was a tough choice but SLED is just too good. HW support is amazing. Recognized all my HW out-of-the-box. Even non standard Medion flat screen, Canon printer, sound card, wireless keyboard and mouse!

Even Windows could not do that! Laughing

Well done, Novell.

Installtion of XGL/compiz was so easy! Just two (2) clicks!

If you do have moral issues with Novell just use OpenSUSE 10.2 - remember to add Packman installation source for mp3, DVD, AVI etc.

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 1:33 am

Split these off of a necroed thread where these were off topic anyway. Smile

The fact that Novell signed a "no-sue" agreement with M$ where one is not needed and is against everything about the opensource and the GPL and what they stand for; I would not get anything from Novel.

Mandriva rules. Not even a contest. Rolling Eyes

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 571

Kubuntu for me. It recognized everything perfectly on my tricky HP laptop (except for the IR port, which I couldn't get Windows to load a driver for either, so heh. I guess it's probably broken). SUSE I tried to like, but I found YAST was just too slow for my liking... apt with Synaptic/Adept is much faster.

Amarok is the best music player ever, by the way Very Happy

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 10:24 am

I'm running Kubuntu 90% of the time. With automatix you can have a system that does everything you want in a couple of hours. I occasionally load windoze to play a couple of games that I like.

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:37 pm

I'm playing with puppy linux, think knoppix but smaller/faster. Very Happy

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:21 am

Ultimate Ubuntu http://ubuntusoftware.info/ultimate/ does it for me! excellent hardware detection, runs a cisco wifi card natively etc.

Ubuntu also has an excellent forum with a lot of active members who have helped me a number of times ( still can't get my Canon ip1000 printer to work though Crying or Very sad

)

Might have a look at SLED though

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:26 pm

Using Solaris here, one on a sparc and the other on an x86. I've also got an old laptop running damn small linux. I'll have to look at some of these other distros. Thanks for the ideas. Smile

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

DrWho: Got to disagree with you on both points:
I paid my Mandriva Club subscription soley to download 2007, only to find that it didn't work with my SATA interface. If it had I'd still be on Mandriva, as it is I still have a bad taste in my mouth.

I know what you mean about Novell, but at least they are on the right side in the SCO Group vs. IBM debacle.

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:38 am

Novel: yes that is true but their recent actions make me wonder what they are really after. And they are only on their own side to keep control of UNIX away from SCO and to get their money. Business make strange bedfellows.

I don't know about SATA support by Mandriva. I would think it was supported but maybe 3rd party. That surprises me since SATA is now the standard.

I found a couple of discussions on how to install on a SATA drive. Mostly supported by the board manufacturer and not Mandriva.

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:27 am

I have SuSE 10.0 running Gnome & I have a problem. Like an idiot I selected online update when installing, it took so long I eventually aborted the update & continued with the installation. Now everything works fine, except that I can't get an internet connection. Any advice please?

Cheers muchly

Gussie

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 8:01 pm

What part doesn't work?

It wouldn't connect at all; or just the update part? Does Gnome have a wizard setup for the network connection (like KDE).

Any error messages? Have you looked at the "messages log" (/var/logs/messages) for any error messages.

Need details of exactly what happens or doesn't happen or what you expect to be happening that isn't.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 571

Having so many problems with the package manager in SuSE is what drove me to Kubuntu. I wanted to like it, but I couldn't. The package manager in Ubuntu/Kubuntu is much much better.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 2:49 am

Having so many problems with the package manager in SuSE is what drove me back to Windows.

*puts on flame retardant suit*

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 571

MotherFelix wrote:

Having so many problems with the package manager in SuSE is what drove me back to Windows.

*puts on flame retardant suit*

Hehe, try out Ubuntu if you ever want to give it a go again. Only 1 CD to download, and the package manager works great Very Happy

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 3:37 am

Quote:

drove me back to Windows.

Good luck with those viruses and spyware and the $400 OS. And the weekly patches. And the cost of the anti-virus programs and the Windoz anti-pirate locks and the certifications every time you upgrade a component. Worth every penny I'm sure. Smile

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 2:39 pm

MotherFelix wrote:

Having so many problems with the package manager in SuSE is what drove me back to Windows.

Having so many problems with the package manager on SuSE is what drove me back to Kubuntu.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 4:56 pm

After becoming a linux convert sometime ago, my machine died an ugly death - the fan fail and I discovered the delights of a knackered hard drive. So I used the other family windows machine, but now I bought a new machine I'm saving up for a separate hard drive and then it's back to linux for me.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

@DrWho
I've been with Mandriva for years, on my old machine. When the time came to upgrade I bit the bullet and built a completely new machine. I suppose it was my own lack of research that made me get a new motherboard with an unsupported brand new SATA i/f. I may have got around it, if I'd tried really hard and installed first to an old IDE disk and found a SATA driver, but it would have been a lot of work - which would have had to be re-done if I ever needed a clean install. I could have handled not having the latest video or sound driver on the installation disk, but not having a disk driver is pretty much a show-stopper. Fortunately Ubuntu worked straight off, even beating Knoppix.

Mandriva Club is expensive, and a necessity if you want the latest releases - when I was putting the machine together 2007 was only out to club members and my membership had just expired. But you don't get much else for your money, and even with the FTP server they allowed 2007 downloads from, downloading 2007 was painful. I've never managed to get a decent speed with bit torrent - even with the firewall opened up.

Ubuntu pluses: apt-get, single install CD
Mandriva pluses: rpm handles dual-architecture, 3D window management

Both have good mailing-list support. IMHO the Mandriva lists have the edge in friendliness, but Ubuntu have much more traffic.

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:41 am

DrWho wrote:

Quote:

drove me back to Windows.

Good luck with those viruses and spyware and the $400 OS. And the weekly patches. And the cost of the anti-virus programs and the Windoz anti-pirate locks and the certifications every time you upgrade a component. Worth every penny I'm sure. Smile

Inflation must be quiet the problem in strawberryland Dr. Wink

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