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Linux Distro

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 9:39 am
by Zonder
Thought I'd get some advice on this I'm thinking of using linux to do development in general not just c++ mono as well. So I am looking for a easy to maintain disto have been looking around but there seems to be hundreds of them these days :). Can anyone give any suggestions? I have used red hat before but I didn't want to just go with that blindly ;)

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:01 am
by AriusEso
Zonder wrote:Thought I'd get some advice on this I'm thinking of using linux to do development in general not just c++ mono as well. So I am looking for a easy to maintain disto have been looking around but there seems to be hundreds of them these days :). Can anyone give any suggestions? I have used red hat before but I didn't want to just go with that blindly ;)
Ubuntu is the best plug and pray distro I've come across.

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 12:42 pm
by milliams
Personally I'd recommend openSUSE but really it's a choice you've got to make yourself. The best way (IMO) is to take the test.

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 3:31 pm
by calsmurf2904
I'm too standard :( I had Kubuntu, Fedora, OpenSuSe and Mandriva as linux distro's with all 100%.

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:18 pm
by syd
I use Linux Mint, it's ubuntu based, very easy to use, it has anything you need, I just love it : )
ranked #3 in distrowatch

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 9:35 am
by Zonder
I think I'm going to try out Linux Mint I like the face it's community driven :)

Thanks for the info guys

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 5:43 am
by pjcast
I took the test and it gave me Gentoo and Slackware as results... two distro's I have never used before (have used fedora, RH, CentOS, debian, ubuntu, Suse/OpenSuse, etc) but am curious about those two distros now :)

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 4:20 pm
by xavier
syd wrote:I use Linux Mint, it's ubuntu based, very easy to use, it has anything you need, I just love it : )
ranked #3 in distrowatch
Interesting -- it's hard to top Ubuntu itself for ease of use. ;)

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 5:02 pm
by jacmoe
Linux Mint *is* actually better and more friendly than Ubuntu. :)

Even though it's based on Ubuntu (and Debian), the Mint team fixed some annoying Ubuntu issues and made some default-choices which makes it much better out of the box.
And they added their own extras as well.

The KDE version of Mint is definitely better than KUbuntu (which is probably the worst KDE implementation around).
But I'm using the default Gnome-based Linux Mint (after being disappointedly dissatisfied by KUbuntu).

I don't have the time nor the patience to tweak, so I'm using it now after being a long-time Ubuntu user.

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:59 pm
by Klaim
Even though it's based on Ubuntu (and Debian), the Mint team fixed some annoying Ubuntu issues and made some default-choices which makes it much better out of the box.
And they added their own extras as well.
Could you provide some examples of those choices?

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2010 10:02 pm
by jacmoe
That Google or the Linux Mint site doesn't provide? :)
One thing is the updater, which is less intrusive than Ubuntu's which seems to like to install a new kernel every two weeks.
Just a lot of small things - hard to pin point (without using Google and the Mint site).

There's some good links to review at the Linux Mint site:
http://www.linuxmint.com/reviews.php
"Linux Mint is an Ubuntu-based distribution whose goal is to provide a more complete out-of-the-box experience by including browser plugins, media codecs, support for DVD playback, Java and other components. It also adds a custom desktop and menus, several unique configuration tools, and a web-based package installation interface. Linux Mint is compatible with Ubuntu software repositories."
Mint brings enough of its own work to the party for it to be considered a strong distribution in its own right; things like the Software Manager, MintUpdate, MintAssistant, MintUpload, MintBackup, and MintNanny.

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2010 10:12 pm
by jacmoe
Oh, and by the way:
Mint did an excellent job on their KDE, FLuxbox and XFCE based variants.
You can't say that about Kubuntu, Xubuntu and FLuxbuntu - sadly.
Kubuntu must be the worst KDE based distro out there.. I just had to get rid of it. Very unstable and misconfigured.

<edit>
This is a good and thorough review:
http://reddevil62-techhead.blogspot.com ... l-and.html

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 12:33 am
by syd
what made me switch from ubuntu to mint is mostly drivers, mint manages to make any device functioning out of the box.
Video codecs are also there, it has not only a package manager, but a software manager from where you know any app you install will integrate well in your desktop environment. Applications are organized into categories in the main menu.
Updates are sorted by stability and importance.
Mint deals also very well with Wifi.

Overall, Mint is an 'Enhanced' Ubuntu.
the only thing I don't like is the default wallpaper, so far I could live with it :-)

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 6:07 am
by Fuinelen
yep. I second (third? or whatever) Mint. I used to be faithful to Ubuntu for quite while (being lazy and not wanting or able to build my own distro), but Mint is really like an Ubuntu++ (literally). It has, for my taste , better default choices, it has all the codecs you might need already installed out of the box, and I thought the community (especially on the IRC channel) is more helpful. As it is heavily based on Ubuntu, most solutions you find on the Ubuntu forums work in Mint too, so you get some kind of double helping in case of trouble.
Slightly off-topic, but if you want a more drastic departure from Windows, you might want to check out some of the modern tiling managers available for Linux. Personally I started using Awesome WM six months ago or so, and now I can barely get back to Gnome or KDE as I get frustrated with all the window positioning and resizing.

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 6:48 am
by EricB
Arch Linux here...

power user linux for lazy people...

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 1:46 pm
by Kojack
Hopefully soon I'll be using Ångström Linux, on a Pandora.
:)

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 7:19 pm
by reptor
Talar du Svenska? :)

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 4:52 am
by Kojack
nej

Re: Linux Distro

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:02 pm
by reptor
You had posted exactly the answer I was expecting to see when I logged in today! :lol:

By the way Swedish is actually pretty close to English so you may be able to learn the basics of it fairly quickly. Perhaps the Vikings had something to do with that...





About Linux... I use Debian. I've tried a few other distros too but this is the one I rely on. I don't need the shiniest desktop etc. so I can be happy with this choice 8) I have to say it's pretty easy to install and set up, too.