Do You Use A Gnu/linux Distro On Your Main Computer?

[elinscheid]

I just installed Ubuntu on my desktop, using it to post right here.

It's been a while since I used Linux, last distro was Mandrake.

Anyway, I'm really impressed with how all my hardware was detected and worked right away.

Yay for opensource. Time to configure the theme and desktop picture, make myself at home.

 

[Magic Sam]

Hi,

I tried a lot of Linux distros since I first heard about the OS back in 1997...

I used to run Ubuntu, but now Debian "Lenny" 5.0.4 64 bits runs on both laptop and server

And Puppy Linux works REALLY well on the aging computers we have at work !

Bye, Magic Sam

p.s: See, I did my best this time not to post anything nasty about Microsoft products

 

[fettouhi]

Running Arch Linux 64 bit .

 

[roberthoward45]

would like to but not sure how to tri boot a mac (mac os x and windows 7 ) eventually i might fiqure it out this summer so that i can have some form of linux on there just so i can feel special

i always liked linux but it seemed harder to understand even though it is better and easier and safer

 

[crade]

i always liked linux but it seemed harder to understand even though it is better and easier and safer

It is just a matter of familiarity. Getting familiar with OSes built on linux is tough because each one is so different. I think a lack of interface standization is really the biggest hurdle preventing linux from becoming more mainstream.

 

[lulzfish]

i always liked linux but it seemed harder to understand even though it is better and easier and safer

It is just a matter of familiarity. Getting familiar with OSes built on linux is tough because each one is so different. I think a lack of interface standization is really the biggest hurdle preventing linux from becoming more mainstream.

Well, the interfaces are usually KDE or GNOME for the big, user-friendly distros.
The package managers aren't very standard but I think PackageKit is supposed to be working on that somehow. I don't know how it works, but it has Kit in the name, and the name is styled like something Apple would make, like WebKit, so it's probably going to be decent at least.

But GNOME is a lot different from the Windows GUI, and the directory tree is completely different, so the first time you use Linux, it will be weird.

 

[Aninhumer]

i always liked linux but it seemed harder to understand even though it is better and easier and safer

It is just a matter of familiarity. Getting familiar with OSes built on linux is tough because each one is so different. I think a lack of interface standization is really the biggest hurdle preventing linux from becoming more mainstream.

I don't really think that's a problem at all, you only have to learn one interface (either GNOME or KDE) to be able to use Linux, and they're not massively different to Windows.
Besides which, as much as seasoned Linux users all have their favourite distro, Linux for new users basically means Ubuntu.
(Although maybe not for much longer, after the spectacular stupidity of the window button rearrangement.)

I think the real hurdle is probably the fact people will inevitably find some piece of software online and be unable to install it.
There is probably a free alternative to whatever it is, it might even already be installed, but they don't necessarily know that.

 

[Sander Hoksbergen]

Archlinux for two years now. Also a bit of Ubuntu and XP for simplicity's sake and some high-qraphics games...

 

[quadomatic]

Arch on all my PCs

I love Arch so much. Arch is probably the only linux distro I've ever used with an active forum that can rival that of Ubuntu. Also, the Documentation/Wiki is stellar.

I had been using a broken stick of ram (which I was not aware of) so my hard drive was constantly getting corrupted. I figured it out back in October or November and then pulled it out. I didn't reinstall Arch though. It had held up all that time so I figured why bother. In December it finally ceased to boot, so out of necessity and because of a lack of time, I installed Ubuntu 9.10.

I would love to go back to Arch. It was WAY more efficient with memory usage (which is important when your laptop only has 2GB of ram and you like to run a lot of apps at once). Unforunately, I don't really have the time to do the install and configuration at the moment, what with exams and such.

Hopefully I can get back to Arch in May or so, but until then Ubuntu 9.10 should suit me alright. It performs surprisingly well overall.

 

[lulzfish]

I didn't think there would be any difference between RAM usage in Arch and Ubuntu, unless Ubuntu requires an obscene amount of RAM for its package manager, or unless you weren't using GNOME in Arch.

I always use KDE 4, but with 2GB of RAM, I can still have a music player and text editor active with sshfs, ssh, a handful of Chrome tabs, Blender, and an RSS reader up in the background.

I've never gotten any operating system to run out of RAM on this laptop, though Linux-based OSes tend to become unresponsive with heavy disk access. I think I have DMA enabled. :/ Doesn't happen much. Oh well.

 

[quadomatic]

I use GNOME under both OS's, but it seems as though I rarely go above 1GB of ram in Arch, barely used swap. Swap is constantly being used in Ubuntu, definitely not as snappy overall.

 

[conso]

My laptop only has 512 MB RAM. Arch+Xfce run great on it (Currently using ~350MB after 30 days uptime and with firefox, thunderbird, some java apps and several filemanagers/editors/terminals running on several virtual desktops), Xubuntu is a mess.
I try to keep the system as clean as possible, especially only the most essential gnome-libs, and that's waaaay easier with Arch. In the end, it really makes a major difference, with AUR allowing you to compile several apps without their gnome-dependencies without hassle.
But for the pandora, I don't think this is very important, cause most devs/packagers will try to take RAM-usage into account and will optimise the binarys for the system.

 

[Mofokubik]

I just put crunchbang lite on my aspire one, so far so good. It's such a relief to be off of windows, now I don't have to deal with that damn autorun virus. I still use windows xp on my desktop, how can one be expected to give up their favorite programs?

 

[timwylie]

I use a customized Xubuntu on all my systems. I also play a lot with other os's in virtual machines.

 

[NeoTheFox]

Yellow Dog Linux

 

[Mithrildor]

I use Windows XP 32 bit (need to update to 64bit sometime to use all my 4 GB RAM)

 

[dflemstr]

This machine is a Kubuntu 4 GiB Q6600 machine, but it still runs out of memory all the time and lags like heck. Kubuntu is partly to blame of course; I usually use Arch when I don't need stable packages, but part of the reason is also that I run 1 LuxRender render and 2 compilers in the background on average constantly, so yeah...

 

[torpor]

My quad-core AMD 9550 machine has 8gigs of RAM and a few terabytes of disk space. My disks are terribly slow (waiting for SSD prices to come down before I rebuild my system disk on a super-fast SSD..), but other than that I really love my machine .. its a speed demon.

I'm running Ubuntu Studio64, mostly because of the ease of all the audio apps which really work well once you get everything configured. It helps that I chose hardware I knew was compatible with Linux from the start for this machine .. if you choose wisely, all things work just as well as a Mac: Audio, 3D, 2D, disks, etc.

I of course am mostly soaking my 8gigs of RAM with VM's, and I have to say that this one workstation of mine, which is also a DAW, can be rigged up with at least 8 independent and working operational VM systems, and for these old eyes, that is truly a wonder. Being able to carry 8 different working systems in the room on a single PC is just, really great.

Anyway, I love my Linux workstation. Its a truly positive experience to be running pretty much everything I need, quite smoothly. SSD's are going to make a huge difference, 'tis my next upgrade, though ..

 

[bzar]

This machine is a Kubuntu 4 GiB Q6600 machine, but it still runs out of memory all the time and lags like heck. Kubuntu is partly to blame of course; I usually use Arch when I don't need stable packages, but part of the reason is also that I run 1 LuxRender render and 2 compilers in the background on average constantly, so yeah...

What. I have 2GiB RAM and almost never run out of memory unless I'm using a ton of software at the same time, at which point it's not the KDE sucking it up. What's taking up all your memory?

 

[Asiyura]

What. I have 2GiB RAM and almost never run out of memory unless I'm using a ton of software at the same time, at which point it's not the KDE sucking it up. What's taking up all your memory?

Like he said, he render 3D scene with luxrender and compile in the background.