What's Your Favourite Linux Distro?


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soup_nazi

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I've recently built a new computer which means I've got my old one as a spare. I've never run linux before (except briefly once years ago on a CD with Knoppix on it) and figure now is a good time to give it a proper go. I'm wondering what's everyone's prefered distro here and why?

The PC I'll be running this on has the following spec:

- AMD Athlon 2200+ (1800MHz)

- Matrox Parhelia 128MB

- 1GB PC3200 RAM

- 120 GB Hard Drive

So, let me know what you like if you like. :p I'm currently downloading a copy of ubuntu.
Any recommended Desktop Environments, Apps etc are also more than appreciated!

Thanks.
 
Ubuntu's the one that I prefer, although Slackware's fun if you really want to know what your doing with Linux.
I didn't realise how polished Ubuntu is until I tried CentOS the other day. I expected CentOS to be a lot better as it's the free version of RedHat, but wasn't that taken with it.

Ease of use your after then go with Ubuntu.
Want to learn the real Linux then go with Slackware.
Want to learn Linux for business? then it's either RedHat/CentOS that you need or SUSE.

The desktop you choose pretty much varies from person to person.

If you want to by pass the command line a lot & use the GUI then KDE's ok.
If you want to use the GUI for all the normal stuff & turn to the command line for the more complicated options then Gnome is better.
Too many light weight desktops to choose from, but your comps a decent spec for you not to bother with that option if you don't want to anyway :) (xfce's coming along very nicely these days though).

At the moment, the apps you use will mainly come down to which desktop you go with. This will change within the next year or so though as the desktops start to work together & all programs will look good on any of the desktops.

Hope you enjoy it whichever options you choose :D
 
Great, thanks for the advice Tripmonkey! :) I think I'll install Ubuntu with Gnome for now to get me going. I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun with this. :p
 
soup_nazi posted on Nov 18 2006 said:
Great, thanks for the advice Tripmonkey! :) I think I'll install Ubuntu with Gnome for now to get me going. I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun with this. :p
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No probs but a couple more things..

Set all the multimedia stuff up (at least once) by yourself instead of using a program to do it. You'll learn a lot more :)

Don't forget that you can always install more than one desktop to test out.

You can always use KDE programs with Gnome & vice verse, they just might not fit your theme as well as the native ones.

If you install the Gnome version of Ubuntu & install the KDE desktop for testing, it has been known to cause problems sometimes (tries to take over too much). The problems can be sorted out quite easily but it is a pain.

If you need help, then the best place to look is the Ubuntu Document Storage Facility & the forums of course.

You might find some handy info on my old site too? here!

Good luck ;)
 
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I'll second Ubuntu (or third or whatever), if you're using the i386 version. The AMD64 version leaves a little to be desired. I also like Gentoo a lot, but it's probably a bit much for a new Linux user to get used to. If you decide to go with Slackware, though, you can use Gentoo's portage with it for package management (or NetBSD's excellent pkgsrc.)
 
Another vote for Ubuntu, but it's not really worth running 64-bit Ubuntu as of yet. I prefer GNOME as a desktop, but use amaroK for music. Ubuntu has a really easy way of installing software (Applications->Add/Remove...) and a huge comprehensive guide at http://ubuntuguide.org for everything you'll need to do.

I use beryl as my window manager because I like the rotating desktops, zooming and transparency and that. It's easy to set up, there are plenty of guides, and if you have a reasonable video card it'll work fine. For video I use VLC, web browsing Firefox, IRC and MSN etc. GAIM and for documents and stuff Abiword or Openoffice.org. I also use deskbar, which comes in very handy, and beagle which indexes files.

Gentoo isn't for you if you like having a computer that works without hassle and like installing software without having to compile it. That and you actually want to do stuff rather than waiting for everything to compile...
 
I use ubuntu, works nicely :)

@nickspoon you might want to check out Listen I used to use amarok but have since switched because it doesn't use KDE and I use gnome, I don't think there are any Edgy packages... but I didn't compile it from source so I guess the dapper ones work fro edgy
 
The compile time for packages on Gentoo is overstated by just about everyone. Unless you're building OpenOffice.org from source or a full desktop environment (KDE or Gnome) just about everything compiles pretty quickly. The only time the compile time ever bothered me was during the initial install, but that was because I had so much to build. I guess I'm just used to the BSDs where building everything from source is the norm.
 
Ravnos posted on Nov 18 2006 said:
The compile time for packages on Gentoo is overstated by just about everyone. Unless you're building OpenOffice.org from source or a full desktop environment (KDE or Gnome) just about everything compiles pretty quickly. The only time the compile time ever bothered me was during the initial install, but that was because I had so much to build. I guess I'm just used to the BSDs where building everything from source is the norm.
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Compile the GP2X dev environment... that takes hours.
 
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Ravnos posted on Nov 18 2006 said:
The compile time for packages on Gentoo is overstated by just about everyone. Unless you're building OpenOffice.org from source or a full desktop environment (KDE or Gnome) just about everything compiles pretty quickly. The only time the compile time ever bothered me was during the initial install, but that was because I had so much to build. I guess I'm just used to the BSDs where building everything from source is the norm.
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compiling stuff isn't that bad, just need to get all the dependencies, which is the annoying part

once I get a new computer I think I'll try out gentoo or slack or something else, far too lazy right now

wai I'm getting a new hdd for xmas hopefully, I'll do it then
 
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Shikaku posted on Nov 18 2006 said:
Ravnos posted on Nov 18 2006 said:
The compile time for packages on Gentoo is overstated by just about everyone. Unless you're building OpenOffice.org from source or a full desktop environment (KDE or Gnome) just about everything compiles pretty quickly. The only time the compile time ever bothered me was during the initial install, but that was because I had so much to build. I guess I'm just used to the BSDs where building everything from source is the norm.
Click to expand...

Compile the GP2X dev environment... that takes hours.
Click to expand...
This isn't a Gentoo-specific problem, nobody's released binary packages for it that I'm aware of (though I might tar up my open2x folder and put it on the archive if I can stop being lazy.)

Also, try compiling it in a VM. Hours? Try days.
 
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