joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
 ·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| Recommended Linux Distro
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 |
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graysonf
Premium,MVM
join:1999-07-16
Fort Lauderdale, FL | Have a read up on »www.distrowatch.com |
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firephoto
KDE
Premium
join:2003-03-18
 ·Verizon west (ex G..
| reply to joetaxpayer
said by joetaxpayer  :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.~~ |
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joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA | reply to joetaxpayer
Thank you both. I'll look at Ubuntu. |
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SirMeowmixIII
join:2009-06-15
Birmingham, AL
| reply to joetaxpayer
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. |
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i2Fuzzy
join:2009-02-25
Cumming, GA
·AT&T DSL Service
| said by 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. 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 |
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Vampirefo
Premium,MVM
join:2000-12-11
Huntington, WV | reply to joetaxpayer
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.
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Best RegardsVampirefo |
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joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| reply to SirMeowmixIII
said by 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. 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. |
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SirMeowmixIII
join:2009-06-15
Birmingham, AL
| said by joetaxpayer :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. |
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munky99999
Munky
join:2004-04-10
canada
clubs:
| reply to joetaxpayer
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. |
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No_Strings
Premium,Mod
join:2001-11-22
The OC
Host:
Wireless Networking
All Things Unix
Cox HSI
Qwest
Efficient
| said by munky99999 :slackware (arch lives in here) - oldies choice. Hey, did you just call me old?!
... not that you'd be wrong or anything |
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joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| reply to SirMeowmixIII
said by SirMeowmixIII :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. |
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rexbinary
Mod King
Premium
join:2005-01-26
Plano, TX | reply to No_Strings
Which distro will make me appear young and successful? |
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munky99999
Munky
join:2004-04-10
canada
clubs:
1 edit | said by rexbinary :Which distro will make me appear young and successful? Your own distro.
What OS do you use?
[coolguy] I made my own linux OS. |
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SirMeowmixIII
join:2009-06-15
Birmingham, AL
| reply to joetaxpayer
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. |
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firephoto
KDE
Premium
join:2003-03-18
·Verizon west (ex G..
| reply to rexbinary
said by rexbinary :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.
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~~This is not The Greatest Sig in the World without annoying urls, no. This is just a tribute.~~ |
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Waldothe3rd
Premium
join:2009-02-16
Sun N Sand
 ·ViaTalk
| reply to joetaxpayer
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! |
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joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| reply to SirMeowmixIII
said by SirMeowmixIII :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. |
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BryanC1968
join:2003-06-10
Elkins, WV
·Verizon Online DSL
·Suddenlink
| reply to joetaxpayer
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... |
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Xlogic
Premium
join:2002-10-17
Conyers, GA
clubs:
·AT&T Southeast
| reply to joetaxpayer
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
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"Better to be a geek than an idiot." |
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