cork1958
Cork
join:2000-02-26
Fruitport, MI
 ·Verizon Online DSL
 ·Charter Pipeline
1 edit | reply to joetaxpayer
Re: Recommended Linux Distro
Ubuntu is nothing but a fanboy bloatware version of Linux. Sure it has a ton of users and killer forums, but half the reason it has such a large forums is because it ALWAYS has problems.
That updater thing was always screwing up my installation.
Blag, »www.blagblagblag.org/ and Zenwalk, »www.zenwalk.org/ are killer bare bones Linux distros that EVERYTHING works with, out of the box, unlike Ubuntu also.
You still have to find codecs to play tunes/videos, flashplayer isn't included, etc...................
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The Firefox alternative.
»www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/ |
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Kakalaky
Premium
join:2003-04-04
Broken Arrow, OK | reply to joetaxpayer
Since I'm tired of seeing the same answers every time:
»www.linuxfromscratch.org/
At least you would have decent idea of how linux works by the time you got it working. |
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geonap
lolatidiots
join:2005-12-14
Glendale, CA | reply to joetaxpayer
slackware is for people who know what they're doing, the upper percentile. god i love it! |
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Ryno
The Wanderer
Premium
join:2001-04-07
Danielsville, PA | reply to joetaxpayer
I'm not a linux user, but installed Linux Mint on an old computer a couple days ago to play with it. I had an easier time than other versions I tried for a day or two and gave up on. |
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Stumbles
join:2002-12-17
Port Saint Lucie, FL | reply to joetaxpayer
PCLinuxOS, get it here; »www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?opti···temid=28 |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| reply to joetaxpayer
I've fallen in love with Mint 7 for a desktop since it's been released. It's based on Ubuntu so all Ubuntu packages work with it, but it takes a more "out of the box " usability approach. Everything works out of the box, even WMV video.
I run CentOS on our servers but if you really would like to significantly increase your understanding of Linux, I suggest a stage 1 or stage 2 Gentoo install. I had a blast with that back in the day. |
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SLD
Premium
join:2002-04-17
·Comcast
1 edit | reply to joetaxpayer
I run Ubuntu server on all of our Linux servers...works quite well and has great support. These are sites that rank within the top 5000 on Alexa and push up to 150,000 unique visitors per day, and up to 1GBit/sec of traffic. It is a nice, stable OS with easy firewall configuration and package management. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| said by SLD  :I run Ubuntu server on all of our Linux servers...works quite well and has great support. These are sites that rank within the top 5000 on Alexa and push up to 150,000 unique visitors per day, and up to 1GBit/sec of traffic. It is a nice, stable OS with easy firewall configuration and package management. One of the things that I love about Ubuntu Server (but hated at first) was it really, truly, is barebones. I do an absolute minimal install of CentOS quite a bit and still have to strip out things like bluetooth, avahi, and cups. Ubuntu Server? None of that crap! |
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joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| reply to Kakalaky
said by Kakalaky :Since I'm tired of seeing the same answers every time: » www.linuxfromscratch.org/At least you would have decent idea of how linux works by the time you got it working. I appreciate this kind of reply. I understand the tinkering, and people who enjoy it. Me, I installed the Ubuntu, no issue. I can access it via VNC from both my Macs and other PCs in the house. I can also access via network to move files to/from the Ubuntu box. So for now, I'm all set.
I know that software will be a random thing, and some things like iTunes are not available in Linux. I'll keep reading to see what I can and can't do on this PC. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
1 edit | said by joetaxpayer :iTunes are not available in Linux. This was a barrier for me too, but unless you're syncing a device that has to have iTunes (like an iPhone) you could start purchasing your music from the Amazon MP3 store. It's all non-DRM MP3 music. Even iTunes music is now DRM-free so you should be able to play and manage it with any Linux music manager.
If you have a large library of protected iTunes music, you could explore virtualization. I know at one point Virtualbox supported USB pass-thru, so you could run Windows in a virtual machine and still sync your iPhone and/or play your music. Not sure if it still does however and it's definitely not the most elegant solution, but it works. |
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joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| Matt, thanks, I just offered that as an example.
I'd like to find an app that would offer the feature that lets you see the PC from your TiVo, i.e. no encode/decode, just being able to use it to store video I ripped using the "desktop to go" feature. That would let me use this for backup as well as a TiVo server. I'll google around for that. Haven't started the search. |
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SLD
Premium
join:2002-04-17 | reply to Matt
Yeah, and the JEOS is great for a VMWare install. |
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greenrider
Premium
join:2005-04-30
canada
| reply to joetaxpayer
hi;
i think it depends on what u want to do. If you want to learn then maybe Slackware. If u want to just use it right out of box then maybe Ubuntu. Likely the one u choose will be the one u stick with and champion on replies like this. As for me, I chose Slackware and have learned a lot about Linux which, of course, is what I wanted to do.
good luck |
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Noah Vail
Premium
join:2004-12-10
Lorton, VA
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to joetaxpayer
I don't have the linux experience, that a lot of folks here have. So, if I have to be surfing the *nix learning curve, I'd like the experience to be as enjoyable as possible.
I really do like having a desktop environment, but I don't have a preference; KDE - GNOME - whatever. What's important for me is a lack of driver issues. I don't expect a piece of hardware developed today to work out of the box, but if I'm working with 4 year old hardware, I'd hope we'd be past struggling with it.
I have a copy of Fedora 11 beta that I put in a boot thumb. It's been terrific in every way. It seems to work on everything. I can't remember a single driver issue on new hardware or old. I can't count how many times I've used it to get at data from a corrupted or infected hard drive.
I have a live version of Puppy that my 10 year old uses on the junk hardware I bring home. It does a lot more than I thought it would and it's hardware support seems pretty good as well.
I like smoothwall for NAT and firewall, cause I'm a sucker for a web interface.
My 16 year old wanted to setup vBulletin on a home notebook. I finally settled on openSUSE 10. It wasn't as hardware friendly as others, but it seemed to handle Apache and PHP without much of a complaint.
The next project is to try to integrate a Samba Server into an existing Windows Domain. Right now, I'm looking to use either Gentoo, CentOS or Debian.
NV
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In my perfect religion, a giant hole appears and sucks up all the lousy people.
I call it the Crapture. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| said by Noah Vail :The next project is to try to integrate a Samba Server into an existing Windows Domain. Right now, I'm looking to use either Gentoo, CentOS or Debian. I wrote a how-to in 2007 for CentOS and Windows 2003 R2 that might help: »blog.wazollc.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=2 |
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Anub1s
join:2003-05-04
Cleveland, OH
·AT&T Yahoo
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to cork1958
said by cork1958 :Ubuntu is nothing but a fanboy bloatware version of Linux. Sure it has a ton of users and killer forums, but half the reason it has such a large forums is because it ALWAYS has problems. That updater thing was always screwing up my installation. Blag, » www.blagblagblag.org/ and Zenwalk, » www.zenwalk.org/ are killer bare bones Linux distros that EVERYTHING works with, out of the box, unlike Ubuntu also. You still have to find codecs to play tunes/videos, flashplayer isn't included, etc................... FUD. Almost trollish.
If you can't use Ubuntu, it is you, not the OS.
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*Intel Core2Duo E8400,8gigs Dual CH.OCZ,1x160Gs 1x320Gs WD,PVR-250,NVIDIA 9500gt
Ubuntu 9.04 64bit |
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Logan 5
Some people go WAY over the top
Premium,MVM
join:2001-05-25
The WasteLAN | reply to joetaxpayer
How's Knoppix these days? |
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Derspankster
Premium
join:2003-02-12
Marion, OH
·RoadRunner Cable
·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit | reply to cork1958
said by cork1958 :Ubuntu is nothing but a fanboy bloatware version of Linux. Sure it has a ton of users and killer forums, but half the reason it has such a large forums is because it ALWAYS has problems. That updater thing was always screwing up my installation. Blag, » www.blagblagblag.org/ and Zenwalk, » www.zenwalk.org/ are killer bare bones Linux distros that EVERYTHING works with, out of the box, unlike Ubuntu also. You still have to find codecs to play tunes/videos, flashplayer isn't included, etc................... Everything is included out of the box? "You still have to find codecs to play tunes/videos, flashplayer isn't included, etc..................." Those distros don't sound that "complete" and "working out of the box". "That updater thing was always screwing up my installation." Sounds like an (disgruntled) Ubuntu user to me.
Actually, my biggest issue with Ubuntu really has nothing to do with the OS itself. I choose to run Compiz and it's a buggy bastard to say the least. I don't need it but you kind of get used to the purty windows and all.
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my site: »www.lairdslair.com/ |
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BryanC1968
join:2003-06-10
Elkins, WV
·Verizon Online DSL
·Suddenlink
| reply to Noah Vail
said by Noah Vail :The next project is to try to integrate a Samba Server into an existing Windows Domain. Right now, I'm looking to use either Gentoo, CentOS or Debian. NV If your looking to set up just a simple network file server then give FreeNAS a look... »www.freenas.org/ ... I have been running it on an old machine I pieced together from spare parts for about 4 months now and it works great... I am actually using the embedded image running off a compact flash card... I have 2 640GB SATA drives installed for a total of 1.2TB of storage... |
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joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| reply to joetaxpayer
I am starting to understand that Linux is not really intended to be 'plug and play". Even though Ubuntu has the download option, which is cool, there are pieces of software whose installation needs a bit of intelligence.
I am looking at »galleon.sourceforge.net/index.ph···temid=51 which will let the PC be used as a server to my tivo. Admittedly, the instructions are Greek to me, I need to decide how much time to put into this. Linux for Dummies is next. |
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