El Quintron
Could you spare a consulting gig?
join:2008-04-28
Etobicoke, ON
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Acanac
| reply to Vomio
Re: Looking to adopt a new Linux
said by Vomio  :To turn an everyday user to a sudoer, you need to install sudo and then add that user to the sudo group. Then set up the abilities for that user in /etc/sudoers using visudo as root. I may have missed something in that description as my memory is old and failing and I don't like using sudo myself. Having used Ubuntu previously it more or less reminded me of Ubuntu but with stricter adherence to old-school linux conventions.
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They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only this difference, they rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage. |
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Vomio
join:2008-04-01
·odynet
| reply to El Quintron
I forgot to mention a distro that can prove interesting.
It is build on Ubuntu but don't let that put you off, BackTrack 4 Pre Release.
I keep a copy on a USB stick, a security eye opener for sure.
Probably not too wise to carry some places, you might end up on the wrong list.
There are videos of some of the capabilities on the internets. |
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El Quintron
Could you spare a consulting gig?
join:2008-04-28
Etobicoke, ON | Duly noted.  |
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nigrunze
join:2009-02-14
Cote Saint-Luc, QC
1 edit | reply to El Quintron
said by El Quintron :said by amranu :Try Arch, don't have to compile from source like Gentoo, but otherwise very similar, also a rolling release. Compiling from source isn't all that scary to me, but how does it get apps and programs? Does it have a package manager? or do you compile from source? +1 for Arch. While I haven't used it extensively, I can say that it's a pretty good minimal distro. While it's definitely not a beginners distribution, if you have a bit of linux knowledge and time, you can easily get it installed with the help of the amazing Arch Linux wiki.
EQ, to answer your question, Arch uses a package manager called Pacman (What an awesome name!).
If you want to learn more about Arch, you can start reading the incredibly long and detailed Arch Linux Beginner's Guide.
said by Croaker :Friendliest install routine also. I'm going to have to disagree with that until they add a "back" button to the installer.
PCLinuxOS is like Mandriva but with Debian's APT package management system. |
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munky99999
Munky
join:2004-04-10
canada
clubs:
| reply to El Quintron
Ubuntu can do everything they want. The issue is that you need to keep on the development beta front to keep to the best compiling tools. Unlike say debian who wont.
Fedora/redhat/suse or similar more enterprise driven ones are very strong ones... but if you're finding ubuntu not quite up to your customizability. These wont be for you.
Gentoo is the ultra legoblock linux. Everything and everything is customized from the building blocks up. At the same time... you realllly realllly want to know what you're doing when going that route. PS. Bonus rewards for compiling the entire OS from scratch to completion!
Slackware is like 1995's best. We arent in 1995 anymore. Move on old people.
Arch linux is the go between... between ubuntu and gentoo I think. I havent used them personally and considering their massive security breach recently... probably wont.
Personally. I plan on Fedora 12 here in a few weeks time. Due out on the 17th of nov. I expect slightly later. Though I'm atm almost purely ubuntu. If I cant do it in ubuntu... im doing something wrong; not ubuntu. |
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El Quintron
Could you spare a consulting gig?
join:2008-04-28
Etobicoke, ON
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Acanac
| reply to nigrunze
said by nigrunze :+1 for Arch. While I haven't used it extensively, I can say that it's a pretty good minimal distro. While it's definitely not a beginners distribution, if you have a bit of linux knowledge and time, you can easily get it installed with the help of the amazing Arch Linux wiki. EQ, to answer your question, Arch uses a package manager called Pacman (What an awesome name!). (snip) PCLinuxOS is like Mandriva but with Debian's APT package management system. Good to know about Arch, I've basically narrowed it down to Arch or a Slackware child (Zenwalk, Salix) and I'm dying to rip through some stuff with that BackTrack beta...
You taught me another thing, I was under the impression that PClinuxOS was a RedHat child not a Mandriva child...
Thanks again,
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They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only this difference, they rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage. |
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Vomio
join:2008-04-01 | Grab the Pre Release not the beta.
»www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack···oad.html |
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El Quintron
Could you spare a consulting gig?
join:2008-04-28
Etobicoke, ON | Already did  |
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Angelo_
The Network Guy
Premium
join:2002-06-18 | backtrack is great as a live cd... |
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El Quintron
Could you spare a consulting gig?
join:2008-04-28
Etobicoke, ON | Have you used it as live-usb yet? |
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rex0
join:2002-02-10
| reply to El Quintron
I'll 3rd or 4th or whatever it is for arch. It's terribly underrated but I think its one of the better distros. No bloat and the pacman package manager is great., combined with the abs build system you can do automatic gentoo style building -> arch package if you like. Over the years I've used probably every major distro, for me anyways arch combines the best features of many of the other distros without their downsides. |
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joshb
Don't sweat the small stuff.
Premium
join:2006-03-04
Calgary, AB
clubs:
·TELUS
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| reply to El Quintron
Slackware
Gentoo
BSD
Are my top three picks.. I do sometimes go over and use Solaris at times... But it's a far 4th... and if I hit desperation I might go to fedora... But he double hockey sticks must freeze over for that to happen.
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R.I.P Mom We miss you. |
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Angelo_
The Network Guy
Premium
join:2002-06-18
·TekSavvy Solutions..
| reply to El Quintron
said by El Quintron :Have you used it as live-usb yet? yes works great |
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chronoss2009
join:2008-09-23
·TekSavvy Solutions..
| reply to El Quintron
ok this depends but here goes..
if you are migrating form windows of any kind and want a really close fit to what windows was in a linux and need some graphic drivers that other distros don't carry go get mandriva powerpack ( and yea its not free cause a those drivers but if you look ya can get a copy around with no drm crap serials or whatever)
and if your more skilled but not a pro go with ubuntu or fedora. hte fedora is mentioned for a mandriva user wishing to move to more pro like linux , and ubuntu has a lot a push form canical.
if your th eman then try out debian , there are htings to do for rtorrent setup that you dont need for ubuntu but all of it you get for debian is FOSS, i psent a year helping over 500 people migrate form windows to mandriva and some too unbuntu and this was back when laptop drivers were not the greatest, ALL but one are still linux.
I also reccomend if you need any windows apps to get the linux VMware and then drop whatever windows you nee don top of that so you cna do some apps, also make sure you get wine its handy for a number of windows only apps and also have a look at sourceforge.net for a ton of windows/linux FOSS |
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AnonRick
@teksavvy.com
| reply to Guspaz
said by Guspaz :If you really want to delve deeper, though, forget about Linux and start looking into Solaris or *BSD. You can even ease yourself into real Unix with Debian KFreeBSD (Debian with the FreeBSD kernel) or Nexenta (Ubuntu with the OpenSolaris kernel). +1 for FreeBSD
Another easy way to start is PC-BSD, a KDE desktop with FreeBDS under the hood. |
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distr0
join:2007-05-03
St George Brant, ON | reply to El Quintron
i've tried it all, and always end up back with fedora
new version out in 10 days too |
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jat
join:2008-04-28
Burlington, ON
| reply to El Quintron
said by El Quintron :Assuming a recent machine, with a beginner level understanding of the command line... are we talking hours, days or weeks? Even on a recent machine, I don't think it's possible to do a desktop install of Gentoo within hours, simply because of how long it will take to compile the big packages like KDE or GNOME. Mind you, the package manager automates all of that, so you could just leave it compiling overnight. But the thing about Gentoo is that it really makes no attempt to set anything up for you. You're on your own when it comes to configuration, including everything from creating an initial user account to figuring out what packages constitute a "desktop install." There are guides and plenty of documentation, but nonetheless it can be pretty daunting for a beginner. I'd wager a guess that it'll take at least a few days before you have a usable desktop, and possibly a week or two if you run into problems. If you really want to try Gentoo, I'd recommend running it on a server until you get the hang of things instead of diving right into a desktop install.
Personally, I'd suggest you stick with an "easy" distro, like Fedora, or Ubuntu, or maybe Linux Mint if you just want something different. But really, there's nothing you can do on Gentoo that you can't do on Ubuntu. The only difference is that Ubuntu automates all the hard stuff for you, hiding the details behind a pretty GUI. But it's all still there, and you can still access it just like you would on any other distro. For example, while you're "supposed" to use the fancy GUI package manager (Synaptic), you can still use a CLI one (aptitude) instead. Switching distros just means you're "supposed" to use the CLI package manger instead of the GUI one (which is probably still there). In other words, you're just as well off using your current distro in a different way than you're "supposed to" as you are using a different distro in the way it was designed. And as an added bonus, you can always fall back on the easy GUIs if you get a little stuck.
But if you really feel the need to switch distros to get more "in-depth" knowledge, I do have to recommend Debian. Ubuntu is based on it, so there's a lot of similarities there, and there's still plenty of automatic configuration, including CLI wizards for adding a user and choosing all the packages you need for a functional desktop. But Debian doesn't hold your hand nearly as much as Ubuntu does, and you end up encouraged to figure things out for yourself. It should make a good stepping stone going from Ubuntu's "do everything for you" approach to Gentoo's "do it all yourself" approach. |
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d25m03p
Premium
join:2007-12-26
Langley, BC | reply to El Quintron
I use the green monster - OpenSuse - since version 6, now version 11. One reason is I like the fact that the Suse setup tool "YAST" can be run in the GUI as well as at the command line. |
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Sears
join:2008-02-17
| reply to El Quintron
Gentoo is nice, used it for a couple of years. However, I eventually got tired of fixing compiles gone bezerk, upgrades gone bad or buggy ebuilds. Generally, it works well if you know what you were doing.
I'd have to vote for Debian testing. Pretty stable, recent software versions, and good support. Set up a ppa on launchpad and roll your own debs for specific software that isn't in the repositories if need be. |
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El Quintron
Could you spare a consulting gig?
join:2008-04-28
Etobicoke, ON
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Acanac
| reply to jat
said by jat :Personally, I'd suggest you stick with an "easy" distro, like Fedora, or Ubuntu, or maybe Linux Mint if you just want something different. Those are good points If I was dealing with a production machine but the machine I'm doing this on isn't going to be a production machine.
I'm bored with Ubuntu, but not computers so I'm going to have to change distros. That's also why I'm not interested in Debian due to its close relationship with Ubuntu.
Now assuming I had commercial needs (servers, automation) I would run Debian in a heartbeat because I'm assuming its better to work with something you know rather than something you don't.
Also, some machines work great with Ubuntu ~2-5 year vintage to present. Some are insanely, so running Ubuntu on that type of machine is a huge PITA and kinda does an injustice to linux all around. Hence why I'm going to get into a more complex one.
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They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only this difference, they rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage. |
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