Which Linux distro do you use?

What Linux distro do you use and why? I'm currently running Ubuntu 10.10. I like it because its easy to use and has a lot of community support so it's easy to find answers to problems.

I also use Ubuntu, and only Ubuntu.
Now using 10.10 also.



I use it because i love the concept, I love open source, I love freedom,
and i love the community!

And I especially love it because it is the most amazing, best working OS ive ever known.
and it's very easy for noobs.

I find Ubuntu soo great,
that I would actually pay good money for it before I used any windows OS for free.

Thinking about learning more about Debian though.
But Ill always use Ubuntu.

That's an interesting taskbar you have. What is it?

I've used quite a few distros and have guinea-pigged them on various customers.

Right now I'm using Mandriva 2010 on the PC we use as a TV.
It runs well, however is lacking some of the multimedia support you find in Linux Mint.
Although all of the codecs can be found in the repositories, it DEFAULTS to software supported by Mandriva -
which is not free and you have to pay for. It never really tells you what the free alternative is. I really don't like
it very much for that reason.

Linux Mint.
The Gnome versions have worked well, however the interface has changed little and they've not done a whole lot
to spruce it up other than various minor changes.
Multimedia support is good, speed is good, I'd have to say it's my favorite out of them all. It includes most of the things that you have to go out and download ANYWAY in Ubuntu. Or at my last check of ubuntu, which was somewhere around ver 7 it was.
I have found that sometimes (more often than rarely, but less than common) the X server will crash on login, everytime, regardless of what type of login you select.
The XFCE version of LM 8 I've found to be buggy, and will crash the X server sometimes on certain machines, and refuse to load after that.
LM7 seems to work better on computers from the 2003-2005 era, and LM8 (gnome) works a tad better than LM9.

Peppermint
Ugh. LXDE isn't for anyone.

PCLINUX OS. Could be a great system, really slow about version releases. The Gnome version had a nice looking theme, but wouldn't run on much hardware.

Zenwalk. Fast system. Rather hard for beginners to learn to use. Minimilastic interface gets annoying.

Fedora. No thanks. The world does not revolve around you.

Suse. Hard to grasp after a few years of ubuntu only. I gave up.

iMagic OS. Sorry to admit, I bought this crappy software. I was surrounded by at least two dozen PC's and laptops and couldn't get it to live boot on a SINGLE ONE of them. My only consolation was whizzing the CD across the room at as close to the speed of sound I could muster and basking for a moment in the rainbow reflections of light from hundreds of shards when it exploded against the wall.

Puppy Linux. If you're down to your last dollar, and all you've got is an old POS computer, and no friends to loan you a copy of XP, but somehow you still have internet, and all you NEED to do really is browse the web - this is the distro for you.

Simply Mepis. Not too bad, slightly dated, a tad of tweaking and it works pretty good. When LM or Ubuntu won't work, this usually will.

Vector Linux. I'm not certain what sort of individual wrote the installer for this version, but at first I thought it was a joke. It seems as if they tried to program their supposed "sense of humor" into the software and failed miserably. When menu choices such as "Continue, Back, Cancel" would suffice, this person employed sentence fragments such as "YEAH!! Bring it on!!!, WHOOPS!! I made a mistake, I have NO CLUE what I'm doing, TAKE ME OUTTA HERE!!" - it really brings to light that they must have one of the most irritating personalities this side of Carrot Top.


That's my take on the various linux versions worth mentioning.

Puppy Linux is great, runs quick even on old junk.

I'm a FreeBSD fan, although the latest release in a pita to get gnome running properly. Rock solid, secure.

Ubuntu is nice, I'm using mythbuntu out on the htpc rig.

If you have an old pc, a couple of nic cards, etc, I recommend pfsense for a router/intrusion detection system.
I'm wondering if all those dumb little store bought router boxes have a hole waiting for the feds to peek in....I don't trust the dumb little boxes.

MMD

Linux Mint has a Debian edition. One of the Pros listed is that it is a 'rolling release' so it's always getting updated instead of a 'frozen release' like the regular Mint that's based off Ubuntu. So Linux Mint Debian doesn't rely on Ubuntu at all.

More info:

www.linuxmint.com...

I will probably play around with it as a Live CD just to see what's it's like.

I have worked with linux and BSD in some form or another for years. On my own though Damn small linux is the one I have had most luck with. It offers a moderate list of real world applications that can be downloaded, and isn’t freaking bloated.

In regard to more mainline distributions. Ubuntu is the most workable. For the features it provides Ubuntu is a bit of a memeory hog to some degree.

Bloat is something all linux distributions have suffered from. Even DSL is bloated for the features it offers.

I have over 15 computers in my main computer fleet. Only 4 of them are capable of using (not currently using, just capable of using if needed to use) ubuntu. The others can’t because of various causes. Graphics compatibility, processor capabilities, memory limitations, or other unsupported features that I need to use..

If I have a P3 with 100meg ram, and was given a choice between DSL and WinME, I would use WinME.

On a newer computer, Given a choice between win XP and Ubuntu, And I had to get real work done, I would chose XP. Heck I would chose Win ME or Win 95 over Ubuntu.

The only usability I would be getting by going to linux vs ME on a newer computer is the full use of multiple cores. There is far more software available for the older windows versions than the linux distributions.

Yes, you can get the source code, compile, debug, compile, debug ….. (rinse and repeat) until I get a useable version of the program I wan to use on Ubuntu. But it is far easyer to go to the normal shareware site and download a RTTY program that will run on anything from windows 95 to windows 7 and run with it.

That is always been the linux Achilles heel. Lack of long term generational application compatibility. You have to keep recompile everything every time the wind blows. There is no such thing as a stable binary. You can’t have a stable binary because the interface the application connects to keeps changing every time an ubuntu developer wipes his butt. It is an obvious problems with the long term development strategy of linux that they have never fixed.

You could say that I have grown a bit pessimistic of linux as time has passed.

I think I've worked through a lot of the the distro's out there and usually find Ubuntu the most stable.. currently playing with PCLOS since I have rolled one of my own that is stripped down and suitable for the range of UMPCs I have..

In that vain I have been to trying to see if I can replace the Android I have on an Archos iPad look alike with a Ubuntu flavour (currently only works with cupcake)

One computer is duel boot windows XP and Ubuntu.
My backup computer and laptop are mint 9.
I also have a 16gb flash setup to run on any computer under USB Pen Drive Linux
This allows me to run on other peoples computers with out any history or anyway for them to track what sites i went to.
great in libraries, Internet cafes, school computer systems and company computers.

I am in the process of doing a flash drive setup on a 32gb flash drive that will allow me to go from any computer with Internet and a USB port to my home computer with a encrypted link and surf the Internet using my home computer as a encrypted proxy server this will likely be done with Linux mint 9

This system will beat 99.9 % of all blocking software and leave no record of what you were doing.

If it works i may make it open source for anyone.

I use Fedora. The only reason I really use it because everything I am surrounded with at work uses it.

If you want to try different versions I would use the Oracle VM app to play around with them.
Oracle VM

reply to post by sykickvision


errmmm - mandriva has everything you need, what the 'official' site does not tell you is that you need the extra repositories adding, this gives you access to all multi-media codecs, various 'restricted' tools, etc

the repo's can be added here

easyurpmi.zarb.org...

but be aware of this

The PLF project maintains Mandriva Linux packages that cannot be included in the official Mandriva sources due to various reasons, such as Mandriva policies regarding software patents

i've been a contented mandriva user for over 5 years, i can open and view/play any media file - whether its embeded or on my hdd,
and its all free

I think Ubuntu may have given my best overall experience back when I was running it.

But, I just have this liking for Open Suse. It's the green and the lizard I guess.

Someone did mention the problems with Linux, and without a doubt I ran into problems along the way.

Fedora didn't readily include easy access to things like closed source Nvidia drivers in their default repositories, which made it a bit of a pain for someone like me, still unfamiliar with Linux.

Linux has definitely come a long way in user friendliness though.

For most things I could use Linux, but I'm kind of stuck with Windows until Magic Jack, and Meta Trader 4 runs on Linux. But, then, there is the fact that most of the computers I work on are Windows based, so I have to stay connected. I would love to get away from Windows for the simple fact I don't like what Bill Gates is supporting these days.

Troy

Fedora man myself, since before FC 6. I have test drove the others, like PC Linux a lot, but as was said above, it will not run on certain machines. I especially love the Drake Configuration, and wish Fedora had that, or something like it. I like Fedora because it is not an "out of the box" distro, you have to install it, then configure it to your liking and performance. Being a long time user, I can set it up in just a few hours to my satisfaction. The bad things about Fedora, as compared to Ubuntu and PCL, Fedora is not a "rolling upgrade" distro. When you want a new version, you have to do a fresh install. That can be a pain for some, but I feel like a fresh install refreshes everything to like new performance. Fedora 14 is probably the best version so far, I have had only one bug, which was easily worked around. Pulse Audio now has a nice EQ that I use a lot. I only install Windows for customers, wouldn't use it myself.

I am an anomaly in the computer world. I don't know why - I didn't ask for it. I'm special by no means.
I've used linux before in the past, and have installed it for various clients. It is best suited for cruising myspace, facebook, and of course the porno sites without fear of becoming contaminated by some digital gremlin intent on cleaning out your bank account. The majority of programs for linux are by any standard, minimal at best - Gimp for example is the approximation of wearing roller skates while performing neurosurgery in a room full of screaming lemurs. Forget the lemurs, maybe that was a bit too much. I would have to rewrite my database in OO to be able to use it, and it doesn't offer the same functionality for scanners as does windows (it is sooo easy) in which I keep copies of important papers, receipts, the norm.
Now, having said this, I do not have any sort of antivirus program on my computer. Neither do I have any sort of firewall connected to my network anywhere. I have no running anti-malware software, no sandbox. The only precautions that I use is avoiding Internet Explorer AND Media player. I DO have WOT installed for firefox, but it merely warns of sites with ill intentions before you click on them after doing a search. I use facebook, myspace, google, yahoo, and quite frequently visit sites that I've never visited before. I download music, and utilize facebook. I'm a bit of a torrent freak and like to keep up with my favorite US & BBC tv shows that way. It makes my schedule a bit more flexible.
What is unusual about my situation is that the ONLY time I have EVER had any sort of viral infection was of my own doing. I became infected with the Conficker deal after tainting my flash drive in an infected computer.

Originally posted by sykickvision
I do not have any sort of antivirus program on my computer. Neither do I have any sort of firewall connected to my network anywhere. I have no running anti-malware software, no sandbox. The only precautions that I use is avoiding Internet Explorer AND Media player. I DO have WOT installed for firefox, but it merely warns of sites with ill intentions before you click on them after doing a search. I use facebook, myspace, google, yahoo, and quite frequently visit sites that I've never visited before. I download music, and utilize facebook. I'm a bit of a torrent freak and like to keep up with my favorite US & BBC tv shows that way. It makes my schedule a bit more flexible.
What is unusual about my situation is that the ONLY time I have EVER had any sort of viral infection was of my own doing.

That is foolish and I hope not advice that anyone here would follow. It's your gear and ultimately your data at risk. You could be compromised and not even know it (root kit). However its your opinion and I respect that I just hope others are not as carefree and naive.

Back to the topic, used many flavors but have settled on Ubuntu. Does what I need and minimal problems.

brill

Open-source consultancy Zegenie Studios has released a beta quiz for Linux newbies that helps them choose the best distribution to run based on their skills, needs, and computer.

www.shivamtech.in...

Ran across this article: install Mint on netbook using virtualclonedrive for those who want to try Linux on a system minus an optical drive. Seems to work well on my netbook, so far.

Just recently made the switch from XP to Ubuntu 10.10 full-time... Now that I have it running the way I want, it's WAY better than XP and it's bloatware! It's great for customization, and I really want to support and contribute to open source projects (while at the same time giving the finger to Microsoft and Apple monopolizers), so I figure this is the way to go.

I also run BackTrack 4 RC2 as my second boot, it's great for learning the ins and outs of network and computer security. It's a full featured pentesting distro - arguably the best available. It's used by the US government departments for pentests and Red Team operations... I'm definately not a 733t h4x0r or anything, but it's still great for testing the waters

I do not have any sort of antivirus program on my computer. Neither do I have any sort of firewall connected to my network anywhere. I have no running anti-malware software, no sandbox. The only precautions that I use is avoiding Internet Explorer AND Media player. I DO have WOT installed for firefox, but it merely warns of sites with ill intentions before you click on them after doing a search. I use facebook, myspace, google, yahoo, and quite frequently visit sites that I've never visited before. I download music, and utilize facebook. I'm a bit of a torrent freak and like to keep up with my favorite US & BBC tv shows that way. It makes my schedule a bit more flexible. What is unusual about my situation is that the ONLY time I have EVER had any sort of viral infection was of my own doing. I became infected with the Conficker deal after tainting my flash drive in an infected computer.

Oh you You're asking for trouble. You are by no means safe only because you're on linux and you're "careful" about what you download. Viruses are NOT the only way of people compromising your system - if you're on the internet (especially without a firewall), you're vulnerable and generally traceable. Get a decent AV for linux, like clamav... and jeez, ANY firewall. P

Ubuntu

It has basic compiz pre-installed and getting the rest for 3D cube is very simple.It also has gnome which is better than KDE imo.

Opinions please:

Would like to have a distro on pendrive that I can use on the go and anywhere that I may not be assured a secure wi-fi (i.e. coffee shops, etc.) Which would would you all recommend for the novice user?

Puppy Linux
Damn Small Linux
Lightweight Portable Security, for public use

P.s. If there is another option I haven't run across yet, please let me know too, but it has to be fairly simple to use. I'm still learning.