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Home > Archive > Linux/Unix > September 2003 > what is the newest and the greatest distro!
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what is the newest and the greatest distro!
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| ok... for some reason I can't explain, I nuked my rh9 box last nite and replaced it with ...
rh9...
so just a few hours later, I am already bored and thinking to take this opportunity *since it is already nuked* to put on something new.
now... most of the distro have been tried, some perhaps not that new. so I have been spending a few hours looking around just to see what has just been release and what value it adds.
seem like libranet 2.8.1 is the newest full service distro... reviews have been good and most claim it is definite improvement over debian... but I am still undecided whether I want to purchase it.
anyone have thoughts on what's the newest and the greatest?
I have some conflicitng criteria... I am not looking for a learning platform, I am quite lazy. I want to avoid newbiefied distro, I am too lazy to really deal with source based distro like gentoo... I like pretty stuff...
so something in the middle... like....
RH 9!...
so I am wrought with indecision 
anyway, wonder what everyone is using currently?
or any thought on what I should install and just to get it over with 
I have used debian years ago. I am, at this point, leaning toward any using debian package management. sick of rpm. tho thoughts of building my own geekified monster box base on gentoo is sort of appealing too... sigh
My Desktop Screenie
what I did to it last nite... it was a new look from the previous install butI am already bored with it and itching to nuke it with some thing better. | |
| Papiya 2003-09-08, 7:50 am |
| I suppose BSD is out of the question? | |
| Boulware5 2003-09-08, 1:04 pm |
| The "in" distro right now with the Linux geeks seems to be gentoo. It's a bit more complicated than the other distros but I hear great things about it. | |
| Papiya 2003-09-08, 1:39 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by Boulware5
It's a bit more complicated than the other distros but I hear great things about it.
That's what I heard about Slackware. | |
| Boulware5 2003-09-08, 1:49 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by Papiya
That's what I heard about Slackware.
Nah slackware is fairly easy in my opinion. Many people compile Gentoo Linux entirely from the original source code, which of course is a tad more advanced than other installs. | |
| Papiya 2003-09-08, 1:57 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by Boulware5
Nah slackware is fairly easy in my opinion. Many people compile Gentoo Linux entirely from the original source code, which of course is a tad more advanced than other installs.
Yeah, it was kind of disappointing. I started out using red Hat and kept hearing how Slack would teach you so much more about Unix . . . as it turned out, the package management system and installation procedure (text only) seemed to be the biggest differences to me. Compiling *everything* from the source code would seem to take quite a long time for a given install, though. | |
| prezbedard 2003-09-08, 4:26 pm |
| Mikop nice screen shot.
Well I got knoppix to work well not on the pc I was having touble with but one here at cyberspace. If anyone cares to take a look at the thread knoppix question please do. I thinking now it has something to do with the network card in the other pc because it is working fine right now. | |
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| BSD: got that cover, tho I am reading on their 5.x.
Gentoo: ya, definitely thinking about it, trying to muster the motivation because if I go that route, I want it to be perfect, none of this install wipe based on whim stuff.
slackware: tried it, didn't dig it.
I downloaded and burned these throughtout the day
1. gentoo 1.4 (maybe this weekend... not sure)
2. debian 3.0 r1. (not sure... )
3. mandrake 9.1 (haven't try mandrake for awhile. last oh 30 minutes and replaced with
3. mandrake 9.2 rc1 (on the box now.)
some opinion regarding mandrake (for information purpose since a lot of ppl visiting this forum may be totally new user who may pursue linux)
Man, their GUI install SUCKS compare to RH. not intuitive, stupid navigation. RH has it right, logical grouping with text instructions etc appearing on the left while you work the area unlike mandrake's. Their package selection screen is mess up. RH has a more *windows feel* and mandrake has that clicky *nix feel.
network config during install. so many menu screens to do something so simple.
basically, very poor interface design that waste a lot of screen space.
mandrake's login screen is also stupid. mouse operation there is stupid. geeeeee let me click my XPish avatar because I can't remember my user name or something... don't like it. RH's implementation is much more elegant.
Ok, why have KDE kicker like that to be windows like... UGLY. give me my big fat bar!
their menu bar grouping is more logical, any new user can easily navigate it and find stuff that they need quickly.
oh. back to package selection during hte install process...
o m g ! I always do custom so it doesn't matter to me... but man RH is smart to have a personal desktop, workstation etc selection... I keep thinking... man, I can walk my mom through RH's installation over the phone but for mandrake, which is commonly toted as the more new user friendly of the two, I know I will have to expand more energy in making sure she does exactly what I tell her.
I am gonna leave it on for a while till weekend and see how it goes, For this desktop, gonna go for a darker look... that previous desktop was fresh and I like the overall feel, but now I want a nastier look, will post screenie when I am sort of there. | |
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| Ok. now it is the just released mandrake 9.2 rc2
haven't dive into the meat, purely cosmetic since I like prutty things.
http://mikop.netfirms.com/desktop01.htm
started gentoo on another box just to peek, looks kind of cool. I haven't thought of my strategy there so it will have to wait till october but everything is quite straight forward. | |
| azimuth40 2003-09-10, 5:29 pm |
| Very nice mikop. like the background, love the picture.  | |
| mikop 2003-09-11, 12:33 am |
| hehe you know what I was thinking just now?
princess angry... she must be horrified of what I am doing to her beloved linux... all that eye candy stuff wasting cpu cycle... | |
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| hahaha - haven't seen her post since you put her firmly in her place.
Have you tried the Yoper distro? - of course being a Kiwi I am biased. | |
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| Nuked my mandrake 9.2
Installed gentoo 1.4
wheeeeeeee
7 hours later, what do I have? it boots, x is fine, kde fine, sound is find, video is fine, network is fine. what is not fine is. dvd and cd-rw but that's pretty much is just busy work. annoying but shouldn't be that big of a deal.
pretty stock install, was easy, basically, some basic understanding and the ability to read and follow direction along with patience than this isn't bad at all. slackware has nothing on this. this is quite close to build your own from scratch. blows away any menu / gui driven install.
*if anyone really want to do it right and custom build everything, really set out a whole weekend for this as I had planned... but I got impatient and figure I will just peek... I don't plan to stick with it tho, mandrake 9.2 was really cool with its ease of use and it was quite speedy and I just have too many crap on this box that would annoy the hell out of me if I have to manually sort it. I will continue gentoo on my other box tho, it is quite lean and mean. would be a neat platform to play around with without having to deal with the silly X stuff that has very little practical value.
This is also a reminder of how far linux has come... a major distro with its easy GUI install takes less than 30 minutes to get someone with minimal knowledge of computer to go from scratch to on the net using openoffice, mozilla etc etc listing to mp3 and watching dvd... quite an accomplishment.
was fun, now time for sleep, tommorrow mandrake will be back on my system. I am growing to like it a lot. | |
| I Hate Pascal 2003-09-15, 8:24 am |
| Working with Gentoo, Plan9 and Randyware at the moment. |
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