Linux distributions

[Kumosan]

Currently using Gentoo, but this will change soon. I am not directly interested in Linux and I don't want to waste that much time anymore to search the Gentoo forum after each world update to get everything that broke running again.

[Brandybuck]

I needed a Linux on my laptop (because of the necessity to use a closed source proprietary video driver), and due to the lack of time, I put on Kubuntu. Other than knetworkmanager, which I like, the rest of the distro seems rather lackluster and somewhat buggy. When this project is complete, I am thinking about putting on Slackware.

[marcel]

When I started this thread/poll I was also in search for a distribution fit to be installed on a laptop.
I use Slackware on my desktop and never had any reasons to complain,but when I first installed it on my laptop it turned out it did not have any power saving features available.
For example, the cpufreq modules are not automatically loaded and I don't know if they even are compiled(they should be, I'll have to check this). Therefore the CPU was running at full voltage even when it didn't needed to. The videocard can also run in power saving mode, but I can't take advantage of it since nVidia saw fit not to distribute the GeForce Go 8xxxm series drivers themselves, instead they let the laptop manufacturer release them. The worst part is that there's no version for Linux, so I'm stuck with the generic 'nv' driver.

At that moment I turned my head towards SuSE. It seemed really good. I installed the 10.3 release and it had all support I wished for. Unfortunately I realized after using it a little bit that it sucks. KDE was completely modified, you don't know what's what. It doesn't even look like KDE. Basic tools are missing, such as mc. God knows what else was missing, but I didn't want to stay and find out so I quickly uninstalled it(actually installed slackware over it). I wonder if SuSE users really know how a freshly compiled KDE looks like...

So I installed Slackware 12 and I will configure the kernel myself for whatever I will need, whenever I get around with it. It is fast, simple, easy to update and easy to maintain. So I recommend it for a laptop, but only if you have the time to stay and configure it.

[Brandybuck]

So I installed Slackware 12 and I will configure the kernel myself for whatever I will need, whenever I get around with it. It is fast, simple, easy to update and easy to maintain. So I recommend it for a laptop, but only if you have the time to stay and configure it.

I am thinking of dumping this Kubuntu and putting Slackware on my work laptop. My requirements are simple, but too simple for today's complicated *nix world. A fairly minimalist base install, decent package management, vanilla KDE, and open source drivers for my hardware. Slackware doesn't have decent package management, and hoping for open source drivers is still as delusional as it was ten years ago. Oh well. Slack still comes closest.

[wysota]

I heard Windows has got good hardware drivers

[marcel]

Wysota, you are ruining my Linux distributions poll!

[wysota]

Why so? I didn't add a "Windows" option, did I? And I even voted in your poll!

[marcel]

I was joking :|.

Why so? I didn't add a "Windows" option, did I?

If you add it, probably will get the most votes.

[wysota]

Cheer up, it's not that bad.

[Brandybuck]

I heard Windows has got good hardware drivers

When I repartitioned my Thinkpad, I discovered that I didn't have any of the necessary Windows drivers. They were all on the "recovery" CD, when when you recover it will undo your partitions. So I had to hunt down and find wifi/video/touchpad drivers on my own. Definitely not user friendly.

[wysota]

Maybe Windows detected BSD partitions and gave you something extra for them being there? I lost my partition table a few times thanks to format.exe present on Windows installation CD that formated the first partition starting from block 0 instead of 1...

[Brandybuck]

It's just that the recovery CD reformats the entire harddrive, regardless of partitioning.

[ucntcme]

I use Gentoo at home (and Mac), and RHEL at work. Without regard to which is "best", if you are going to poll and claim "veteran" distributions, you can't put any Ubuntu up without listing Red Hat. Not disparaging any of the *buntus, of course.

[jay]

Dear All,

We are running our Server application in Slackware. This server application doesn't have GUI. Its running fine now. Do you feel any other distribution supports better by considering more user connection. please give your views.

Thanks in advance.

[MTK358]

Arch Linux, because it's fast, customizable, and doesn't hide anything.

I don't use Windows any more

[GuL]

Arch Linux and Chakra

[genjix]

When I first got into Linux, I was switching between tons of different distros all the time like Slackware, Gentoo, TinyLinux and others. Now I just run Kubuntu.

I don't want to waste time building packages, admin'ing my computer (boring!) and fiddling with configs all the time. I just want to write code and have it all work. No hassle. And you don't gain much anyway by doing all that stuff.

Says a guy who runs a tiling window manager (Awesome)

[franz]

Gentoo, because I generally get annoyed by other distros and this one does what I want it to do. I can live with the compile times. Also usually I find the solution to a problem is easier to fix in gentoo than in some other distros. Customizability FTW \o/. Maybe I'll try LFS or Funtoo some day.

[HelderC]

Oh come on? Where is the Ubuntu?

So, I use Ubuntu because is stable, fast and much more easier to programming using the most different libs!

[ChrisW67]

Gentoo now. Have used Slackware and Mandrake (now Mandriva) in anger in the past. I even used Yggdrasil for a while.