What is your favorite distro?

**chumley** · 01-19-2005, 08:14 AM

I am sure that everyone has opinions about which is the best Linux distro and since Slack 10 doesn't seem to like me, maybe I should try a different one. I have Fedora Core 2 on another machine and it works ok. I had heard that Slack 10 "just works" so I thought I would dual boot it with XP on my other machine which is much faster and has more memory and HD capacity. I have heard good things about a lot of distros, but the one I want should install with no problems and recognize my hardware like it should, slack didn't. :roll:

01-19-2005, 08:16 AM

Did you install both disc's?

I've never had a problem with Slackware (Running 10 at work)

That being said... Ubuntu is a very, very nice distro.

I hear Vector SoHo isn't too bad either....

**chumley** · 01-19-2005, 08:35 AM

Yes, I installed both disks and I think that it didn't go right from the beginning. That warning about not installing lilo in the mbr was, I think, what screwed it up. I installed lilo, originally, on the first sector of the linux partition (or whatever they said to do) and not in the mbr. That didn't work and I reinstalled again, this time I installed lilo in the mbr and it still wasn't right. Like I said, I have Fedora Core 2 running on another machine and I have used Mandrake and Debian, but I didn't care for either one of them.

**Fatal Error** · 01-19-2005, 12:25 PM

I'll second Ubuntu.
If you want to become a Linux gEEk Knoppix 3.7 is a must.
with 3.7 you can get as deep into Linux as you want.

**jro** · 01-19-2005, 01:53 PM

Gotta go with Gentoo here. I was a Mandrake man for a long time, but after tinkering with a test box and Gentoo I made the switch.

I have been liking Ubuntu lately too, if you want a nice desktop Debian-based system in the least amount of time, that is the distro to go with. Then again I haven't even tried any of the other Debian-based ones either.

/me puts that on the 3 mile long list of todo's

**Gruntled** · 01-19-2005, 03:13 PM

The different distros are aimed at different audiences, really. It all comes down to what you want to do with the machine, and what technical level you are working at.

Slackware just works, as they say.
Ubuntu is a very easy install, and works pretty well.

If you want an install that doesn't require much configuration afterward, try MEPIS. It installs non-free software (like flash, java, etc) which, for a workstation is always another battery of to-do's after the install is complete.