question about linux distributions.

eric m. · Post by **eric m.** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 8:50 am

i am looking at different linux distros and i cannot seem decide what would be the best one for me. i know fedora core is popular and i have already downloaded that but i thought i would see if there is a better choice, like mandrake or SUSE. also do any of you have any experience with linspire (lindows)? that seems like a nice package. i have checked distrowatch.com, which is a great resource, but i kind of wanted to get some personal opinions before i go ahead and spend a lot of time installing and configuring a new OS. thanks.

alister · Post by **alister** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 8:58 am

The problem is everyone has their own favorite. What someone else may like, you might not. The best thing to do is to try several out until you find the one that you like or that best suits your needs.

I have tried several distros and some of my favorites are Fedora, Xandros, and Yoper. I finally decided on Yoper.

Alister

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 10:36 am

it also depends on what you want to do with it. If you want to learn what linux is all about then i say go with Slackware or Gentoo as they require you to go into more depth about the real operating system, if all you want is a new differnt fancy window manager (thats all xp is anyway) the stick with the mainstream distros. I personaly really like gentoo for its speed, customization, and functionality. It also has one of the best installation guies on the web. It will walk you though your installation and get you up and running with a base system from which you can build on. The only donw side is it can be easy to mess up, and it takes forever to compile everything. But once its running... well lets just say that my main rig with xp is about as fast as gentoo on my p3 866.

Post by **Illuminati** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 11:05 am

I can speak for Fedora... it comes with a great software package already installed. (OpenOffice is the big one) ... along with all the server options and programming tools you may want. Fedora also comes with a bunch of little games, too...

I must also say that Fedora is also really easy to install over some other distros. For example, I installed Debian on someone's laptop the other day and it was a pain... it seemed like Fedora has much better driver detection and support than Debian... at least that was my experience.

Let us know what you decide to try and how you liked it!