Which Distribution?
@seastarfisher (36)
United States
October 11, 2008 7:29pm CST
A few years ago I started using Linux. The first distribution I used was SUSE (I can never get the capitalization right, so I've given up) but I eventually found that it is much more bogged down and slow than other distros.
I eventually switched to Arch Linux, which I found to be more for Linux "experts" -- I definitely do not recommend this for a Linux newbie! However, if you have experience, Arch is a really great distro. Just be prepared to do lots of command-line. :)
Within the last month, however, I have purchased a new laptop and installed Xubuntu on it (Xubuntu is just Ubuntu with the Xfce desktop environment instead of GNOME). I have found this to be quite nice, especially because Ubuntu automatically detects your hardware -- I didn't have to do anything, and my wireless card, webcam, and microphone worked! I have found out that, despite what some say, Ubuntu is not just for newbies.
So, which distributions have you used? Which do you use currently, and why?
3 people like this
8 responses
@nocovi (514)
• China
13 Oct 08
I installed ubuntu last week,but I found the panel and start menu of it missed yesterday,I donnot know how to do with it but I have encountered with this prob for several times.But I find though it is much slower Kubuntu is more steady..I am a super newbie!
1 person likes this
@DarkDancer (1011)
• Dayton, Ohio
12 Oct 08
I use plain Ubuntu. I tried several when I tried to make the switch. I first tried Mepis because I had played with ti a few years before, but I didn't like it very much. From there I tried Fedora, but I could never get 3 good disks burnt. So, I went to Ubuntu, and have been here ever since. If you are interested, I started with Dapper Drake... 
@seastarfisher (36)
• United States
12 Oct 08
Ah, the days of multiple disks... What a pain. Lately any distribution that needs more than one disk isn't worth the work.
It is nice to see that you tried several distros before deciding which was best for you. In the past I have gone into computer labs just to test different distributions, even if I was happy with the one I was currently using, just to see if I was missing out on anything.
1 person likes this
@DarkDancer (1011)
• Dayton, Ohio
12 Oct 08
I've actually tried a few other to, through virtual machines or livedisks. Though I wouldn't necessarily want to use it as a primary distro, I am quite impressed with both DSL(Damn Small Linux) and DSL-N(Damn Small Linux - Not)
@pandaemonaeon (113)
• Italy
26 Mar 09
i use kubuntu, for newbies is the best, it's similar to windows, but don't have viruse, spyware, trojans...
@mtsandeep (1586)
• India
13 Dec 08
I am too looking for a linux distro. which one do you recommend, which is fast on a p4 based system?
thanks
@ramangill (1479)
• India
31 Oct 08
i have used ubuntu,,as i think it is the most user friendly linux,
but still i found it bit difficult to operate.
so now m using windows,but still have it in my sysem(dual boot)
@jason1308 (1586)
• France
24 Oct 08
I have used a few different distros, but the one that I am using now is Mandriva 2009 with the Xfce community edition, and I am very content with it.
I orginally started to use Ubuntu, but it just didn't run well on my machine, and I felt it a bit sluggish and Buggy, although this might have improved by now.
I have also tried mandriva 2008.1 with Kde desktop and this was good.
PCLos, This was good, except I just couldn't sort out the resolution properly.
Puppy Linux, is very good especially for older machines, I have this installed on an old laptop, a P200 and it runs like a dream.
One that I didn't get round to trying was Linux Mint which I believe is based on Ubuntu and is meant to be really good.
One thing I have noticed with all these distros is that the support forums are excellent and should you need any help then someone will be there to help you figure what to do.
@henry140468 (323)
• India
15 Oct 08
I have used openSUSE 10.3,Fedora 9 and OpenLXEdge.All of them are satisfying.But it became really annoying for me when I had to install the various dependencies for the rpm packages.Some dependencies are not even available on the internet.Even when you compile a package sometimes it does not get compiled properly.
So I have started using Ubuntu 8.04 and their online repositories are the best.Also most debian packages do not have dependencies.It saves a lot of headache for me.
