Which Linux distro should I install?
I had been using Kubuntu, but the update manager hosed my system. Only now am I thinking about fixing it (so I can use Linux again).
I could re-install my old Kubuntu (from the Live CD). But I am scared of the update manager now...
I've been looking at VectorLinux (a Slackware distribution)...
http://www.vectorlinux.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_linux
And I've been looking at Fedora...
http://fedoraproject.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedora_(operating_system)
What think y'all?
I could re-install my old Kubuntu (from the Live CD). But I am scared of the update manager now...
I've been looking at VectorLinux (a Slackware distribution)...
http://www.vectorlinux.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_linux
And I've been looking at Fedora...
http://fedoraproject.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedora_(operating_system)
What think y'all?
I've never heard of VectorLinux but I've used Slackware. It was good, but there isn't a real package manager. VectorLinux might have one, though.
I tried to install Fedora a few times but my system seems incompatible with it, as the live CD crashed during (and even before) installation a few times.
Currently I used Linux Mint; it's much like Ubuntu but a little more "polished", it has some useful features and is generally quite pleasant to use. However, the LiveCD takes a very long time to boot on my computer, I don't know why as other LiveCDs (such as SliTaz) take nowhere near as long. The OS itself boots ok though.
Linux Mint: http://www.linuxmint.com/
If you don't like GNOME (I don't blame you; while it is (usually) very easy to use, it is also rather buggy and certain settings can only be accessed with gconf-editor, which is sort of like RegEdit), you can scroll down and there is also a KDE, Xfce, LXDE and a Fluxbox version (Fluxbox version is a release candidate, though; they develop them in the order I just listed so the Fluxbox version isn't final yet).
I have also used Arch Linux, which is quite easy to use and somewhat light-weight as it comes with very few programs by default. It has an excellent wiki and the package manager is far better than apt-get IMO; but it also has stability issues due to every package being taken straight from upstream sources.
The installer is text-based and a little slow, though.
Arch Linux: http://www.archlinux.org/
The only other distribution I've used long-term (for several weeks at a time) is Ubuntu; I like it, but prefer Linux Mint. I actually stopped using Ubuntu for a similar reason to you: when I tried to upgrade to 10.04 the update manager broke a lot of things (particularly the display driver, and no amount of re-installing said driver would restore it to working order; so, I gave up and switched back to Mint).
Edit: forgot to finish a sentence.
@helios,
If you want a more up-to-date but still more-or-less stable Debian, try Debian Testing (or Debian Unstable if you want an even more up-to-date but less stable Debian).
I tried to install Fedora a few times but my system seems incompatible with it, as the live CD crashed during (and even before) installation a few times.
Currently I used Linux Mint; it's much like Ubuntu but a little more "polished", it has some useful features and is generally quite pleasant to use. However, the LiveCD takes a very long time to boot on my computer, I don't know why as other LiveCDs (such as SliTaz) take nowhere near as long. The OS itself boots ok though.
Linux Mint: http://www.linuxmint.com/
If you don't like GNOME (I don't blame you; while it is (usually) very easy to use, it is also rather buggy and certain settings can only be accessed with gconf-editor, which is sort of like RegEdit), you can scroll down and there is also a KDE, Xfce, LXDE and a Fluxbox version (Fluxbox version is a release candidate, though; they develop them in the order I just listed so the Fluxbox version isn't final yet).
I have also used Arch Linux, which is quite easy to use and somewhat light-weight as it comes with very few programs by default. It has an excellent wiki and the package manager is far better than apt-get IMO; but it also has stability issues due to every package being taken straight from upstream sources.
The installer is text-based and a little slow, though.
Arch Linux: http://www.archlinux.org/
The only other distribution I've used long-term (for several weeks at a time) is Ubuntu; I like it, but prefer Linux Mint. I actually stopped using Ubuntu for a similar reason to you: when I tried to upgrade to 10.04 the update manager broke a lot of things (particularly the display driver, and no amount of re-installing said driver would restore it to working order; so, I gave up and switched back to Mint).
Edit: forgot to finish a sentence.
@helios,
If you want a more up-to-date but still more-or-less stable Debian, try Debian Testing (or Debian Unstable if you want an even more up-to-date but less stable Debian).
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Whichever comes with KDE 3.
If you're looking for stability, Debian Stable might be for you. The available packages are a bit outdated (since they're stable) and that may or may not be a problem, but otherwise I have no complaints.
If you're looking for stability, Debian Stable might be for you. The available packages are a bit outdated (since they're stable) and that may or may not be a problem, but otherwise I have no complaints.
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@helios
Absolutely. KDE 4 is v e r y s l o w and obnoxious. I want my KDE 3.
@chrisname
Thank you for the excellent info. As Linux Mint is a fork of Ubuntu, I'll consider it as a possibility.
Arch Linux also looks nice, but it targets modern hardware, and I don't really want ultra-minimalist. Something out of the box that I only need to tweak a bit is all the time I want to put into it at the moment.
I think I am going to mess with Vector Linux KDE-Classic (KDE 3.5) first.
http://vectorlinux.com/news/vl6.0-kde-classic-live-released
If that doesn't work nicely I'll mess with Linux Mint next.
Thank you!
Absolutely. KDE 4 is v e r y s l o w and obnoxious. I want my KDE 3.
@chrisname
Thank you for the excellent info. As Linux Mint is a fork of Ubuntu, I'll consider it as a possibility.
Arch Linux also looks nice, but it targets modern hardware, and I don't really want ultra-minimalist. Something out of the box that I only need to tweak a bit is all the time I want to put into it at the moment.
I think I am going to mess with Vector Linux KDE-Classic (KDE 3.5) first.
http://vectorlinux.com/news/vl6.0-kde-classic-live-released
If that doesn't work nicely I'll mess with Linux Mint next.
Thank you!
Ok; good luck.
Personally I like KDE 4; but I prefer GNOME (mostly because I'm "used to it").
Personally I like KDE 4; but I prefer GNOME (mostly because I'm "used to it").
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closed account (1yR4jE8b)
I 'prefer' KDE4 but I use GNOME, oddly.
I prefer the way that everything is nicely integrated in KDE, and I find it has better window management. However, it has a few nagging bugs that prevent me from using it.
1. It doesn't remember my settings for multiple monitors, when I set it to span both of my monitors when I reboot it magically forgets.
2. It's gotten pretty stable since 4.0 but even now with 4.4.5 I still manage to crash plasma-desktop doing regular things. It's annoying.
3. The draw speed for applications is sloooooooooooooow, when my applications scale in...I see a grey window scale in, then when the window is finished scaling, the application content appears. This just feels awkward.
Gnome is a bit no-frills, but it's rock solid. I guess I just like the 'idea' of KDE4, even though I find the implementation rather weak.
I prefer the way that everything is nicely integrated in KDE, and I find it has better window management. However, it has a few nagging bugs that prevent me from using it.
1. It doesn't remember my settings for multiple monitors, when I set it to span both of my monitors when I reboot it magically forgets.
2. It's gotten pretty stable since 4.0 but even now with 4.4.5 I still manage to crash plasma-desktop doing regular things. It's annoying.
3. The draw speed for applications is sloooooooooooooow, when my applications scale in...I see a grey window scale in, then when the window is finished scaling, the application content appears. This just feels awkward.
Gnome is a bit no-frills, but it's rock solid. I guess I just like the 'idea' of KDE4, even though I find the implementation rather weak.
I actually think GNOME is attractive. If you add Compiz Fusion and Emerald (read: rice and more rice) you get a very nice desktop. But I have yet to try Compiz & Emerald with KDE, so I can't really compare.
One thing I love about KDE: Kolourpaint. Kolourpaint is incredibly useful for cropping screenshots, something GIMP is horrible at (because you can't resize the window once you've made it, and if you can I haven't figured out how to).
One thing I love about KDE: Kolourpaint. Kolourpaint is incredibly useful for cropping screenshots, something GIMP is horrible at (because you can't resize the window once you've made it, and if you can I haven't figured out how to).
I, by no means, am a Linux Guru but I found openSUSE to be rather slow. I prefer BackTrack ;)
GIMP
Crop and Resize: Shift-C
Scale Layer or Selection: Shift-T
Scale Image (better resampling options): Alt-I, S (Menu:Image->Scale)
Zoom In: +
Zoom Out: -
No Zoom: 1
Fit Window to image: Ctrl-E
The idea for the KDE 4 desktop is nice, but my hardware is about ten years old and it can't keep up. That and I prefer something simple and fast. Fancy semi-transparent windows and 3D nonsense don't impress me much.
Crop and Resize: Shift-C
Scale Layer or Selection: Shift-T
Scale Image (better resampling options): Alt-I, S (Menu:Image->Scale)
Zoom In: +
Zoom Out: -
No Zoom: 1
Fit Window to image: Ctrl-E
The idea for the KDE 4 desktop is nice, but my hardware is about ten years old and it can't keep up. That and I prefer something simple and fast. Fancy semi-transparent windows and 3D nonsense don't impress me much.
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