Which is the best Linux?

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SuPeR_GeNiUs?

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Which is the best Linux?

Which one?

Gentoo, Slackware, Fedora Core, SuSE, or Red Hat?


Which one is the best? Btw, Why does Red Hat cost so much?
 
gentoo. the install is a bitch but you will learn alot, it will be optomized for your system, the emerge feature is great, and they have the best help forums.
 
SuPeR_GeNiUs? said:
is red hot good..


why does it cost so much though?
Click to expand...
Red hat now has two branches, one officially supported and one "sponsored." The official one is more for enterprise use, and it is expensive largely for the customer support and cost of development.

Where as the sponsored one is called Fedora and aimed more at home and small office use.

http://fedora.redhat.com is the page to get info on Fedora.
 
All the major distros are good, there's also some lame ones out there (like Lindows/Linspire) and some that aren't really intended to be general purpose distros (LiveCDs, router distros, etc), but if you stick to one of the major distros, you'll be fine. Some distros require a bit more knowledge/work to get up and running than others (the tradeoff being more power/control over what's on the system), but the end result is generally about the same.

One that you, the linux noob, might want to look into is Ubuntu Linux. It's a Debian-based (giving you the great APT package system) 'desktop' distro and, out of the box, generally 'just works' and looks pretty polished. Good Stuff.


edit : for future reference, try not to say "is this distro $X better than distro $Y?" - it generally doesn't result in terribly productive discussion, you'll get flooded with Gentoo zealots ;)
 
ameoba said:
for future reference, try not to say "is this distro $X better than distro $Y?" - it generally doesn't result in terribly productive discussion, you'll get flooded with Gentoo zealots ;)
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haha, I'm so glad someone said this before I did.

All of the distributions have their strengths. It really depends on what you want to do.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux/Fedora Core are used in a lot of places. Their configs are (in my opinion) set up in stupid ways, things get installed in bad spots, etc...However, they do some things that make them very enterprise-friendly...RPM plus yum/redcarpet/up2date or another package-manager of the sort is a very handy thing for large numbers of machines. Updating a couple hundred boxes running RH/FC is pretty trivial if you set things up right.

RH/FC also allow you to kickstart their installer from the network. That makes deploying things very easy.

Aside from being considered a n00b distribution, it's really hard to go wrong with RH in an enterprise setup.

Debian...I have the most respect for the Debian guys. They've got a great package-installation/management system that basically takes the place of RPM and Red Hat's package managers, but with considerably less bullshit at times. They'd do pretty well in an enterprise setup if you take the time to set up the right support structure, but Debian is also fairly slow to update the stable branch. Since the stable branch is about the only thing you should run on machines you care about, you could be missing out on some nifty features. However, I've never had a Debian kernel update break support for something that previously worked, while that seems to happen with every kernel update for Fedora Core at work.

Out of all the Linux distributions around, I've got the most respect for the Debian guys...Probably cause they think a lot like the FreeBSD guys.

Can't say much about slackware, cause I don't have a lot of experience with it.

SuSE...Think of Red Hat, but with a lot of polish. They look nice out of the box (if you care about that sort of thing), etc...It works well. I haven't got much in to package-management for large numbers of SuSE boxes, but I'd be surprised if they didn't have good tools for that.

Gentoo...Heh. Yeah, they have a few nifty ideas; too bad we've seen them all before in FreeBSD. Does Gentoo have a nice way to automate package installation and dependancy checking? If not, it's not much of an enterprise solution, particularly if you value your time. There's a huge amount of misconception about what other distros can do that Gentoo can't; most of those Gentoo users that think their distribution is the greatest thing since sliced bread should do some research.

You don't have to build everything from source. You don't have to build software from source. Now, if they had a good system to automate updates and dependancies, they might be usable in enterprise, however the lack of support from...Well...Anyone may be a deterrant for some.

Most Gentoo-using forum dwellers annoy the hell out of me cause they do think their distribution is the coolest thing since the pizza cutter. Most of them don't bother to try to help you with the problem you're asking about, they just tell you that Gentoo is the One True Way and that's what you should use.

Don't mind the trolls that say Linux should be free. There's nothing wrong with charging for support, etc. I'm betting most of the people that think Linux should be free are ones that are a) young, b) haven't ever worked a real admin job, or c) just don't have much experience with the distributions you pay for. Besides, "Linux" is free. The distributions of Linux are what costs...And even then, you can download most of SuSE's bits for free.

Me? For my stuff I don't use Linux. I use FreeBSD, and when I have to use Linux I use Debian.

These threads are generally useless, though. Hopefully I've pissed off someone, somewhere that uses each of these distributions.
 
Why don't you install them and find out which one's going to work best for you?

God damn...
 
[H]EMI_426 said:
Gentoo...Heh. Yeah, they have a few nifty ideas; too bad we've seen them all before in FreeBSD. Does Gentoo have a nice way to automate package installation and dependancy checking? If not, it's not much of an enterprise solution, particularly if you value your time. There's a huge amount of misconception about what other distros can do that Gentoo can't; most of those Gentoo users that think their distribution is the greatest thing since sliced bread should do some research.
Click to expand...

Don't advise me to do my research after that bold line :)

Out of the distro's listed in the original post, I would say SUSE is without question the best general purpose distro these days when you weigh everything in. Gentoo is probably my 'favorite' in the list, but I wouldn't go recommending it to everyone. Redhat is great at an enterprise level and the new Fedora underling is a real solid choice. I am not a big Slackware fan, but a lot of people seem to like it- it has a geek niche for sure.
 
Tweakin said:
Don't advise me to do my research after that bold line :)
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I didn't advise anyone to do anything besides install what they want to try and find out for themselves.

I asked a question in the post. If someone cares to answer it, fine. We're not using Gentoo at work; I really don't care one way or another if it has a good package-management system.
 
Maybe it would help if he qualified his question:

Which linux is best for me?

I will be doing ______________ in order to ______________ for ________________.

ie. I will be doing _basic desktop stuff_ in order to _replace my windows box_ for _my home pc_.

or: I will be doing _desktop stuff as well as digging deeper into the system_ in order to _learn more about unix/llinux/whatever_ for _a project pc_.

or: I will be doing _critical server tasks_ in order to _serve 100s of systems on a network_ for _my business_.

Would that make it easier to recommend a solid solution for him?

btw thanks for calling me a troll.
 
dariob said:
Which linux is best for me?

I will be doing ______________ in order to ______________ for ________________.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm going to try to install Slackware tonight, but I wanted to ask you if there is osmehting else I should try as well

I will be doing _desktop stuff, as well as learning how the linux system works, and a lot of gaming_ in order to _ replace my windows box, and eventually not be dependent on windows anymore_ for _my main machine, i have a windows laptop, but i want my main websurfing/programming/gaming rig to be in linux_
 
I agree with all of your points on the distros [H]EMI but want to add my $0.02 in.

Red Hat - It's also more flexible in that out of the box all the drivers are compiled as modules and are very easily added and removed as necessary. It's also much easier to update or change different packages (CUPS for printing as an example) without causing a lot of dependancy problems. Configuration is hokey and not exactly user friendly.

Suse - Easy to use, pretty darn simple to configure too! It's a bit more picky on hardware out of the box and unless you buy it, you don't have discs to install with. Suse's free installation requires you to run the install over the internet which can sometimes take a fair amount of time. I haven't had a lot of success with Suse in upgrading or changing packages in it without other apps and modules throwing fits, but my experiance is limited to 9.0

Slackware - If you're asking us which distro is better, avoid this like the plague. There is no official support as it's composed entirely of freely available Linux packages and maintained by people who dedicate some time to help out. There's no central governing body and thus no standards of quality for the various components. I never had much success even getting Slackware operating years ago and haven't tried since.

Gentoo/Debian - Yes I'm lumping these together, they're so damn close anymore there's no reason not to. Loyalists don't flame, you have a nice distro and better user support but not so much from hardware companies. Often times there are install and How-to documents from vendors for Suse and RedHat but hit or miss on Debian based distros. This IS changing however so if a vendor doesn't have the info, chances are really good that someone else out there can help you.

Ubuntu - Fairly new, looks very promising. I'm going to be giving it a test drive soon to try it out. If it doesn't have Fedora Core 3's sound issue with KDE I might switch.

Mandrake - I hate this distro, I hate it with a passion! This I will gladly fight with anyone with. It's aimed at black box users, people who install and don't want to tinker or mess with configuration other than basics like homepage, icons, colors etc. Of all Linux distros I've used Mandrake is the LEAST likely to allow to configure something and have it still work. I've seen a die hard Mandrake user change the settings of his floppy in fsconfig and even after undoing the changes, the drive refused to mount. His solution was to wipe and reload. Even from my experiance I had a hell of a time getting the wireless card in my laptop (Prism 802.11b chipset, find a distro that DOESN'T support it these days) to even detect let alone connect to a network. On every boot, even with adding a script to init, I had to manually load the module, specify it's settings (IRQ and I/O), add the network settings and enable the card. With Suse, Knoppix, RedHat (8.0, 9.0 and all Cores) and Debian, the card was usable during install and on the first boot.


If you're still unsure, go with Gentoo or Debian purely for the user base size. I'm partial to Red Hat because of how configurable it is, but I like to tinker. Suse is nice but I don't like their configuration steps, it seems limited to me. Once again, I like to tinker. The Debian based distros have a lot of users who can help you out if you get stuck whereas there aren't as many people using Red Hat or Suse. Mathematically, you'll have better odds of someone knowing how to help you with a Debian distro than the others.
 
The_Mage18 said:
Gentoo/Debian - Yes I'm lumping these together, they're so damn close anymore there's no reason not to. Loyalists don't flame, you have a nice distro and better user support but not so much from hardware companies. Often times there are install and How-to documents from vendors for Suse and RedHat but hit or miss on Debian based distros. This IS changing however so if a vendor doesn't have the info, chances are really good that someone else out there can help you.
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Maybe I am turning this thread into something completely off base, but forgive me… nearly every thread in linux/bsd is, isn't it? :)

I just found this weird because I consider Debian and Gentoo on the complete opposite sides of the spectrum. Gentoo, managed the way I manage it (and I suspect most Gentoo users manage it), is completely bleeding edge and sometimes nearly unmanageable. Where as Debian is almost always rock solid- basically something you can base another, more user friendly, distro off of.

What made you group these two together (assuming that you know about the almost constant feud going on between the two)?
 
I have almost no experiance with OS's outside of windows but since I have discovered knoppix (due to some extra limitations I can only use live CD's to play with knoppix) I enjoy using knoppix for basic desktop stuff over windows and since its a debian off shoot I guess that sticks me there. my $.02
 
which linux is best? all of them

which distro is best for you/? depends on what you want to do and how much you are willing to read up and learn
 
emailthatguy said:
which linux is best? all of them

which distro is best for you/? depends on what you want to do and how much you are willing to read up and learn
Click to expand...


Actually, I'm fairly sure there are some smaller ones that have gathered all the bad points of the big ones without any particular redeeming points. Still, agree. There's most likely a distro that'll fit your needs out there, and the best we can give you are recommendations.

Personally, I like FreeBSD, though it's neither linux nor a distro.
(It's a BSD and an OS, of course. :D )
 
Sniper|3d-R| said:
slackware > *

[/thread]
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How to put this.
I use FreeBSD. The guy on the computer beside me use slackware. We've been trying to convince each other to switch for a year now with little success. The third computer on the table runs debian, and he doesn't understand either of us.
 
I use Arch linux, and I overall, it's the best distro for my needs that I've used to date. I use it for a file/game server, and have used it as a firewall/gateway as well (though it's not currently active). I enjoy the binary aspect, which makes updates extremely fast and easy, no compiling necessary. The package management system is excellent, and the package making system is great for creating my own custom packages when necessary. And the install is minimal and well laid out, allowing almost complete control over system configuration.

For what I need, it's a great distro. But my needs are somewhat esoteric.
 
The_Mage18 said:
Mandrake - I hate this distro, I hate it with a passion! This I will gladly fight with anyone with. It's aimed at black box users, people who install and don't want to tinker or mess with configuration other than basics like homepage, icons, colors etc. Of all Linux distros I've used Mandrake is the LEAST likely to allow to configure something and have it still work. I've seen a die hard Mandrake user change the settings of his floppy in fsconfig and even after undoing the changes, the drive refused to mount. His solution was to wipe and reload. Even from my experiance I had a hell of a time getting the wireless card in my laptop (Prism 802.11b chipset, find a distro that DOESN'T support it these days) to even detect let alone connect to a network. On every boot, even with adding a script to init, I had to manually load the module, specify it's settings (IRQ and I/O), add the network settings and enable the card. With Suse, Knoppix, RedHat (8.0, 9.0 and all Cores) and Debian, the card was usable during install and on the first boot.
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and I LOVE Mandrake for all the reasons you hate it.

People move to linux for a myriad of reasons...and not all are an "enthusiast" that wants to tinker with this, tinker with that.

Some DO want a "black box" version that just runs....period. They could care less about what goes on under the hood....that is what Mandrake is for!

Sorry...I AM a computer guy, I work on them all day long, and I just do NOT want to monkey with them when I get home. I want the OS to support what I DO, not me supporting the OS.
 
If Linux is to succeed as a viable alternative to something like Windows, it has to be easily usable for people who don't know much about computers besides a "Start" button. You know what I'm talking about.

Of course, if you're the kind who likes to mess around with things and learn all the cool stuff your OS and software can do, you can do that in any Linux or *BSD, just that some distros are more oriented towards pros/experts and some more for the home user who doesn't know the difference between a browser and the desktop.

That said, I don't think I've chimed in.

While I like Gentoo, Arch, SuSE, and Slackware, they're not for everyone. I always like to recommend SuSE to people - it's easy to install and use, and YaST is pretty good for updating system packages and changing settings.

And no, I have not tried Ubuntu Linux yet. I have recently started test driving Mepis Pro though, but I can't find the install on it, probably should read the docs...

And I'm having problems with my SuSE install. I think all distros have been conspiring to drive me insane lately. :p

So give them all a try. I've tried 6 or 7 distros and FreeBSD in the last couple years, I've settled on a few.
 
Linux was much cooler/more fun/more to my liking when it did require a bit of thought to run.

One of the things that drove me away from Linux was when I popped in a SuSE 7.0 CD and was greeted with a GUI installer (YaST2). I said to myself, "oh, great, a GUI installer. The pinheads will be here in force now." That, plus 2.4 not working on a bunch of my hardware, drove me to FreeBSD.

FreeBSD seems to be much less about hand-holding of new users. FreeBSD is also much less in to marketing. If you want to use FreeBSD, you're welcome to. If you don't want to, fine. They aren't shoving it down your throat. We don't care (much) about marketing.

For what I do with my desktops, FreeBSD is a perfectly viable alternative to Windows. I'm in no hurry to see it go pandering more and more to the lowest common denominator of the user base.

Yes, it's an elitist attitude. No, I don't care.

This just goes in line with my belief that the Internet in general was a much better place when it was a geek's toy before everyone "discovered" it. Everyone had something to contribute instead of most people just wanting something. Things were much more functional and a lot less formal, which suited me just fine.
 
I run Mandrake Cooker, because I like being up to date, I like helping to test stuff, I like a distro that's run by a small enough team that you know who to kick when something goes wrong (GNOME broke? kick fred...KDE broke? kick laurent...urpmi broke? kick rafael, etc) and frankly I like not having to do EVERYTHING myself. When I installed MDK on my new box everything worked...that was nice. If I'd been running Gentoo or Debian I could've MADE everything work, sure, but hey, saving time is good. I got a new bluetooth cellphone the other day, bought a USB bluetooth adapter (I lost my last one), plugged it in, ran 'gnome-obex-send something.jpg', entered 1234 on my phone and the file transferred. I know all the steps to make this happen *manually* from the LAST time I had a bluetooth phone and USB adapter a little over a year ago, but I've gotta say, not having to bother was nice. Mandrake's good for software, too, only Debian really beats it.
 
[H]EMI_426 said:
Yes, it's an elitist attitude. No, I don't care.

This just goes in line with my belief that the Internet in general was a much better place when it was a geek's toy before everyone "discovered" it. Everyone had something to contribute instead of most people just wanting something. Things were much more functional and a lot less formal, which suited me just fine.
Click to expand...

Familiar with the expression "The September that never ended"?

And I'm not even sure if it's eliteist. It's the natural continuation of "if you don't like it, don't use it". Changing it to appeal to more people would have a high risk of removing the appeal for the current users.

(Yet still, I've had suprising luck intoducing newbies to FreeBSD. The lack of automated handholding removes a whole lot of potential problems.)
 
I am looking for a OS that I can use for simple desktop use browsing, etc. and take advantage of some of the cool programs for linux (photo editors, etc.). I want one thats well polished and rock solid stable. I have no use of linux as a server OS and just want one that even other people could use (my friend doesn't let just any fool touch his linux box, and I am a fool, so just leave it at I don't want to screw up my own computer in a few keystrokes or something)
That said, I'm looking at Debian or SuSE personal. am I on the right track?
 
SuSE would be a better match than Debian, I think.You might also want to consider Mandrake. (Fedora, Ubuntu, and several others, as well.)
 
Yep, SuSE, Mandrake and Xandros would be the three I suggest you look at. I wouldn't say Fedora, it's a bit more geeky than you'd want, I think.
 
[H]EMI_426 said:
This just goes in line with my belief that the Internet in general was a much better place when it was a geek's toy before everyone "discovered" it. Everyone had something to contribute instead of most people just wanting something. Things were much more functional and a lot less formal, which suited me just fine.
Click to expand...

Hey, I resent that remark:) I here ya though. Back in the day of 14.4 modems and Mosaic, Gopher and text based websites.

As for the Linux discussion, I ocasionaly messed with Linux over the years. Started back when Corel had a distro which was years ahead of the others as far as the install was concerned. Anyways, never had much interest in Linux till lately cause I found no use for it for myself. I now have a Fedora Core 3 server going with FTP, HTTP, and Samba. It is superior to my old setup on the same rig with WindowsXP Pro.

So, if your a newbie like me, Fedora Core 3, is a breeze to set up and actually get some results with before you get pissed off and quit. Once your hooked, there is no turning back. You'll be pulling your hair out over dependencies and loving it. You'll sit and watch the terminal in awe as gcc compiles some new software.

Since the Mozilla Foundation came out with Thunderbird and FireFox, there is little difference to using a Linux Box day to day vs a Windows Box. You got Oo_O for your office tasks. Now, if games came in both Win and Linux, I would consider ditching my XP all together. I doubt the original poster knows what he's getting into as far as the gaming thing goes. Gaming on Linux is going to be a real chore since most games don't have Linux versions except for maybe a dedicated Linux server.

Good Luck with your venture into the Linux world. I recommend Fedora Core 3, but I am biased since that is the only one I used lately.
 
The best distro for a complete linux noob and the smoothest transition for a windows user is Xandros. It's based on Debian. Stable and Fast. And you can use apt-get.
My second choice for a noob is Lycoris. And then Mandrake or SuSE.

Gentoo is far to difficult for a complete linux noob.
 
Gentoo and debian. Though you need a decent net connection.

Otherwise slackware doesnt seem bad. I didnt try many other ones. Mandrake sucks.
 
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