Which Distro is Right For Me ?

[MetalheadGautham]

The title sounds familiar ? Ofcourse it does. Its the most common question asked by the average newbie who wants to try out linux, or sometimes even for the user who wants to migrate from one distro to another.

This thread is made so that all such questions can be asked here itself, and so that the forum won't be messy.

Here are a few online tests to determine the right distro:

http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php
http://polishlinux.org/choose/quiz/
http://www.tuxs.org/chooser/

Warning: All of them recommend OpenSuSE, Ubuntu and Fedora for everything, without reason. Whatever you choose, you are likely to end up with those three in the list, even if you specifically ask the script for something thats light on resources. So beware.

Now here is how you ask that question here:

1. State the exact configuration of the system, including partition alloted for linux, right here.

2. State your main use for the distro.

3. State your experience level.

4. State how you understand an ideal distro to be. How do you want the interface to be ?

5. State how entusiastic you are about learning stuff. Are you intrested to spend time learning your way into the new distro ? If so, how long ?

6. Finally, state WHY you need to be suggested a new distro. Are you not happy with windows ? If so, why ? Do you expect some special feature from the linux distribution you are going to try out that was not there in the previous OS ? Are you one of those people who outgrew their previous distro, and hence want something leaner and/or with better performance ?

Best of Luck and Happy Distroing.

[hullap]

sorry if bumping, really need a change
you may be knowing that ive used ubuntu, Fedora and quite a few more distros
so here it goes

1. i have an intel c2d 1.86GHz, 160GB for the linux partition. nvidia 7100gs, 1gig ram, 17" monitor(dont think itll matter), i can easily use compiz fusion with all effects enabled

2. Main use is home use. sometimes hosting a webserver or UrT server etc, so needs to be stable

3. beginner to intermidiate. i can find my way across problems. and im patient enough to read the man pages

4. The ideal distro IMO will be the one which has large no. of softys in the repos. downloading and compiling the source code just aint me. Binary ftw.
i dont care about the interface, but still it needs to be easy to understand and use.

5. i Really Really wanna learn. i can spend time learning a new distro. even about a month to six months max

6. Im fed up of being spoon fed with $**t

Please help this poor chap out

[Faun]

So did u take the test ?

[hullap]

^ yea,
but i got what gautham warned

[Faun]

From my experience go for debian based distros, the repository and deb files are awesome.

Probably you can try Debian but be warned you may be getting older but stable versions of softwares and no new released softwares. but yeah debian is buid from scratch things, so you get what you want. Else rest your case to Ubuntu.

IMO try Mint !

On a second note, OpenSuSe can also be an alternative. But its not a deb based distro. ,RPM.

now choose the one which suits you. maybe Metaaaaaal will tell you more, he's been experimenting with this thing. Praka can also guide you, head over to his site and see what he suggest you for your needs.

[hullap]

'debian stable' has VERYY old softys
from what ive heard, it got gaim(pidgin's former name => no new features)
i already said that i dont need ubuntu or mint,
i dont wanna be spoonfed
openSuse is another spoon feeder
ive already use fedora and ubuntu, dont want the former coz i hate RPM depediancy hell and the latter is not that stable and i dont think i can learn about anything in it
nor im keen on arch coz i have a 256k connection and itll take days to download xorg, xfce, OOo and all

[Faun]

^^If you want to learn then Arch is the way. Yes I too have 256k but its only a night's download to get it all.

And yeah currently am enjoying Arch, software repository is fresh. Dunno when will I login to Ubuntu again ?

Xorg is some 50MB stuff, xfce is withing 100 MB and OOo is about 200MB. Its will not take days but one night only.


NOTE: probably Mehul will exhort you to try Gentoo. But seriously I will have to try OpenBSD.

[hullap]

kalpik keeps suggesting arch to me
anyways, my parents will restrict my computer usage once the next week starts,
my mother doesnt allow me to download at night(which is strange ) either ill have to download them all piece by piece or ill get xorg + fluxbox(like it way more then all other wms) + light weight office progs like abiword etc
im thinking of downloading the arch core cd, but lets w8 till tomorrow

[SunnyChahal]

I also wanna try some distro like arch.Just coz it's fast,stable,got KDEmod 4.1,makes good use of the hardware.Ubuntu 8.04 is buggy.Vista is better.OpenSuse 11......RPM just doesn't work for me.Fedora...tried but couldn't find it any better than Ubuntu.

[Faun]

^^yes, vista is better

[Charan]

I wonder why many people dont recomend Sabayon in here.. Its one of the best distro I have come accros with everything available out of the box ( well almost ). Sabayon was recomended to me by mehul almost a year ago and im in love with it since then..

[mehulved]

Originally Posted by hullap

kalpik keeps suggesting arch to me
anyways, my parents will restrict my computer usage once the next week starts,
my mother doesnt allow me to download at night(which is strange ) either ill have to download them all piece by piece or ill get xorg + fluxbox(like it way more then all other wms) + light weight office progs like abiword etc
im thinking of downloading the arch core cd, but lets w8 till tomorrow

Arre if you download arch CD, you will have xorg and stuff in there. Install fluxbox on that. KDEmod is quite big - ~440MB so you will have to figure out some way for it. like begging your mom to allow you to keep PC on for 1 night

[nach]

Originally Posted by Sunny1211993

I also wanna try some distro like arch.Just coz it's fast,stable,got KDEmod 4.1,makes good use of the hardware.Ubuntu 8.04 is buggy.Vista is better.OpenSuse 11......RPM just doesn't work for me.Fedora...tried but couldn't find it any better than Ubuntu.

Vista is better 0_o ...I didnt know that.
If you find prob with Ubuntu, Opensuse ,Fedora distros better you use Vista only.

Here most of the people prefer Ubuntu,Opensuse,Arch etc..I dont find any prob with Fedora.Are we all idiot to use such distros.

[SunnyChahal]

Originally Posted by nach

Vista is better 0_o ...I didnt know that.
If you find prob with Ubuntu, Opensuse ,Fedora distros better you use Vista only.

Here most of the people prefer Ubuntu,Opensuse,Arch etc..I dont find any prob with Fedora.Are we all idiot to use such distros.

Whatever,RPM distris aren't for me.I've always preferred Debian based distros but Ubuntu 8.04 is just too buggy.Sucks to the core.Now,for haven's sake don't tell me that I haven't used it.Sir,I have used it for more than a month before going back to windows.
As for that idiot thing,well,I really don't know.

[Faun]

^^yes, Vista rocks when you install all kind of magicwares for even tiniest bit and bare protection
I did a mistake by switching to open source and using free products.

[nach]

are yar their are many choices
try to being familiar
Though rpm based distro sucks I am using it for learning purpose
dont compare Gnu/Linux with Windows

There is Debian etch, Knoppix ,Arch ,and many more.
checkout http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._distributions

are 1 mahinme kya hota hai bhai.

Btw its all up to you.

[SunnyChahal]

^^
Debian is too tough to install.
@T159,care to assist this poor lad?

[mehulved]

Originally Posted by Sunny1211993

Whatever,RPM distris aren't for me.

What's wrong with rpm?

Originally Posted by Sunny1211993

^^
Debian is too tough to install.

Hahaha, if debian is too tough then stick with ubuntu.

[SunnyChahal]

^^
I never tried installing Debian.Do we need to install a graphical desktop environment after completing the OS installation?

[nach]

How can you judge its tough to install without trying !!
Anyways while installation u can select graphical environment of your choice.

[hullap]

ok, im on links now in arch
installed irssi too
but i cant get x to start
tried xorgconfig
im at the irc channel getting help

[shady_inc]

Originally Posted by hullap

ok, im on links now in arch
installed irssi too
but i cant get x to start
tried xorgconfig
im at the irc channel getting help

For arch newbies, it's best to follow the Beginner's Guide religiously.Most of the stuff you need to configure is in there.

BTW, I would like a distro suggestion too.My config is:
Intel Celeron 2.4 Ghz
1 Gb RAM
Intel 845 chipset
Enough hard drive space for a distro.

Main aim is to have something totally different from my current distros i.e Arch and Mandriva [my family members won't touch Arch with a yardstick..So I have to keep this one]. No, I don't need newbie oriented distros like OpenSUSe, Ubuntu, Fedora and stuff.

Slackware looked like a cool option until I learned that pkgtool doesn't have dependency check.Don't wanna go around hunting dependencies myself whenever I install a package .

[Faun]

Originally Posted by hullap

ok, im on links now in arch
installed irssi too
but i cant get x to start
tried xorgconfig
im at the irc channel getting help

always remember to save a fav xorg.conf file from your other installations and copy it to any new install.

install gdm,xdm or kdm.

[hullap]

Originally Posted by shady_inc

For arch newbies, it's best to follow the Beginner's Guide religiously.Most of the stuff you need to configure is in there.

i never read it
im on xfce with opera
everything seems to work

[Faun]

^^congrats, so Arch can be installed by kids too.
While some others ran away after seeing CLI at boot...lolz

[hullap]

^ lol
installing yaourt now

[shady_inc]

Originally Posted by hullap

i never read it
im on xfce with opera
everything seems to work

Good for you then

[Psychosocial]

I have used Ubuntu 8.04 and liked it. Suggest me a good distro.

Use - eXplore Linux.
PC Conf. - E4500 + MSI945 + 2GB RAM + 8800GT 512MB + 19" LCD

I know basics of Linux. I prefer a GNOME or KDE desktop (dunno if there are more).

[Garbage]

Originally Posted by hullap

^ lol
installing yaourt now

My pacman cache is 1.7 GB now...

I just copied packages from DVD (sent me by Filled-Void). That DVD is having many libraries, gnome, OO and other stuff...

If you want, then I can send u my pacman cache... I've installed x86_64

[hullap]

nah,
i dont even have space to spare