Which distro for non-clueless newbie?

[Michael]

I know the "Which distro" question has been asked a million times all over
the net, but so far I haven't found anyone asking this: What distributions
are for someone who knows a lot about computers in general and can learn
reasonably fast? For example, I wouldn't want to end up with some generic
driver that doesn't take full advantage of my device because it was too
intimidating to ask for the specs; but on the other hand I don't want my
first steps in the operating system of the future to be on a command line
trying to figure out how to install X and wishing I was back in Windows.
Any advice?

[Bit Twister]

Post by Michael
I know the "Which distro" question has been asked a million times all over
the net,

Results 1 - 10 of 22,700 for best distro group:*linux*. (0.57 seconds)
found using
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search

Do bookmark the above url.

Post by Michael
but so far I haven't found anyone asking this: What distributions
are for someone who knows a lot about computers in general and can learn
reasonably fast?

Mandriva/drake
http://doc.mandrivalinux.com/MandrakeLinux/101/en/Starter.html/drakx-intro.html

Lastest release is called 2005.

You can get it up and running on the GUI install.
You can then start tweaking anything you feel up to changing.

Create an empty ~6gig partition on your drive and you can dual boot
your system if you do not have a spare disk.

You can read about the install at
http://doc.mandrivalinux.com/MandrakeLinux/101/en/Starter.html/

[Michael]

Post by Bit Twister

Post by Michael
I know the "Which distro" question has been asked a million times all over
the net,

Results 1 - 10 of 22,700 for best distro group:*linux*. (0.57 seconds)
found using
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
Do bookmark the above url.

Thanks! I will read these results. I'll post again if I have any more
questions.

[Tony Lawrence]

Post by Michael
I know the "Which distro" question has been asked a million times all over
the net, but so far I haven't found anyone asking this: What distributions
are for someone who knows a lot about computers in general and can learn
reasonably fast? For example, I wouldn't want to end up with some generic
driver that doesn't take full advantage of my device because it was too
intimidating to ask for the specs; but on the other hand I don't want my
first steps in the operating system of the future to be on a command line
trying to figure out how to install X and wishing I was back in Windows.
Any advice?

Unless your hardware is really, really esoteric, you aren't going to
have to worry about being at the command line messing with X.

But beyond that: I really don't understand why people bother to seek
this sort of advice. So many live cd's are available now where you can
try out distro's, and hard drives are so enormous and cheap that you can
install just about anything you want for a look-see. For a very little
amount of money you could add VMWare Workstation to a Windows or Linux
box and try out quite a few distro's that way too - or if you are quick
enough, you could do your eval's in the VMWare demo period :-)

The point is that what's best for you is different than what's best for
Uncle Fred and for me. I'm the kind of old fart who actually prefers
the command line and doesn't care a bit about KDE or Gnome or any of
that. Yet I prefer a gui for the web (Lynx is nice, but..). At the
moment, I use a Mac for my desktop machine, but have Linux servers
supporting me, so the gui stuff is even less important there.

Are you adventurous or conservative? I have RedHat Enterprise ES on my
most critical server here, but Fedora on others. Will you be running
any commercial apps? Many only have good support if running on RedHat,
so that's something that may need attention.

[Michael]

Post by Tony Lawrence
Unless your hardware is really, really esoteric, you aren't going to
have to worry about being at the command line messing with X.

That's good.

Post by Tony Lawrence
But beyond that: I really don't understand why people bother to seek
this sort of advice.

Well, I thought it couldn't hurt, but I do apologize for asking an
unnecessary question, especially in light of a Google Groups search.

Post by Tony Lawrence
So many live cd's are available now where you can
try out distro's, and hard drives are so enormous and cheap that you can
install just about anything you want for a look-see.

True. I'll keep this in mind.

Post by Tony Lawrence
For a very little
amount of money you could add VMWare Workstation to a Windows or Linux
box and try out quite a few distro's that way too - or if you are quick
enough, you could do your eval's in the VMWare demo period :-)

No offense, but $189 doesn't seem like that little to me, and for me that's
one of the key reasons for wanting Linux in the first place.

Post by Tony Lawrence
The point is that what's best for you is different than what's best for
Uncle Fred and for me.

I'm beginning to see.

Post by Tony Lawrence
[snip]
Are you adventurous or conservative? I have RedHat Enterprise ES on my
most critical server here, but Fedora on others. Will you be running
any commercial apps? Many only have good support if running on RedHat,
so that's something that may need attention.

I don't know if that was meant as a rhetorical question, but more on the
adventurous side.

All in all, I'm sorry I asked the question in the first place, but I did, so
it remains open for discussion, if anybody feels they have something
original to say. After these two answers, I'm not expecting much more in
this thread, but I'm still listening. :-)

Michael

[Tony Lawrence]

Post by Michael
All in all, I'm sorry I asked the question in the first place, but I did, so
it remains open for discussion, if anybody feels they have something
original to say. After these two answers, I'm not expecting much more in
this thread, but I'm still listening. :-)

Well, I hope you haven't taken this as an unfriendly response. It's not
meant to be at all. If you said "I'm going to be doing tech support in
the Linux arena", then obviously you need to be familiar with RH. But
for personal use, it's all personal preference. and, as I said, disks
are so big nowadays that you really can try out just about everything to
find what you like. And you should, because you'll learn a lot that way
just from seeing the differences. All too often I run across people who
have only ever seen one distro, and they think that's the way things
must be done.. play around, experiment, have fun.

[7]

Post by Michael
I know the "Which distro" question has been asked a million times all over
the net, but so far I haven't found anyone asking this: What
distributions are for someone who knows a lot about computers in general
and can learn
reasonably fast? For example, I wouldn't want to end up with some generic
driver that doesn't take full advantage of my device because it was too
intimidating to ask for the specs; but on the other hand I don't want my
first steps in the operating system of the future to be on a command line
trying to figure out how to install X and wishing I was back in Windows.
Any advice?

You want to try some of the 250+ liveCD distros out there on this link
for the school vacation...
http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php
Knoppix is most recommended, followed by likes of Mepis, Kanotix,
Quantian, DSL, etc. Quantian has xmaxima that allows formulas
to be written and solved symbolically - very useful if you are high
school student trying to get your head around maths, physics,
electronics and so on.
LiveCDs run off the CD without having to install and autodetect
everything without having to go through manual set up routines
(many have options to install).

[WILLIAM HUBNER]

I looked at your post and the responses in a more analytical way. It just
struck me that you were asking an honest question in hopes of the community
sorting our your feeling of being lost in the sea of distro's. We have all
been there and know what you are feeling. Frustratingly, they point you to
the first step in your quest for knowledge. I believe they are giving you
the best advice. The learning curve is steep and littered with many an hour
of work/research to applied to no end.
You will have to do the research and find the best distro for you. Linux is
a wonderful undiscovered landscape that continues to grow. You can and will
find your distro and make your home on that landscape.
I do concur with the suggestion of Live CD trials. I have tried several and
find them the best way to go. It saves SO MUCH time installing and setting
up your machine. I like fedora, Suse, Mandrake or whatever its called these
days, and DSL. I have installed and messed around with numerous distro's
and found these to fit for me for individual reasons.
Try out fedora and get under the hood.
Just remember that these folks have traveled down the path you are embarking
on. You will see their frustration is not directed so much at you as they
are empathetic to the trials on the path you have chosen. Its a hard road
but well worth the trouble to be free of expensive, massive bloatware that
cant get it right. Good luck and welcome aboard.
--
William Hubner
"A man of genius is privileged only as far as he is genius. His dullness is
as insupportable as any other dullness." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Post by Michael
I know the "Which distro" question has been asked a million times all over
the net, but so far I haven't found anyone asking this: What
distributions
are for someone who knows a lot about computers in general and can learn
reasonably fast? For example, I wouldn't want to end up with some generic
driver that doesn't take full advantage of my device because it was too
intimidating to ask for the specs; but on the other hand I don't want my
first steps in the operating system of the future to be on a command line
trying to figure out how to install X and wishing I was back in Windows.
Any advice?

[b***@now.com]

Linux advocates get people all fired up with all the "its easy everything
is compatible all the distro's work the same" garbage.

In reality Linux is a useless mess flopping around peoples desktops like
a fish out of water. Developers still work in the dark ages expecting
everyone to "re-compile" everything or install RPM's that dont work half
the time and to do things "their way" because they've been doing it that
way for 20 years so it must be the best way.

Its a total dark ages screw up as far as I can see with new complications
arising every time a magazine wants to sell more copies by promoting "The
latest and best" screw up distro thats of no practical use to anyone.

Here is my best advice -

Look for an enterprise distribution that offers professional support you
pay for.

Then if you dont actually want to pay obtain a derivative of that distro
that is properly updated and maintained.

You will still have an os that doesnt work half the time with
applications that make you very annoyed because they're so slow and
backward but you'll at least have the best linux can provide.

None of the other issues are relevant. Linux is too much of a backward
joke now.

I'd take a look at red-hat enterprise or the free clone Centos as an
example.

[Moe Trin]

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.questions, in article

Post by b***@now.com
In reality Linux is a useless mess flopping around peoples desktops like
a fish out of water. Developers still work in the dark ages expecting
everyone to "re-compile" everything or install RPM's that dont work half
the time and to do things "their way" because they've been doing it that
way for 20 years so it must be the best way.

That's funny, but _REALLY_ not up to standards for even an apprentice troll.

Troll O Meter

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
___________________________________________________
| | | | | | | | | | |
---------------------------------------------------
^
|

It's sad that the quality of trolls has gotten so bad over the years. I guess
you aren't aware that the current fad is using the Debian packaging scheme in
a distributions with code names like "Hairy Harlot", "Bloated Bulldog",
and "Demented Duck".

Old guy

[b***@now.com]

Post by Moe Trin
On Wed, 05 Jul 2006, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.questions, in article

Post by b***@now.com
In reality Linux is a useless mess flopping around peoples desktops like
a fish out of water. Developers still work in the dark ages expecting
everyone to "re-compile" everything or install RPM's that dont work half
the time and to do things "their way" because they've been doing it that
way for 20 years so it must be the best way.

That's funny, but _REALLY_ not up to standards for even an apprentice troll.
Troll O Meter
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
___________________________________________________
| | | | | | | | | | |
---------------------------------------------------
^
|
It's sad that the quality of trolls has gotten so bad over the years. I guess
you aren't aware that the current fad is using the Debian packaging scheme in
a distributions with code names like "Hairy Harlot", "Bloated Bulldog",
and "Demented Duck".
Old guy

The sad thing is you actually believe thats a troll.
Which probably tells everyone all they need to know.

[Chris F.A. Johnson]

Post by b***@now.com

Post by Moe Trin
On Wed, 05 Jul 2006, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.questions, in article

Post by b***@now.com
In reality Linux is a useless mess flopping around peoples desktops like
a fish out of water. Developers still work in the dark ages expecting
everyone to "re-compile" everything or install RPM's that dont work half
the time and to do things "their way" because they've been doing it that
way for 20 years so it must be the best way.

That's funny, but _REALLY_ not up to standards for even an apprentice troll.
Troll O Meter
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
___________________________________________________
| | | | | | | | | | |
---------------------------------------------------
^
|
It's sad that the quality of trolls has gotten so bad over the years. I guess
you aren't aware that the current fad is using the Debian packaging scheme in
a distributions with code names like "Hairy Harlot", "Bloated Bulldog",
and "Demented Duck".

The sad thing is you actually believe thats a troll.
Which probably tells everyone all they need to know.

It certainly does; but we knew that already.

While it is not 100% reliable, there is a strong correlation
between correct spelling and grammar and a creditable post. I make
allowances for typos, ESL, and even "finger memory", but when
apostrophes are misused twice in one sentence (omitted, and used
where one doesn't belong -- and ommitted again later, and in the
follow-up), that is a sign of illiteracy.

Coupled with an obvious ignorance of the subject, that makes the
OP a very sad case indeed.

[b***@now.com]

In article <pvstn3-***@xword.teksavvy.com>, ***@gmail.com
says...

Post by Chris F.A. Johnson
While it is not 100% reliable, there is a strong correlation
between correct spelling and grammar and a creditable post.

what an idiotic thing to say.

[Moe Trin]

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.questions, in article

Post by b***@now.com

Post by Moe Trin
That's funny, but _REALLY_ not up to standards for even an apprentice troll.

I've really got to get a logarithmic scale for my troll meter.

Post by b***@now.com

Post by Moe Trin
It's sad that the quality of trolls has gotten so bad over the years.

The sad thing is you actually believe thats a troll.

I didn't think it made it up to the standards for a troll. If you think
that your post was supposed to be humorous as well as useful, you need
to spend some time in comp.os.linux.advocacy and see some of the experts
playing.

Old guy