Which Linux Dist

[Roger Johansson]

Mepis is alive and... uh, on the road to recovery

Thanks. The last stable version is still available,
and I think it is well worth trying for people wanting
to try a good linux live-CD.
Download mirrors;
http://www.mepis.org/node/1462

 

[JoeA]

Mepis is alive and... uh, on the road to recovery

Many Debian distros had some problems this last year as the repositories
for updates went through some changes. There has also been some churning
with major software packages. Mepis seems to have not kept up, but a new
release is expected shortly; they are working out some bugs with the
installer, etc.:

"There have been a few items that have cropped up on SimplyMEPIS 3.4-3 RC1
and we currently working resolving them and we have updates on some of
these issues." (from http://www.mepis.org/)

Right now PCLinuxOS seems to be 'hot' and got a lot of positive comments
on Distrowatch recently.

Andy

Second on PCLinux
http://www.pclinuxonline.com/pclos/

 

[Whirled Peas]

Ubuntu and its KDE cousin, Kubuntu, are also available as live CDs, but I
don't think you can install without downloading the install version.

You are correct. If you want to try k/ubuntu and you decide you like it,
you then have to download the install CD. You *can* get the CDs sent to
you, free of charge ( https://shipit.ubuntu.com/ ) but you'll have to wait
several weeks for them to arrive.

 

[remove]

I'm thinking about downloading a linux dist. However I dont know which
one I should get. I'm not a programmer so If I have to put anything
together code wise forget it. I'm a pretty basic user....Which can I
download for free and put onto a cd-r...

If you really want a selection, check out the list of Live CD's at:

http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php

HTH
Bill

 

[Bill Turner]

You can get the CDs sent to
you, free of charge ( https://shipit.ubuntu.com/ ) but you'll have to
wait several weeks for them to arrive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There is one fellow on eBay who will ship the two CDs to you for $1.99
total with no waiting. That's how I got mine.

Mr Bill

 

[Andy Cap]

Some essential reading before jumping on the Linux bandwagon:
http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

Seriously, I can't stress that last link enough.

Very interesting and well written article. Thanks for the link.

Andy

 

[Tom Petersen]

ok so which is it Kanotix or Ubuntu

Kanotix - hands down
unless you want to use Gnome for your GUI.

Ubuntu uses it's own software repositories. The only really safe app
is one that comes from the Ubuntu folks.

Kanotix is 100% Debian and uses the Debian repositories. This is good
and desirable (until the caretakers b0rk the unstable repositories).

Kanotix is a Live CD and has an install script on it. Try it - you'll
like it!

 

[Craig]

Kanotix - hands down
unless you want to use Gnome for your GUI.

Ubuntu uses it's own software repositories. The only really safe app
is one that comes from the Ubuntu folks.

Kanotix is 100% Debian and uses the Debian repositories. This is good
and desirable (until the caretakers b0rk the unstable repositories).

Kanotix is a Live CD and has an install script on it. Try it - you'll
like it!

Kanotix is a derivative of Debian. As is K/Ubuntu. As such, K/Ubuntu
can use Debian repositories as well.

I'm not saying Ubuntu's better. Just saying that it's also an offshoot
of Debian, hence the same repository access as others.

Craig

 

[Why Tea]

Never tried Katonix or Ubuntu. But I have used Debian, FC and SuSe. I
think if you come from a Windows environment, SuSe probably has the
closest look-and-feel of Windows.

/Why Tea

 

[Mark Warner]

I'm thinking about downloading a linux dist. However I dont know which
one I should get. I'm not a programmer so If I have to put anything
together code wise forget it. I'm a pretty basic user....Which can I
download for free and put onto a cd-r...

I've tried close to a dozen distros in the last few months. Up until
recently I would have recommended MEPIS, closely followed by Ubuntu, for
the new user coming to Linux from Windows.

I'm now posting from a new install of Xandros v3.0.2 OCE. Absolutely
flawless, absolutely point and click, absolutely automagic. It doesn't
get any better in my opinion.

 

[Craig]

I've tried close to a dozen distros in the last few months. Up until
recently I would have recommended MEPIS, closely followed by Ubuntu, for
the new user coming to Linux from Windows.

I'm now posting from a new install of Xandros v3.0.2 OCE. Absolutely
flawless, absolutely point and click, absolutely automagic. It doesn't
get any better in my opinion.

A couple of points to consider wrt Xandros v3.0.2 OCE (free edition):

- it is y.a. variant based on Debian
- commerical use is not allowed
- User guide is omitted
- CD burning speed is limited to *minimum* speed of hardware spec

I haven't tried this flavor, just commenting based on
http://www.xandros.com/products/home/desktopoc/dsk_oc_intro.html

regards,
Craig

 

[richk]

I must be doing something wrong..I cant get any of the live cd's to
work.

I'm on a winXP system. a router is attached and I have a wireless
network setup

 

[Tom Petersen]

Kanotix is a derivative of Debian. As is K/Ubuntu. As such, K/Ubuntu
can use Debian repositories as well.

I'm not saying Ubuntu's better. Just saying that it's also an offshoot
of Debian, hence the same repository access as others.

My brief experience with Ubuntu was that it may or may not work with
the Debian repositories. Trying to use Open Office from Sid on Breezy
was unpleasant, to say the least. The database and mailmerge were a
nightmare.

<http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=review-ubuntu>
Therefore, the most up-to-date Debian-based distros tend to be based
on Sid.
Despite the name, unstable does not mean that the operating system
or its applications are likely to crash. However, it does mean that
the package collection constantly changes. New packages are added and
old ones are kicked out on a daily basis. The best way to think of
unstable is that it's a moving target. This can cause problems when
you go to install new software - thus, distros based on unstable can
suffer from "package breakage", a serious disease that can lead to
hair loss (as well as a smashed computer monitor).
To solve this problem, once every six months Ubuntu syncs with
Debian's unstable package collection, but then goes its separate way.
Thus, as time passes, the two distros get out of sync. This has some
people concerned, among them, Ian Murdock, Debian's founder. In an
interview at InternetNews.com, Ian pulled no punches:
"If anything, Ubuntu's popularity is a net negative for Debian. It's
diverged so far from Sarge that packages built for Ubuntu often don't
work on Sarge. And given the momentum behind Ubuntu, more and more
packages are being built like this. The result is a potential
compatibility nightmare."
Ian's main concern is that Ubuntu is not truly Debian compatible,
and that development efforts are being sapped as everyone concentrates
on Ubuntu. Contributing to the controversy is the fact that Ubuntu is
not a member of the Debian Common Core (DCC) Alliance. In the true
tradition of online discourse, this has generated some significant
flame wars.

 

[Mark Warner]

I must be doing something wrong..I cant get any of the live cd's to
work.

I'm on a winXP system. a router is attached and I have a wireless
network setup

Is your BIOS set to boot to CD before HDD?

 

[Craig]

I must be doing something wrong..I cant get any of the live cd's to
work.

I'm on a winXP system. a router is attached and I have a wireless
network setup

Please be more descriptive. In other words, at what point in the
process does the process begin to fail?

Have you d/l'd the live cd /iso/ file and burned it as a /iso/ file to a
cdr?

Have you enabled "boot from cdrom" in your bios?

let us know

Craig

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=BBQ=AB?=]

My brief experience with Ubuntu was that it may or may not work
with the Debian repositories. Trying to use Open Office from Sid
on Breezy was unpleasant, to say the least. The database and
mailmerge were a nightmare.

The popularity of Debian as a base for other distros, combined with the
popularity of ones such as Ubuntu, is currently making for a tricky
situation. The danger is that the software repositories will be
effectively forked, the way they have with RPM-based distros.

The "Ian" part of "Debian" blogged about the issues involved last year,
after an article quoted his comments about the negative impact of
Ubuntu on Debian development.

<http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3496541>

<http://ianmurdock.com/?p=153>

<http://ianmurdock.com/?p=167>

I hope the Debian and Ubuntu folks have been working to avoid the
apparent pitfalls, but your post doesn't exactly lead to the conclusion
that things are going smoothly now.

 

[John Hood]

I'm thinking about downloading a linux dist. However I dont know which
one I should get. I'm not a programmer so If I have to put anything
together code wise forget it. I'm a pretty basic user....Which can I
download for free and put onto a cd-r...

I've got a link to the Linux distro chooser on my site.

http://www.jhoodsoft.org/windows_replacement.html

John Hood
Web Site www.jhoodsoft.org
"The best home and business free software, no ads, no time limits, no
fluff."
"No kidding."

 

[Steven Burn]

I've got a link to the Linux distro chooser on my site.

http://www.jhoodsoft.org/windows_replacement.html

Why not just provide the link?

http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php

--
Regards

Steven Burn
Ur I.T. Mate Group
www.it-mate.co.uk

Keeping it FREE!