Linux - Distro-Junkies Unite!

[Sonicfrog]

Hello all.

I must confess.

I'm a Distro Junkie.

At my best / worst, it was not unusual to have five or six partitions on each of my four computers running one disrto or another. I started out on Red Hat 7 back in 2000, moved on to Suse and Mandrake (they really need to change to name back, Mandriva sucks). I pretty much have come to prefer the Debians. Right now I'm using Peppermint, a light weight Ubuntu / Linux Mint variation that runs OpenBox and focuses on cloud computing. Compared to its parents, its very stripped down and, as a result, very fast, even with Gnome installed. It boots up in about 15 seconds from the Grub screen.

Further proof that I'm a distro-junkie. On Monday mornings, my first stop when I'm surfing the web is Distrowatch. I always check in with PJ at Groklaw to see how insanely the traitorous SCO is behaving today, and to cheer every time they lose a legal challenge trying to sue Linux out of existence.

Note that Linux makes music too, and there are several distros specializing in music creation and production. I was a big fan of the now defunct DeMuDi, and now its nearly dead successor 64 Studio. I have Ubuntu Studio installed on one of my machines, but must confess I haven't played with it much. I hope to change that in the future.

[MadMan118]

Linux isn't really known for it's media/creative prowess. Yeah there's a few programs around, but nothing to match things like Pro Tools, Reason, etc. Though it will work in a pinch and I've never had any latency issues with Linux. I use Linux because it works, well every time. I use ubuntu, fedora, and crunchbang a ubuntu based distro. Its like a stripped down version of ubuntu, so its easy to use and there's less things than go wrong.

[embellisher]

I use PCLinuxOS. Loading 2010 later tonight, as a matter of fact. Waiting on my backup of home.

[jp58]

Ubuntu. I've tried some other distro's but I always seem to come back to Ubuntu.

Also I've come to hate KDE based desktops and Konquerer.

[onestring]

Arch with Xfce!

I was a hopper too, but I've been almost a year on Arch. Packages are always up-to-date, and the community around it (especially the documentation) is so much more useful than any other distro.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that the differences between distros these days are minimal. The only big differences (once you have your system all set up how you like it) are the package managers and the community/support options.

Ubuntu is great, but the documentation is often outdated and the forums are just a mess, IMHO.

[Crass!]

pfft hacked-together "unix-like" operating system. FEH! Real unix - bsd or solaris all the way!

With that being said, I have a hard drive with ubuntu 10.4 on it and another one which up till recently had openSUSE. Its now a hackintosh-in-progress =)

Goal: Triple boot Windows 7 Enterprise (64 bit) Ubuntu 10.4 (64 bit) & OSX (they don't give me much of a choice of the architecture)

[jp58]

Originally Posted by onestring

Ubuntu is great, but the documentation is often outdated and the forums are just a mess, IMHO.

There are a lot of people giving "advice" that don't need to be doing it as well. I tried to help on the forums for a while, but its hard to get/give accurate info if there are 3 people claiming you are wrong or they know how to do it better.

[Atoz]

Ubuntu 10.4 here, with both KDE and GNOME (I haven't decided which I like best). I use it because it's fairly stable, and because my M-Audio Fast Track Pro worked out of the box (with 16 bit sound, anyway ) without too much dinking around. 24-bit is possible if you make yourself a custom kernel, tho.

[Tegzsa]

I was still using XP until about a year ago (4-5 years use, no serious problems), but it was starting to feel a bit old and creaky and I was looking for something else. I tried a few Linux types, and Ubuntu 9.10 worked the best with my hardware.

Been using Ubuntu 10.4 since it came out. Learned my lesson from 9.1 (if it's working, do NOT update).

[NJL]

Fedora and Ubuntu for desktop.

Backtrack for, um, fun.

CentOS for anything server related.

[MIJ-VI]

Originally Posted by jp58

There are a lot of people giving "advice" that don't need to be doing it as well. I tried to help on the forums for a while, but its hard to get/give accurate info if there are 3 people claiming you are wrong or they know how to do it better.

There are a growing number of strident Windows expats on the various Ubuntu Forums...

In time they'll mature though.

[jp58]

Originally Posted by MIJ-VI

There are a growing number of strident Windows expats on the various Ubuntu Forums...

In time they'll mature though.

Well I would be "okay" with getting flamed about how they could do it better, if they gave another solution. Its just annoying to be told "you're doing it wrong" and then someone not offer a better alternative.

[seanm]

Originally Posted by Atoz

Ubuntu 10.4 here, with both KDE and GNOME (I haven't decided which I like best). I use it because it's fairly stable, and because my M-Audio Fast Track Pro worked out of the box (with 16 bit sound, anyway ) without too much dinking around. 24-bit is possible if you make yourself a custom kernel, tho.

That's good to know. I have been using the M-Audio Mobile just because it worked with Linux. The Mobile is 16bit only. I might look into the Pro.

The mobile works noticeably better than my cheap sound card and light years better than the laptop sound!

[sloasdaylight]

Originally Posted by seanm

I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize!

This made me chortle.

Actually, that's making it's way into my sig.

[MIJ-VI]

GNU/Linux Day

October 10 · 12:00pm - 2:00pm

"Heres the idea, on October 10/10/10 we will change our profile pictures to Tux so people will take notice. Most people have never heard of Linux and that's not good if we want companies to support our community. 10/10/10 is the release date of Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat but the whole Linux community can benefit from something like this. We all have our favorite distro, but if we're to be honest, if Linux is going to be recogn...ized in the Desktop market it's going to be Ubuntu making happen.

But there is nothing wrong with distro pride. That's why I think Tux is an excellent choice he represents the wider community, comes in many styles, including distro-themed images.

10/10/10 Is a great date, it gives time for the group grow but isn't too long, is easy to remember and will sync nicely with Ubuntu release, which will be the first step for most people regarding Linux.

Distros strengthen each other, and if we want vender's to be Linux friendly, we need to give them incentive. To do That we just need a noticeable market share but to do that we need to be seen and make ourselves known and honestly we kind of suck at that."
________

A selection of prospective avatar/post apparel.

[MadMan118]

^+1.

[MIJ-VI]

Originally Posted by jp58

Well I would be "okay" with getting flamed about how they could do it better, if they gave another solution. Its just annoying to be told "you're doing it wrong" and then someone not offer a better alternative.

+1

A suggested retort: 'In that case perhaps you'd be so kind as to edify me?..'

[jp58]

Originally Posted by MIJ-VI

GNU/Linux Day

October 10 · 12:00pm - 2:00pm

"Heres the idea, on October 10/10/10 we will change our profile pictures to Tux so people will take notice. Most people have never heard of Linux and that's not good if we want companies to support our community. 10/10/10 is the release date of Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat but the whole Linux community can benefit from something like this. We all have our favorite distro, but if we're to be honest, if Linux is going to be recogn...ized in the Desktop market it's going to be Ubuntu making happen.

But there is nothing wrong with distro pride. That's why I think Tux is an excellent choice he represents the wider community, comes in many styles, including distro-themed images.

10/10/10 Is a great date, it gives time for the group grow but isn't too long, is easy to remember and will sync nicely with Ubuntu release, which will be the first step for most people regarding Linux.

Distros strengthen each other, and if we want vender's to be Linux friendly, we need to give them incentive. To do That we just need a noticeable market share but to do that we need to be seen and make ourselves known and honestly we kind of suck at that."

My facebook picture is already Tux. I lied, I must've changed it a while back...

I'm all for having different distros around because competition creates a need for improvement. Without it, Linux would become stale much like MS and Macs have become. Hell, Microsoft's biggest selling point was the "snap" thing that lets two windows run side by side, or maybe it was the TV thing?

Anyways I'm all for helping new users and converting people into new users as long as they promise to pay it forward (I know it may be an empty promise, but it was one I made when I joined the Linux ranks, and it holds a slight sentimental value to me).

Also, what is Konquerer's selling point supposed to be? I absolutely hated it when I went KDE a few months ago.

[Stanley Pugh]

Been using Linux for the past 15 years.
My home studio runs on it with Audiocity.
It works it's free, it Rocks!

[Atoz]

Originally Posted by seanm

That's good to know. I have been using the M-Audio Mobile just because it worked with Linux. The Mobile is 16bit only. I might look into the Pro.

The mobile works noticeably better than my cheap sound card and light years better than the laptop sound!

Here's a link describing where to find the kernel patches, etc.

http://www.joegiampaoli.com/blog/?p=462