Favorite Flavor of Linux

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My computer experiences started with MacOS at the age of 7 (Mhh, MacPlus with 9" b&w screen, 20MB HD, 512kb RAM and 800k Floppy in a cute machine) plus a C64, mainly for robotics (I had lots of the "Fischertechnik" construction parts (like Lego, but a thousand times better) from my father, including the C64-Interface), years later I switched to windows, because of the incredibly high prices of Apple Hardware, and after some long painful years of fiddling with Redmonds 98, 2000 and XP, I finally got the guts and started learning linux.

I collected my first linux-experiences with SuSe (German distro, very GUI) about two years ago, but I was not really happy, just because it was too much like windows. I also tried RedHat, same problem. Then I found out about Gentoo and tried to compile it from stage 1 on a 300Mhz machine. After 5 days of watching gcc output, I lost my patience, formated the HD and installed Slackware linux.

And that is the distro I use since then. It was REALLY hard at first, I had no one around me with any linux-experience, and it took me days to get the simplest things working (like Mouse, CD-Rom etc), but it was worth it. I learned really a lot about linux in that time, because Slackware has no graphical installer, no easy setup-tools, you have to do everything by hand in config-files. It is known as the most "unix-like" distribution out there.

Now it runs on my desktop, my laptop and the server for my co-inhabitants. I am absolutly happy with it. But I could imagine switching back to Gentoo one day. Maybe on a faster machine and not everything from stage one. I even use linux on my pda, a Sharp Zaurus C760 with pdaXrom on it. I use Ion as window-manager which is very different approach to window-managing, but i think its pretty useful and i like it if no one else can use my computers Makes me feel special.

my pa got mandrake off ebay, and its easy enough for me to use it, but my dad can still have fun with it.

I use Gentoo on my workstation in the office, as well as Gentoo on our webserver at home. I have a Red Hat box that handles our mail at home...for now, although I keep wanting to shift that to something else....

raspberry.

pmsl!

so was i, but then i thought of the double meaning of "raspberry"...

get out of my head, astro!

warm and cosy? not in my head it ain't!

debian

I am currently using Mepis, which is essentially Debian. So I guess you might as well say I am using Debian. I tried installing the official Debian once but I couldn't get my display to work and all I had was a console with black and white text. I couldn't do that so Debian was inacessible for me until I found Mepis which works as a Live CD but you can also install it and it automatically detects hardware and I love it.

Never tried Gentoo but with all the good things I've been hearing I may try that next. Is it easy to install and use?

Hello All,

I was an undying fan of MEPIS Linux for a long time, but now it's taken second place to Libranet Linux!! !! It comes with multiple window managers, GNOME and KDE, and lots of applications and games in one package!!

PM me if you want to hear more.

mentalman

I use Debian on my desktop machine. agree totally about apt-get - it's addictive.

For a live CD, Knoppix. Good for spreading the good news, and solving configuration problems without resorting to the documentation.

But people keep telling me I should be using Mandrake. Maybe I'll give it a try.

Heh, I forgot about this thread...

I have been trying out different distros for the last couple of months - Fedora Core 3 didn't feel right, Mandrake was better but still wasn't me. Next was Ubuntu/Kubuntu - that was pretty good but seemed a bit buggy to me. I got hooked on using the repositories though so I thought I'd give another Debian based distro a shot - and downloaded the SimplyMEPIS live CD. It's just right for me. Sure, its a little bloated but at least that way you get to try out a few different apps and just remove what you don't like/use. I am sticking with MEPIS now - and am seriously considering ditching Windows altogether now! Although based on Mentalman's rave about Libranet I might have to give that a try first....

Dunc

I ran Red Hat from 5.2 through 7.0.

Then I switched to Mandrake, and ran from 8.0 through 10.1 (which I am currently running).

My plan is to upgrade my system to Debian, because I can't afford the Mandrake support, I'm tired of being as much as 6 months behind the curve on many of the programs I use regularly, and so I can take advantage of the many packages available for Debian. Besides, how can I say no to a distribution that names its releases after the toys in Toy Story?

Yay! Another convert

/me plugs MEPIS again.... Debian with the hassle taken out - easier to set up, runs as a live CD and has all the Debian packages etc. Added bonus - all the plugins, audio/video codecs etc are already configured.

Dunc