I've used Linux in about one year but no distribution seem to fit me. I've tried both openSUSE(11.0-11.1 64bit) and Mandriva(2009.1 Free 64bit) KDE editions on two and an half different computers. openSUSE had it's bugs(for exampel the icons in the folder didn't show up until you held the mouse over them) and tons of RPMs that didn't work. Mandriva has it's problems with sound driver not being installed or included by default and Flash in in FF doesn't work.

So now I need a new distribution. The distribution must have...

* a graphical installation method for installing on the hard drive
* an easy way to install applications (like Mandriva has)
* a stable edition
* proprietary driver included
* compiz installed by default
* 64bit support
* either Gnome,KDE or Xfce
* Proper working Flash and a media player which don't require any extra codec to be downloaded.

But it must be free of charge

WWW.linuxmint.com

it has both 32bit & 64bit to try out.

I'm going with Ultimate-Edition-2.3 (Ubuntu-9.04 BIG)
its got or can get anything!
http://ultimateedition.info/ultimate-edition-2-3/

Or also Sidux which is unstable but stable sid
its "more stable" cause of sidux pkgs
http://sidux.com/

best I can think of....

Both Sidux and Mint look like alternatives. But I can't see any LiveCDs. Maybe they're hidding them like Mandriva hid the 64 bit version. Are there any? Also are you completely sure that Sidux GUI in its installer? They talk a lot about how they are Debian based so I'm not so sure about that

Oh
heres the Sidux LiveCD's
http://sidux.com/module-mirrors.html

sidux is debian, has a great gui installer
boots very fast and is cutting edge

heres ultimate 2.3 dvd
http://ultimateedition.unixheads.org/

now, I have seen many posts here about Mint stuff not working and
stuff being broken, like the desktop...your call on that

I got the sidux xfce edition and it rocks dude
light-weight too

Sidux is basically based on Debian's unstable [sid] repo. Sidux is naturally not a very stable distro if you want stability above all. Maintaining sidux requires reading their Forum and upgrade announcements. Their group are small in number and mostly speak german in irc. Anyway, sidux has the fastest install I have seen. The Lite version installs in just 5minutes only. Give it a try and see if it meets your requirements.Oh btw, I guess the one who recommended you sidux didn't look too deeply into your requirements list:

That's a strict no no. Infact, if you install compiz in sidux and you will definitely mess something up and go ask for help. They will tell you, why use compiz when kde has inbuilt desktop compositing? You are on your own and no help will be provided to you. They are not very friendly trust me. Don't trust me? Please visit their irc and ask them about compiz yourself.

What they call stable [based on an unstable repo] I call experimental.

Hell no! It's debian afterall! You need to enable non-free repo.

No gnome. However there are kde and xfce versions.

Again you have to install these yourself by enabling non-free repo.

Linux Mint has an LTS version (that is, "Long-Term Support). Current Mint is version 7, but LTS is 5, meaning it's Mint 5, but it has all the updates without having to install a new version, and it will be that way until 2011. So if you want to make sure you get the updates but don't want to hassle of installing version 8, version 9, etc. it seems to be a good way to go.
I've used Linux Mint and I like it a lot. Runs great, lightweight, and is as stable as anything, as far as I could tell. It's also a pretty green colour. I've not yet installed it, but the download site (http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php) claims that the Universal Version (the version WITHOUT non-free goodies) is a live CD. This may mean the standard edition is as well, but I'm not yet sure. Can anyone back me up on that?
Anyway, that's my two pennies worth.

Well if there is no compiz there is no s_f_a.
If I can see youtube clips without any problems and pdf files won't open in Gimp by default, I'll replace Mandriva with Mint LTS.

I'm writing this from LinuxMint 5 LiveCD(the LiveCD doesn't include Swedish keyboard layout so it took me a while to find the underscore, just look at this sick layout http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KB...es-NoAltGr.svg !). Mint is probably not for me. It isn't pretty, the application installer is weird, I don't like the menus and it only has 1 desktop by default. PDF files open as they should and the sound in flash worked very well in the beginning but not anymore. I'm going to redefine the requirements here:
* GUI hard drive disk installer
* GUI application installer
* support for 64bit
* KDE or xfce(maybe it was KDE fault that my applications crashed)
* proper working flash and media players available(maybe it isn't the flash player but my integrated sound card's fault)

yeah, I hate the menu system layout they use
its very un-user-friendly to me

heres your requirements

I'm still going with Ultimate-Edition 2.3
or UL-2.3 gamers edition

2.3 comes as 64bit, kde, gnome are included
latest greatest software
I believe flash is already installed too

its my Main OS, that should tell you something
I have tried a 1001 distros
there are None Like Ultimate Edition
its the only linux I've ever had that 3D games play "out-of-the-box"

Ultimates got so much eyecandy that ultimate-edition themes is bigger (+1000MB)
than most distros are
try it and you'll see
Compiz also included
every codec and library you can imagine

This will most probably create strong reaction to my proposal, but you could try CentOS. It's binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but it is totally Open Source, and support can be found on both RHEL, CentOS and even Fedora forums. Excellent Documentation for RHEL can be used to acheive anything you want.

You would have to add few repositories to get all applications I have in mind, but even installation of repositories is very simple, download rpm file, double click on it to install and run Package Manager to use it.

Anaconda, (almost) same as Fedora.
There is default Red Hat Packet Manager, but there is also Yum Extender application ( and few other).
It's rock solid, Red Hat builds it for server use. After the release there is no official version changes on any of the applications, but third party repositories can provide fair amount of newer version that will not endanger the system stability. Support is declared as 5 years after the release. RHEL/CentOS 5.x is based on Fedora Core 6, but there was extensive bug cleaning job done on it. Kernel also has frozen version, but Red Hat engineers are working on back-porting support for new hardware and new technologies from newer kernel. Since they are rigorously testing is before release, it is little slower that in other distributions that are feature oriented instead of bug-fixing oriented as is true for Red Hat.
Available via third party repositories, but very easy to install, if you do not have the newest hardware, but even in that case it is possible to use drivers from Fedora is need arises. There is "expanded" kernel from official "centosplus" repository that has all modules and drivers included (original RHEl has some stuff turned off to optimize speed, so CentOS by default follows their lead to maintain binary compatibility.
Compiz is in main repository, and I think it is installed by default.
It has 64-bit arh, but as far as I have seen and felt, unless you are running machine with more then 4GB of RAM, you will not see any improvement over i386, but you will be crippled with some things that do not work. best example is Flash. There is NO STABLE 64-bit Flash installation, current status is it is in Alpha stage. This is true for all distibutions. What people do is to install 32-bit Firefox and very stable 32-bit Flash.
Both Gnome and KDE are available with default install. Xfce is available in official Extras repository on the internet.
Flash is installed from Adobe's repository, and excellent combination of Mplyer and it's GUI SMplayer are available from third party repositories along with all needed codecs.

Note on third party repositories: If you restrain your self to use only tested repositories, your system will stay very stable, but you will have all the applications you need.

Link to LiveCD is here, just select preferred mirror, but it is almost void of all the goodies. It could even happen that LiveCD does not boot good, but that regular installation runs perfectly.

Ultimate Edition doesn't look right for me either. I want to choose what applications to install. The name also reminds me of Vista Ultimate a bit too much which I have no good memories from. I'm getting bad vibes from the word ultimate

Which version should I pick? http://ftp.df.lth.se/pub/centos/5.3/isos/i386/ why not any of the 64bit versions? http://ftp.df.lth.se/pub/centos/5.3/isos/x86_64/

Looking at your requirements have you considered Debian Stable?
Ticks all the above boxes.
Get the net-install disc,install the base system(don't check the desktop option) then simply aptitude install whatever you want.
You have control of what you put on your system.
Here's a link:

http://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst#smallcd

1 members found this post helpful.

I recommend i386 version. Only important difference between i386 and X86_64 versions on any distro is support for more then 4Gb of RAM, but there is no 64-bit Flash libraries (in Alpha stage), support for some wireless NIC's (PCIe) is yet to be made for 64-bit (I have not looked at this one for several months), ....

In few days I will be publishing links (in this thread) to new repositories I recompiled for i386 version with OpenOffice.org 3.1.1, Firefox 3.5.3 Thunderbird 3.0b4 and few others that are missing for CentOS. There will be also links to all relevant repositories for CentOS and little explanation what to use and what to watch out for.

So take a look at default installation and see if it agrees with you, and applications will soon be available to you is you decide to choose CentOS.

I second this. Graphical installer, one of the best package manager, 64-bit, any DE/WM you want. With most distros, you may have to activate the non-free repos for flash type of stuff but its no big deal to do it.