Hello.

I'll just cut straight to the point. I am a high school student who also uses Linux. I have been distro hopping for a couple years now. I am now at a standstill, not being able to decide on a distro.

It doesn't have to be a mainstream distro, just something that meets this criteria:

- Fast/Decent Boot Up Time (<<<--IMPORTANT)
- Stable, But Not Outdated (Ex: LibreOffice, not OpenOffice like the last Debian release I tried)
- Decent Battery Life (Not Really A Problem For Linux Anymore)
- Long Term Support (Don't want to be upgrading every so many months, but not rolling release)
- Developer Tools (Like GCC)

Things that are optional:

- Software Repo (I can compile source)
- Easy Access to Microsoft Core fonts (Papers must be Times New Roman)
- Inclusion of Prop. Codecs

Things Not Necessary/Do Not Want:

- Games
- Cloud Service
__________________________________

I prefer to be able to set this linux system up quickly, like out of the box. I don't have a lot of free time to toy around, uninstall unnecessary software, configure, you know?

Please try and not bias. (EX: "Ubuntu, cuz its awesome")


Anyways, thank you. I'm looking forward to your replies.

Edit: I'm very experienced in Linux, so it's not necessary for me to have a distro that "holds your hand," if you know what I mean.

Ubuntu LTS releases seem to be what you're looking for.

I would suggest Ubuntu. 11.04 dropped OpenOffice and supplies Libre.

We must have different definitions of "outdated." Nothing wrong with that; just want to be clear on where I'm coming from. From my perspective, if it's currently supported, it's not outdated, even if it is using older versions of various packages. For mission-critical situations (like schoolwork), I'd recommend something like CentOS or Ubuntu LTS, and live with the fact that it uses slightly older packages. If you want to also have the latest and greatest, just multiboot a more up-to-date distro, and take care to ensure your documents are compatible with both the old and new versions of whatever software you're using.

You can install Libreoffice on Debian stable from the backports repo, and the latest firefox from mozilla.debian.org.
Another option I use: a Squeeze system with a Sid schroot for the bleeding edge stuff: best of both worlds!

Sorry for the confusion. By outdated, I meant a distro (like Debian) having packages being quite older versions of software, as compared to the latest stable version.

I will probably try Ubuntu 11.10. I tried Kubuntu and KDE crashed about 2 times withen the first 30 minutes. For me Kubuntu releases have always been a little buggy though, so it might be my computer.

Are there anymore suggestions you guys have that are maybe a little more advanced (Slackware, Arch, etc.)? I love both of those, but I don't have enough time or fast enough internet to set up Arch. Slackware takes a long time to boot for me, and takes a while to set up to get a good workflow for me.

If I were in your position, I'd go with a distro that was quick to set up and offered a comfortable DE and workflow. I find that by the time I configure a new installation with my favorite DE and apps, there's not a whole lot of difference between one distro and another. My Ubuntu desktop looks like my Fedora desktop, which looks like my Mint desktop, which looks like my Archbang desktop. The one glaring difference is in package management, but all of the above provide reasonable apps for that purpose. Find a comfortable distro and go with it.

Didn't you say you want a stable system with long term support?
Go for Slackware.

Yes, slackware is the way to go. Stable, fast boot, not outdated, and long term support.

If you say you don't want to spend a lot of time setting things up, try Salix: Slackware with added user-friendliness. There's an "install media codecs" entry in the menu.

I have tried Salix before, and I loved it. I'm just not sure what environment to choose for DE. Haha. Thank you for the suggestions.

I suggest choosing a stable, long-term-support distro, and then if you need newer versions of a few important apps, you can install them yourself.

For example, LibreOffice is less than 1 year old so you won't find it by default in most "stable" distributions. However you can easily install it in any distribution you like (even if said distro "ships with Openoffice by default."

Personally I enjoy using CentOS/Scientific Linux or Debian Stable for my must-be-stable work computers. This gives me a stable foundation, and it was no problem to install the latest browser, LibreOffice, etc. I also hear excellent things about Slackware.

For the DE, try LXDE if you want something light, if not I guess KDE or a bit lighter XFCE.

I've just installed Salix on my tower and I must say it is a very nice distro based on Slackware but made easy. I chose the Xfce4 environment, the first time I've tried it in some years. On my older AAO netbook, I've been running Mandriva through 2010.2 but thinking of trying a different distro. I'm thinking of Salix on it also with xfce or lxde environment.

Thnx.