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I'm running SuSE 9.2 and OpenSuSE 10.1 32 & 64 bit on my computers. I had planned to update to OpenSuSe 10.2 when the times comes, but I am very dismayed by the Microsoft/Novell dealings, and so I am thinking of abandoning SuSE. In the past, I have run other distros. Way back when, I ran Redhat 7.x - 9.x. Fedora, these days, has a reputation for being bloated. I've run ubuntu on a old computer just for fun. Its nice but I prefer having a root user and such. I've never been able to install Slackware or Mandriva on anything. Debian is never current enough. Where do I go?
You gave up on Ubuntu too quick. To enable root account, you just needed to type one command:
sudo passwd root
That is pretty much it. Since you are a SuSE fan, I believe you use KDE. Check out Kubuntu if that's the case. It has a very polished desktop. Ubuntu has a great community and with guides like this, it is impossible not to like it ^_^
I do use KDE and like it quite a bit and yes, I had installed kubuntu. In SuSe, I can be logged on as my "regular" user and do an "su" and acquire root privileges or I switch user to root. I prefer the latter. Which is "sudo passwd root" equivalent to?
I hopped over the the mepis site. They say the the MEPIS team is committed to providing the community with stable and polished releases that are Debian compatible. So it sounds like I would experience that same dissatifaction with mepis that I did with debian.
I can understand having some problems installing Slackware (it is quite "manual"), but do not understand why you had problems installing Mandriva. Due to the SUSE/Microsoft debacle (along with the low quality SUSE 10.1 release), I recently evaluated Fedora Core 6 and Mandriva 2007 as alternatives. FC6 was, well, "ordinary." Not bad, just not that different from any other distro. Mandriva was a better experience. The Mandriva installer did an excellent job. The only problem that I would anticipate (which is a problem with most modern distributions), would be if you have older hardware, a smaller amount of RAM (less than 256MB), an obscure video card, or an older laptop (with the occasionally odd hardware you can get in a laptop). In other words, if you haven't tried it lately, you might want to take another look at Mandriva.
>>an older laptop
the mandriva install was indeed attempted on a older laptop. My next install is to be on a new desktop, so maybe I'll try Mandriva. thanks.
Debian comes in 3 flavors ... Stable, Testing, and Unstable. The names are not indicative of stability in the sense that it is defined by other distros. Many people use Unstable (Sid) exclusively. It's roughly as stable as new releases of Mandriva, Suse, Fredora, etc. It is absolutely cutting edge. Ubuntu, for example, is based on Debian Unstable. Testing (currently Etch) and Unstable are upgraded daily with whatever new software is available. There is no "release" for them.
Newly accepted programs go into Unstable. If there are no critical bugs filed against them over a couple weeks or so, they move into Testing. Testing is actually, the current Release Candidate. Stable, which tends to contain somewhat outdated software is intended for use on critical servers, and large multi-workstation installations maintained by a central IS organization. Though dated, it is absolutely rock solid. The only way to break something is to add new updates unapproved by Debian. Programs not "free" enough for Debian's strict standards are available from Debian's "contrib" and "non-free" repos, or from auxiliary repos such as www.debian-multimedia.org
Installing Stable (Sarge), then upgrading to Testing is not a good idea. Generally it is better to do a fresh install of Etch, then upgrade to Sid if that is desireable. Most knowledgeable hobbyists run either Testing or some mix of Testing and Unstable. I, personally, do a dist-upgrade from Testing every week, and draw individual updates from Sid for particular programs as desired ... or when I am having a problem with a specific Testing app.
My system is as current as any other distribution, and at least equally stable. Things like XGL are not actually incorporated into Debian until they are judged to be "ready," but all the components are available if you want to work out the kinks yourself. The AMD64 version is in total sync with the 32-bit except for components not available from upstream. (like a Java plugin for Mozilla). Debian's 64-bit Gnash (free Flash player) works quite well, and 64-bit Open Office is solid. Many people report Xen virtualization to be very solid, and relatively easy to set up. Again, at this point, I would recommend that only to adepts.
Debian is not thought of well as a desktop oS, but Debian deratives are.
"
To find out how well "pure Debian" works as a Linux desktop, I performed another net-install on the Thinkpad -- this time, only checking the "Desktop environment" on the "Debian software selection" screen of the installation wizard.
The result? To make a long story short, I quickly came to the conclusion that there's a very big role for Debian-derived distros like Ubuntu, Freespire, MEPIS, Linspire, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xandros, and the like. Oh sure, I was able to easily get GNOME and KDE installed, and most of the basic bits and pieces were there, but the overall gestalt of the system -- how well it worked out-of-the-box at supporting multimedia, Flash, audio, fonts, and so on -- was far, far inferior to what those Debian spin-offs provide.
Mind you, I'm 100 percent convinced that I could have successfully created a completely satisfactory configuration of a Debian GNU/Linux desktop... given enough patience, that is. But frankly, I've got too many more-pressing things to do with my time than reinvent the Ubuntu/MEPIS/Freespire wheel ;-)
"
It all depends on what you want. (That could be a stock answer for just about all the solicitations for opinion that I see on the forums.)
I like debian because I can do whatever I want with it. I also build my own computers from parts I select and assemble, and this analogy is somewhat appropriate here: not everyone likes to do things like that, nor should they.
My favorite way to install debian is to use a net install to get the base system, then I add the things I want one by one. Others no doubt prefer the 'kitchen sink' distros where you pretty much just dump everything on. Nothing wrong with either style of distro; I also like slack, which is of the latter type.
The mistake is to judge anything without looking beyond your own preferences; if for me the best desktop os is one I make for myself using software I prefer, then someone else's opinion that debian "is not thought of well as a desktop oS" actually amuses me. For me, given the package management and large repos, it's the best. Not that anyone else should care
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