Hi, I've been using ubuntu for a couple of years now (since 9.10 to be exact) and I was never thrilled with it but I liked it better than windows so I dual boot(ed) them. Now with natty and the new unity desktop, I'm just not a fan any more. I want to switch to a different distro but I honestly don't know much about the others as ubuntu is the only one that I have used. I know some people may say that I could just switch desktop environments which I have done (I installed kde which I like but reminds me a lot of the windows 7 taskbar) but I want to switch to a new distro. I have been looking into other distros but I'm not sure how to choose a new one. I have been looking at opensuse and fedora the most but I'm also interested in the new fork of mandriva, Mageia. I am grateful for any suggestions of which distro (which I realise the opinion is subjective) I should try and/or how I can narrow done all of my choices in the wonderful Linux community.

Simple as that: All the distros you mentioned have Live-CDs/DVDs. Just try the to get a first look. If you like one or two, install them to a VM, like Virtualbox, so that you can try them without the need of repartitioning.

I think You should keep trying, after all Virtual Machines are here to test operating systems,

In my option linuxMint(Ubuntu derivative+ neat interface) and Slackware are worth trying.

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If you (like me) dislike KDE and prefer Gnome, you probably won't like Gnome 3 either! Try Xfce.

Xubuntu is a bit buggy (see my review on this site), but Debian, Mint and PCLinuxOS are all good distros using deb packages like Ubuntu (though I haven't tried them in their Xfce versions).

As you see, I'm using Salix: Slackware made more user-friendly, with extra software, and with Xfce as the preferred desktop.

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Linux Mint is probably what you want. You could give Bodhi a try as well if you're up for a bit of an adventure.

http://www.linuxmint.com/

http://www.bodhilinux.com/

Thanks everyone for your responses.

I'm gonna add my two cents-

I started with Ubuntu 6.06, installed 8.04 when it was released, then 10.04. Like you, I became more and more dissatisfied with it. To me, it was becoming Canonical Windows- bulky, buggy, and constantly moving menu items. I tried a few live CDs before finally deciding on PuppyLinux 5.2.5. Quite frankly, it's perfect for me- a stable, light-weight, user-friendly interface between me and my PC, which is all an OS needs to be. But, for an added bonus, not only does it have its own repository, but you can also select to install software packages from the repos of several other distros through Puppy's package manager. I realize no single distro is for everyone, but you might want to give Puppy a try.

Good Luck.

My 2 cents... There are so many different distros you could be looking onto.
Starting from Debian, which is very close to Ubuntu in ideology. Then look at Fedora. Puppy was also pointed just above. Have a peek at Pardus.

There is a lot also in my blog, just try to read.

Ubuntu and Debian close in ideology? Where did you get that from?

From the fact that both use same package technology. It is very different from RPM and TAR.GZ.
I meant that switching from Ubuntu to Debian would be less painful than switch from Ubuntu to Slackware.

What has the fact that they use the same package technology to do with their ideology? Debian's ideology is very different from Ubuntu's ideology.

Personally I switched from Ubuntu to Debian, and it was an easy transition due to the similar packaging system.

I recommend test-driving a few of the top 10 distributions (as they typically have the best support and user base). Here's a pretty good comparison of the major distros: http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

I was wondering if someone could give me a quick review of Salix or direct me to a site where one is?

I switched from Ubuntu to Puppy and it was like a breath of fresh air. The installation of software packages is quite similar, also- open manager, select package. Done.

BTW, here is one review of Salix from Distrowatch.

I've dabbled with it. To be brief--

* Installation is more difficult than Ubuntu. Familiarity with a Slackware-style install will help, but is not necessary.

* Repositories are smaller. gslapt and slapt-get are the package management tools, similiar to apt and synaptic.

* 100% compatible with Slackware, so you can grab packages from slackbuilds.org.

* DE's include XFCE, LXDE, KDE, and fluxbox. Others can be downloaded from slackbuilds.org

It's more hands-on that Ubuntu, but it's light and I enjoyed it.

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