I thought "Haiku" was cool for the second I played with it and Thank LQ for all the new stuff we've found*!

Which do you think is the best model Ford has ever produced??

A Roll Royce!!

I have 2 primary computers one for very specific HTPC type, though expanded . and I use Win7 for videos due to best enhancer software is not for linux still
All other computer uses for my other specific builds are Linux-Mint17.3(18beta on usb still) MATE. One other is mint17.3 Cinnamon-meta MATE
those are it and have been as such for 12months

They use to sell a kit car i.e: DIY out of a box from here* now it's a pool store (best is sk8able!)

Maybe we should redefine the original question a bit differently. Make into multi-part, like:

a. The Desktop/Laptop OS you prefer of the ones you use
b. The Desktop/Laptop OS you have to use as part of your career/work
c. The OSes you help others with, meaning you have to know and use them to some extent as well

d. a, b, or c again, but applied to tablets or mobile devices.

my answers are:

a. Ubuntu with gnome-session-flashback (Metacity)
b. Was Windows when I worked, but I am retired now
c. Win7 (can't convince them to try Linux instead)
d. 10"+ Tablet w/ bluetooth keyboard. Not yet, but it will be Android, and python for development work.

And the relevance to this thread?Well, yes, if you like. It is always interesting to find this kind of thing out.
What interests me in this thread is how many people can use Linux as their primary OS and how many choose to. With the members here either knowing how to configure and use Linux or knowing where to ask (right here) it's good to know how many can use Linux as their primary OS.

Pointing out that the answer had nothing to do with the question.

a. Linux
b. Windows CE
c. I gave up trying to help people.
d. Android

Ubuntu, open suse and salix multiboot on my laptop. Debian and redhat/centos at work, so i dont really need to use windows anywhere.

What in the world?

1 members found this post helpful.

Hi,

I personally prefer Slackware64 Gnu/Linux using a KDE DE but mostly on the cli for my admin work on varied platforms. I do have some 32 bit hardware but that is not used that frequently. Most of my hardware is 64 bit.

I do have several ARM systems for my electronics experimentation bench and do use Slackware ARM on a few. Some use Raspbian but mostly SlackwareARM is in use. I do use LXDE for the ARM systems when I need a DE.

Have fun & enjoy!

On almost 20 machines at home + University (me and coworkers and students) = GNU/Linux (PCLinuxOS or (X)Ubuntu LTS.

Linux since 95. My girlfriend has a Windos 7 laptop though.

I use Windows 10 and Slackware 14.2 both equally. I like having multiple systems because I can do things differently with each and make work and personal stuff fun in various ways.

Linux is way more powerful than narive Windows, as it had hundreds of thousands of developers putting out their best, and Microsoft as a paulrey few thousans who are writing code as directed and for the next release, not the current one. So in Window, you get top-down planning and all for profit, but Linux us bottom-up interest is just doing it better.

There are three things that should drive your Linux experience: Your focus, what you can get through the Repositories, and which interface/desktop fits with what you want to work with best.

Each distro of Linux is inclusinve of the packages rhat its creator though was most beneficial to uaers. Often only one interface/Desktop is included as well. The interface/Desktop is also the File manager, and it may have some features that can be set or changed at will. Like soring folder and files, displaying icons rather than lists, color scheme, background, add search features, or show hidden files as well.

But the file manager (often nautilus or dolphin) are just one aspect of a distro. I personally prefer Metacity, and have added it to several distros after I installed them. I feel the Repositories are a lot more significant, along as to what form your packages come in. Deb (Debian) is quite impressive in scale, but several alternatives include RPM and YUM. Not all Linux software works with all distros of Linux, and one peoject to address this was Linux Standards Base, or LSB, which does not seem to be very active now.

But with Virtual Machines (VM), you can actually have several different client OS set up and running together at once on one machine. You cam them spend less time hammering out the means of porting a program from one OS to another, and just run the original OS and that program when you need it. A great VM Manager is oracle VM Virtualbox found at virtualbox.org.

Debian is a good way to go in my opinion, but I like the Ubuntu add-ons, except I don'l like Unity/Dash which is the interface/desktop/file Manager provided. So I add gnome-session-Flashback and switch to Metacity which is my idea of a very functional desktop, and Unity, the original user interface, leaves me cold. Some go with KDE, or a a different version of Gnome, or might choose Mate, Mint, or something quite different.

A GUI file manager is an effort to combine functionality with a bit of showmanship in terms of what appears on the screen and comes out of the speakers or headphones. Sound is a distraction to those around us, so the emphasis on what we see. instead The Windows interface gets lots of polish and finishing touches, but some people find it overkill and not very helpful, especially in the latest releases. Some people don't know that there have been alternate GUI File managers/ interfaces for Windos, and you can always work from the MSDOS prompt/command line. So th idea that you cand hold out for a specific user interface may seem odd to them. Others write their own, or modify what they have even further.

So to simply sal "Linux" is no real answer in my mind. It is too dynamic an area, too fluid for it to serve aas an answer in and of itself

My answer for the present is the Debian distro Ubuntu, with Metacity user interface (via the gnome-session-flashback), with Oracle VM Virtualbox installed, the intent to add Windows 2000 Pro and Windows 7 as clients, and to try other Linux distros as clients over time.

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS dropped software-center (Ubuntu Software Center), but I found you can install it from the Repositories. I also found you can extend the Repositories through an official Ubuntu website, and I did that as well. People release new deb files for the Repoietories all the time, and you can either pick up on them or ignore them. Only a few Repositories are officially aupported. Others are supported by the provider or some group.

Uith Ubuntu, having a Repository in your /etc/apt/sources.list file or in the /etc/apt/sources.list.d directory does not mean the software package referencess/linka held there are automatically installed or upgraded. These are user decisions yet to be made.

A Repository is like a public library, that you can use it if you want, but it is up to you to decide if you do so or not.. Your big question could be what are your choices? You have several tools that can help you decide, software-center was good for this, as is synaptic, and a new tool with the command line name gnome-software. But you can do most everything from the command line like using dpkg and apt-get. For these, use sudo to get root's powers.