hi! i've been using ubuntu linux for approx. 1.5 years. with the introduction of new unity interface it runs too slow on my atom based netbook. i want you all to recommend me the best linux distro for me. here are my requirements:-
1. fast and good looking
2. should have jdk and g++ with codeblocks available for programming and i have developed a new hobby of learning programming languages (just started) so support for various IDE's.
3. should not have very frequent release cycle like ubuntu does in every 6 months. (don't recommend me the LTS version as i always feel unsatisfied with it.)
4. should be as small as possible.

Hello and Welcome to LinuxQuestions,

Go over to DistroWatch.com and download some distros (as many as you feel like trying). Try them out and make a choice. That's the best way to find the best distro for you. If you're looking only for small, then have a look at DSL, Puppy, CrunchBang, ... You could also use this DistroChooser to fine-tune the selection before downloading.

Kind regards,

Eric

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hmm.... chakra os and DSL seem to be very interesting (also MEPIS). can you all tell about the availability of programming IDEs and and other softwares? also i had used DSL once but didn't understand anything. can you all tell how can i extend and customize DSL to meet my requirements (posted above). Also can you tell which of these have lowest boot times and response times?

Hi,

Those two I've never used, but Puppy is blazing fast, CrunchBang is Debian testing based (rolling release), is very fast in booting and uses very low memory (about 100Mb from Live). If you go with for example CrunchBang you have the Debian repos to your availability so, lots of software to choose from. I suggest you try the distros you like out for yourself, that's the best way to form an opinion.

Kind regards,

Eric

wow! crunchbang looks really really nice! i'll definitely be trying it and i'd also be trying chakra os. now that i have taken a look at the home page of crunchbang, can you tell me what is the difference between a window manager and desktop environment. i only know about desktop environment. also i have a pc that is quite fast (very fast for any linux distro) but still linux mint and ubuntu 11.04 crashed a lot over it. can you suggest an easy to use distro with kde and a large amount of software for it that is so stable that not even a noob can make it crash!! in other words i want you to recommend the most stable distro till date having a large software repositories (and obviously i know you would help me out if i have any trouble). cheers and thanks for advice.

If unity doesnt run well on your netbook, KDE 4.X distros like ChakraOS and Mepis arent going to be much better. I've found that KDE 4.X needs more video power than you get from intel video chips, and older ATI/AMD or nVidia GPUs.

DSL I found to be a lot more difficult to work with than more 'major' distros. Maybe that was due to general lack of linux experience, I was a lot more green when I tried it.

Crunchbang would be your best choice of the listed distros IMO, though I'm not sure if I would call openbox good looking. Xfce looks better IMO, so if you go for crunchbang I'd use Xfce not openbox. Then again, what I think is attractive might not be the same as you...

DSL is very outdated, I wouldn't recommend that.
Let's have a look:
1. You can make every distro fast and good looking.
2. JDK, g++ and Codeblocks are also available for almost any distro.
3. Debian, Scientific Linux, Slackware, openSuse
4. can also be achieved with almost any distro.

So I would go with the above recommendations, just try a few.

Welcome to the forums Utkarsh009!

DSL is somewhat obsolete so I can't recommend it.

CrunchBang is one of my very favorite distros (I'm typing from it right now) and I've had very good luck with it on my Atom-based netbook. To clear up a misconception above, CrunchBang is based on Debian Stable (Squeeze), though a few users have experimented with switching it to Testing or even Unstable. Debian has a roughly 2-year release cycle and it is projected that Squeeze will be supported through approximately late 2013/early 2014

CrunchBang is available in either Xfce or Openbox versions, but in fact, you can install BOTH Xfce and Openbox and switch back and forth between them as you please. The differences are subtle but a new user might find Xfce slightly more intuitive.

I am a moderator on the CrunchBang forums, drop by and say hi if you decide to give it a try!
http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/

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ok! so finally gonna try crunchbang on netbook and chakra and debian on pc (amd athlon II x4 635, corsair 2x2 GB RAM, Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H (radeon HD 4250 inbuilt). is my choice good?

I have not used Chakra but it is pretty much the opposite of CrunchBang in every way. It uses the heavy, full-featured KDE desktop, and it is a "rolling release" with the latest software applications, rather than stability-oriented with older, well-tested applications like Debian. That being said, Chakra enjoys a good reputation and is certainly worth trying, be sure to write back and let me know what you think!

A window manager's job is purely to manage windows. It draws a border around windows and lets you move and resize them. Some widnow managers have extra features like panels and stuff like that (such as Fluxbox or FVWM), while others only let you move and resize windows, and don't offer any extra features (such as Openbox).

Desktop environments, on the other hand, are full suites of software, typically including a window manager.

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@snowpine: yah sure! i will definitely write back after trying those distros. ;-)

Note to the OP:

Remember that Chackra is basically Arch with a graphical installer and lots of pre-installed packages.

Arch by itself is very light and fast, but I doubt that most newbies with little command-line knowledge would even be able to install it (see the the Beginners Guide on ArchWiki, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners%27_Guide).

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http://chakra-project.org/wiki/index...sked_Questions

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OK, I didn't know that.