I'm shopping for a new distro.

I'm really tired of going through a bunch of howto's just to get things working properly. I've tried ubuntu and I don't care for it as I did when it was first released. I'm using mint right now, which is cool with its features, but it still carries bugs from ubuntu.

I would like to hear fact or opinion on a distro that is pretty much bug free when it's released, something that has easy auto configure for hardware, easy access to installing restricted software, and a wide selection of untainted/restrictedremoved packages with a good package manager.

What you are looking for is "Perfection", and it doesn't exist.

Every OS is going to require some attention from you from time to time, not just Linux based ones.

As per the poll, well, rpm or deb really doesn't matter. It's the package manager and the quality of the repos which count. Source based distros do have an additional level where things could fail, but binary based distros on the contrary are insanely complex to update when some critical package breaks the ABI (and that's why they rely on numbered releases each six months or whatever).

It's not about bugs or complexity, it is just that if you take complexity from one level, you are putting it into another. Ubuntu might be utterly easy to configure, but if you need to do something by hand you have no idea where to start looking, because everything is hidden, nothing is documented, and the users have not the technical insight that those of other distros. Gentoo on the contrary requires from you everything, but once you get the hand of it then maintaining it is easy because you already know how all the pieces fit, everything is well documented and the user base has a deep knowledge about what's going on.

There's no straight answer to your question. It all comes down to "try yourself until you find what fits you better".

If you aim for bleeding edge hardware support and ease of configurability, then Ubuntu or SuSE. If you want ubber stability, Debian stable is said to be that way (it's been years since I used it for something else than a quick review though). If you want total control then LFS or, better, Gentoo. Arch is somewhere in the middle, and is easy enough to configure and install. It still asks something from you (and I am not talking about mouse clicks).

Agree pretty much with the previous post so I'm just going to add an option . If you are just wanting a change, and the 'buntus' and 'suses' aren't cutting it for you.

Your probably more of a middle ground person (wanting more control over your system.).

Slackware would be another viable option.

And to re-inforce the previous post, in my experience Slackware and Gentoo are easer to fix for reasons previously given, large support groups of people constantly under the hoods tweaking their systems (mostly unnecessary). With my wife's Kubuntu, I normally back up her /home directory and re-install when she has a problem.

Oh, but it does, just not your version of "Perfection".

...probably best to avoid anything with a GUI then...they are complex and complexity hides bugs

well, that'll pretty much wipe out anything from my previous suggestion, then...

...and that makes it even more difficult; how the distro is going to enforce testing/testing/testing and stay away from the bleeding edge packages if there are going to be packages contributed by third parties, I don't know.

Anyhow, it might be that you ought to consider some kind of enterprise distro; not that they'll be perfect, just that they should be less imperfect.

thetank,

I suggest that you have a look at these reviews of Mepis 8. It is in beta form at present but solid as a rock. The final release is due out in the next 3 or 4 weeks. If you install the beta now, there is no need to do a fresh install when M8 final arrives. Updating and upgrading from the beta version will work fine.

It is Debian based, so it has masses of apps available and it uses an outstanding, easy-to-use, package manager-Synaptic.
Mepis is also usually very good at hardware recognition.
Mepis 8 beta is a live CD so you can try it out first without actually installing it on your pc.
Give these reviews a look anyway. You will not be disappointed by Mepis 8, it is a fine Linux distro.

http://www.linux.com/feature/153431

http://www.deviceguru.com/mepis-linux-80-nears-release/

http://www.mepiscommunity.org/

Whichever distro you choose, you will need to put in a certain amount effort in order to benefit from using a Linux OS. Hopefully, you will not need to put in too much effort to get Mepis flying along nicely.

Not so hard core

It does depend on many variables of use and hardware, but I have installed and enjoy openSUSE 11.0 with KDE 3.5 for a combination of ease of installation and use, hardware support,package updating, additional available RPMs, and easy configuration of multimedia capacities. This SUSE seems a well integrated whole, and is perhaps enough to satisfy your demand before you leave us in frustration.

Praxis aand phronesis

All the others have said is true, but truth is also as it is applied

I've been going over a few distros. so far...Sabayon and Mepis are interesting but are kdecentric. I looked for a cd iso of a gnome version for Sabayon but could not find directions to explain cryptic iso names. I very briefly looked over mepis so im not sure if they have a gnome iso. I have been thinking about debian and slack as a binary distro. Debian and slack being stable is appealing, but I imagine that it won't have more recent technology. Slack, which I've used before, is interesting, and with emerde I could use portage. I'm thinking of maybe trying zenwalk too.

I'll start with zenwalk and use it until sabayon comes out. Possibly mepis(the website looks messy, which I hope isn't a precursor of it's distro) when the final comes out. It would be cool if mint tools were ported to a non-ubuntu based distro. blah i'm rambling :S I'll be back with reviews.