For me - only Slack.

opensuse is 100% free open source, there is no vendor lock in, but unfortunately being owned by Novell it has been subjected to a rather unpleasant and tiresome FUD campaign since the Novell-MS deal.

The GPL is a EULA.

I don't use openSuse (though I did in the past) or think it's the best distro out there but I really object to campaigns of vilification based on untruths. Let's leave the lies and propoganda to MS and their advocates.

Well, from CentOS there are centosplus & extras, and then the following 3rd party repos:

adobe-linux-i386, atrpms, epel, jpackage, kbs, kde-redhat, rpmforge(dries/dag)

Only a few thousand packages total. :-P

Even though it's not listed above, I vote for Dreamlinux 3.

I keep many distros around and try a lot out, but I generally use two of them:

1. To satisfy my itch for bleeding edge software and experimentation I use sidux, a distribution based on Debian Sid. I have done all kinds of wacky things with it, yet I have yet to experience a major problem. Just installed it on my laptop as well this week, added Intel Pro Wireless 2200 firmware drivers, the ceni network configuration application, and just like that I have wireless access on my laptop. The sidux distribution has been great, and now I have it on three computers: a Dell Dimension 4100 (old, but very reliable desktop), a used HP D530 desktop fixed up with a new hard drive and DVD/RW drive, and a Dell Latitude D600 laptop. Works very well on all three.

2. SimplyMEPIS is my good old stable sidekick. I have three versions: 6.0, 6.5, and 7.0 on the old Dimension 4100. These are my stable distro backups should anything act up on any of the others.

I split my time between SimplyMEPIS and sidux. SimplyMEPIS continually gets excellent reviews from me. For what it is, a simple, stable desktop system, I find it as good as anything and it suits me well. I have bought three products from MEPIS in the past year to support their developments. I continue to have a high opinion of the quality of MEPIS products.

I am running Debian and FreeBSD. FreeBSD was around from the beginnings of it all. If it wasn't for Berkley, a lot of the software that makes the Linux kernel work wouldn't be around. FreeBSD isn't always easy, but it is a learning experience that isn't point and click. Until you get into the terminal and stay there you won't learn a lot with some distos like Ubuntu. Ubuntu and others like it are busy trying to give you an alternative to Microsoft; but, if all you want to do is point and click, you may find yourself looking at a slick corporation like Novell and their Suse won't be so free anymore. Xandros is slick and slicker when you pay for it. Yellow Dog would rather be more like Microsoft money wise and who's kidding who? If you want die hard people that believe in the free software movement than you better be running Debian or Slackware or FreeBSD, because I don't see these people giving up on the belief that software should be free; otherwise, you are just giving feedback to companies that will make a slicker product from what you tell them. Then the day may come you aren't so needed and the only choice you'll have is to decide what distro you'll buy and for how much. I may not be the brightest candle in the bunch, but there's a price you pay for easy and plug n play. I'd rather get my butt kicked trying to figure out what went wrong and why, then wimp out. If you really want to learn computing, I suggest you take one giant step backwards and go back to where it began.

How can you say that you're running Debian and FreeBSD? You said the other "easier" distros are for people who don't want to learn? You said to really learn the *nix you need to run other distros such as debian? Or FreeBSD? I've ran those, and do on some systems, but I use Ubuntu mostly now. At least at home, not because I don't want to learn or because I can't use CLI but because I'm lazy. If someone wants to go to the trouble of creating a button for me to push instead of typing 'cdparanoia "1[:30.12]-1[1:10]"' then i'll be glad to push it. It's not about learning cause I'm always learning, but if its something I already know then why shouldn't I just push a button? By the way, you said you use Debian and FreeBSD but why didn't you mention the Fedora Core 6 you have as your distribution.


It's not about what distro you use, but what you can do with it.

I expected Ubuntu to Win, so I'm really happy Slackware was #2!

I knew that slackware was going to do pretty good, #2 is pretty damn good I have to say

To be honest, I'm happy Ubuntu won. It is a very good desktop distro in my opinion.

I thought about what you said quite a bit and I agree with you. Sometimes doing it the hard way just to learn something more might not make sense and it could be a waste of time. I didn't mean what I wrote to be a put down of anyone and what they are doing. It was a personal thing. The reason for the Fedora being used as a system is because I didn't update my info. I have three computers. One has XP for my girlfriend and on the other two I am now running Debian and Fedora 7. I gave up on the FreeBSD after thinking through what you said. Thanks for your input and insight.

Ya I agree, Pclinux is the best I have tried, and I have tried Xandros debian zenwalk puppy knoppix mandriva gentoo ubuntu and xubuntu and hands down I give it to Pclinux.

I'm lazy too, and I'm presently running Mint on one computer and Kubuntu on four others (Mucking about, mostly).
I amuse myself buying computers dirt cheap at garage sales and Goodwill, if they're at least 128MB and 500 MHz. I haven't yet quite got round to ganging them together to make Pov-Ray movies like a cut-price Cluster-of-Workstations.

My question is, having tried Xubuntu in the hope that it was ideal for such nonsense, has anybody any advice on what tools to use with it?

Slackware is my favorite distro

Huh? As long as a distro uses the Linux kernel, which is regulated by the FSF's GPL, the cost will always be $0.00. Go to Red Hat's website and download RHEL. See what I mean? You pay for commercial support, not the distro. Ubuntu has that, as well.

btw- What's so wrong about being an alternative to Windows? I've had more than my share of 'cli' with DOS and early versions of Windows. Today, I just want my PC to work. It wasn't working with Windows, it does work with Ubuntu.

Cheers