MEPIS 7.0 is without doubt the most stable, most compatible with desktops and laptops, most configurable with LCD screens, different graphics cards, wireless cards, both as a live CD, or installed, or as a rescue CD, or as a flash drive. Everything I've thrown at it in media (after installing apps with Synaptic)just works...No hiccups, crashes. You do have to update MEPIS from their repository after a new release, because there are usually a few bugs that testers did not report, but they are corrected pronto! Ubuntu fans should try OpenGEU (Ubuntu based) and see why I prefer GEU to 'straight' Ubuntu and derivatives such as Mint, etc. You just gotta install it and see what you've been missing! Vector and Zenwalk are the Xfce kings of the hill, but you do have to open a terminal from time to time instead of having GUIs...of course their documentation is the best out there, and newbies will learn linux in no time from their forums and wikis...I personally prefer Vector as my second choice to MEPIS. OpenSuse is slow and a bohemoth, but as for RPM distros go, I haven't found a consistent cross-platform RPMer in PCLOS, Ark, Berry, Fedora, CentOS, Scientific, Mandriva, or BLAG, that can seriously compete with Suse and the documentation with that distro, it just takes a hell of a long time to get use to all the bells and whistles, but once you figure it all out, you'll know what I mean by "compete".

I have to agree. I use a lot of distributions, and while nothing is completely perfect, it is rare that I run into issues with any release of MEPIS, whether a test instance or a final instance. Sure, there are issues, but they often tend to be device support related. Rarely does Warren release applications that do not work, and he is very quick to fix errors that do occur. In any event, the amount of defects in my opinion is lower than what you find in many commercial products.

SimplyMEPIS 7.0 in particular is VERY good in this regard. I have used it now on four different systems: an aging Dell Dimension 4100 - everything works perfectly and has for years, an HP desktop D530, flawless, and two laptops, a Dell Latitude D600 and a Lenovo Thinkpad T60. I have not installed to the hard drive on either of these laptops yet, but 7.0 works great and detects wireless networks well and it is easy to configure and activate a wireless connection. I have also used an IBM Thinkpad T42 in the past and it also works flawlessly with SimplyMEPIS.

One thing that many distros DON'T have is respect for other distros. They install themselves and it's up to the user to figure out how to reflect other installed OS's. That is one problem I had with an earlier version of Mepis -- I don't know whether the current version would respect my installation of Linux Mint or of Suse. I was happy to see that Suse accommodated Mint and vice versa.

Ironically, most distros DO respect the installation of Windows. They just hate each other!

I think that making the user edit the menu.lst file is a definite negative, when it should be quite easy to add the other distros automatically. Of course, not all distros use Grub. Nonetheless, they should see what has been used and incorporate those distros into its menu.

I have never seen SimplyMEPIS interfere with other distributions. I noticed versions of Lindows.com and Xandros, years ago, to take over the MBR without any questions asked, but even then, they did not destroy the contents of any distribution. I have found SimplyMEPIS to play well with other systems, and SimplyMEPIS 7.0 also includes many other distributions in the start up boot menu it builds for the GRUB boot loader.

What kind of issues are you experiencing? Is it simply a case of the boot menu not getting updated or are there more serious issues?

Most systems recognize each other, but even if they don't, GRUB is really flexible. Though this may be inconvenient to some, worst case is that you add additional menu items to the /boot/grub/menu.lst file or simply run GRUB interactively and provide it with the information you want. Not the most friendly solution, but a viable one.

Still, I found the current release of SimplyMEPIS nicely filled out the boot menu with every system I have installed. Sorry that was not your experience.

Tried a lot,but based on my expirience Ubuntu 7.10 is no.1.

Although I personally use Debian Lenny, I think the perfect candidate in this category would be Ubuntu Gutsy. Undoubtedly, the whole Ubuntu releases have made Linux a bit more familiar with the mass.

Apart from the polls opinion, however, Debian, and only Debian, rules .

I love Lenny! I can't wait until its 'stable'

I have run Mandriva 2007 with KDE 3.5 since February of last year. This is the best PC operating system and desktop that I have ever used in the past 15 years, better than all OSs period !

There are other distributions besides Slackware?

Drakeo, Debian is a distro, there is absolutely no way to debate that. One of the early distros at that. If you want the disk you can get it yourself http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/.../i386/iso-dvd/

why is sabayon not in the list?

I voted for Zenwalk because the new release 5.0 is the first Slackware derived distro I've used that makes WPA wireless reliably easy with everything done through a very good gui (Wicd) and generally it has an excellent implementation of the Xfce desktop and a good selection of stuff in the repositories. For me this makes it a real alternative to the big Gnome and KDE deb and rpm based distros. Zenwalk has made Slackware very accessible, with sensible default configs (mouse with 3 buttons and wheel by default, progress already!) and a really excellent set of easy to use custom admin tools. I also found the community is friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgable.

I agree. I have used a lot of different Linuxes over the years but Mandriva is the only dist that finds and configures all my hardware. I build the computers myself (or rather assembles them) and they sometimes have rather exotic components.

I don't vote Ubuntu because it never gets the colors right on my displays.

conversely Mandrake/Mandriva is the one distro that consistently failed to ever correctly configure itself for even mundane monitors like generic 1024x768 LCD for me. Also failed on every laptop screen I ever had 1024x768 , 1200x768, 1280x800...all appeared to be unknown exotica to every version of the Mandrake/Mandriva installer I tried. Zenwalk, *buntu, openSuse, Wolvix, Mepis, Slackware(!), Debian, DSL(!!), Dynebolic all did better.

btw I voted for Zenwalk even though I also have Xubuntu and Mepis Antix installed on different machines and occasionally use various live CDs and DSL from pen drive as well. I'm not one of those people who believe there is one true holy way when it comes to choosing a distro, or anything else. I haven't found there to be such a thing as a one size fits all distribution, though I guess Slackware or Debian come closest to this (if the user has the time and inclination to do the work). Ubuntu seems to be aiming/claiming to be a distro that achieves this and certain versions seem to be fairly successful. Dapper and Feisty seem to have the stability and reasonable performance required to work well on hardware ranging from high end to mildly asthmatic but if Gutsy is any indication of future direction then people with older systems or a need for real stability probably need to look elsewhere. But it seems most new users have some seriously powerful hardware (dual core, good graphics cards, lots of high speed RAM, fast SATA drives etc) and Ubuntu will be all that many people ever need. That's not a criticism, I think Ubuntu is a brilliant project and ultimately beneficial for everyone in the world of free software. I've benefited a lot from using Ubuntu in different flavours and I think they inspire/encourage other distros and software writers to make some long needed improvements..sometimes out of frustration with how something is done in Ubuntu and sometimes in a friendly competitive spirit :-)

opensuse is to be the winner!
Great patches, great amount of applications in offline dvd at your convenience, wide range of online repository if you wish, and latest apps found in 3rd party repos. My grandma found linux easy with opensuse and grandpa was happy for solemn theme. Dad was able to set up his LAN straight away and I was able to remain power-user.
Such a variety in an OS.
Who wants to download every little thing ranging from compilers to music systems from the net? Instead, just buy/download a set and u have exactly what you need to get going!