I'm not angry, but I disagree with you . Using a fully free distribution is very realistic - that's what I do on all my computers and I have functioning wireless out of the box, I view YouTube videos (many solutions that don't require a 'significant' amount of time exist: gnash is installed by default, or you can use greasemonkey scripts such as viewtube, linternamagica, programs such as minitube...) and I have found free alternatives to all the proprietary software that I used previously. I think (not speaking for you) that many people dismiss fully free distributions without having even tried them. You may be surprised to find out that some things that are a pain to set up on other distros just work out of the box (e.g. playing mp3s!).

I agree that you have a problem if your wireless card requires non-free code, but then it's easy to replace it or use an external wireless dongle instead.

Browsing web sites that make heavy use of Flash is also a problem. But those sites are also broken on iOS for instance, and why would you support a website that depends on Flash technology anyway!

In short, try Trisquel (a new version will be released around Feb 15, check trisquel.info for more information), you might be surprised .

Still Debian

I vote Slackware. Because this is the distro that I have been using for a year now that is helping me to test for Linux+ Exam. Well... Minus the learning of practacing the apt-get package managers on slackware. Slackware has remained Original for years versus others and I respect the Slackware distro for that. Especially if you really want to get into the realy hardcore getting into the CLI w/o the extra packages that aren't necessary for the system to function correctly. Then after installation, you work your way from there in how you want to customize and controll how your system behaves and how it works form a CLI perspective that is.

The Trisquel 5.5 release is based on Ubuntu 11.10 and is still supported by Canonical. Trisquel is significantly different in that it only includes free software. If you don't care about your freedom then it doesn't really have anything special to offer. For such users having the latest software is a secondary concern.

That said Trisquel is one of the most up to date and usable distributions for more novice users. Trisquel 6 which is based on Ubuntu 12.04 is just around the corner. The reason Trisquel 6 has taken so long to be released is there have been some major changes in Ubuntu in the past year. This has caused significantly more work for developers of derivative distributions. This issue has not just impacted Trisquel. Other 11.10 and 12.04 distributions have taken longer to be get out the door than usual. Some distributions (like ZorinOS) skipped the 11.10 release altogether. Others like Trisquel haven't skipped a release and instead are falling a bit behind. This will work itself out in time though.

And if you think 11.10 is old there has been talk about moving Trisquel to a strictly LTS distribution. This would benefit users in giving them a consistent user interface for years on end while still getting support and updates to critical components. Pieces such as the web browser, HPLIP (HP printers), and the linux-libre kernel that the distribution uses. Such a move could turn it into the best supported and most stable distribution around.

It isn't as critical though to move to such a setup right now. Most users of GNU/Linux are still very technical and Trisquel has some other soft spots for novice users that should be worked out first (then again- so do all distributions to one degree or another). Other more pressing issues are support for flash or at least a means of accessing entertainment. There is very little support for online entertainment at the moment which is compatible with Trisquel (other than non-commercial YouTube content).

Fortunately ThinkPenguin has taken an interest in the distribution being one of the few easy to use and actively maintained purely free distributions. The company has done a lot to alleviate some of the usability issues. The company makes it a priority distribution to support because it is a “pure” distribution. What most people don't understand is that this has many advantages beyond the ethical. I don't mean to discredit the ethical reasons for using only free software. Rather this is an appeal to both sides to be nice to one another. Users of distributions such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and others are better supported by the fact ThinkPenguin only ships hardware that can be supported by the community.

While such a setup works out very well for ThinkPenguin it would be easier if there was support for newer hardware on LTS distributions. If Trisquel backports things like linux-libre, hplip, abrowser (firefox), and other critical packages there would be more stability, polish, support, and ease of use for novice users. This probably won't happen though unless ThinkPenguin steps in and finances it. Something they aren't in a position to do at the moment and with the lead developer having less time to work on the distribution it is unlikely to be a priority. The good news is the distribution is moving toward a community model that can withstand the loss of the lead developer. There are now regular meetings and more responsibilities are being handed over to other actively involved parties.

Making inflammatory comments doesn't forward your position. It just shows your ignorance and lack of understanding. Free software is critically important to all distributions. Discarding the Free Software Foundation is equivalent to shooting yourself in the face to spite your ex-wife. It doesn't do anybody any good. The FSF supporters are not forcing anybody to use only free software. They are merely encouraging you to do so as it further helps to ensure everybody's freedom. The other side of the coin is not against the free software movement. The lead developer of Linux Mint (Clem, with a distribution focused on including as much proprietary software as possible) and Linux (kernel, Linus) take issue with non-free software. The difference is mainly in that the one presents it as an ethical issue whereas the other presents it as a technical one. Either way both would agree non-free software is not in our communities best interests. There have been numerous comments from Linus in recent years condemning proprietary software and disgust at the lack of cooperation from various companies developing it. Proprietary software doesn't work with the free software development models GNU/Linux is based on.

Tried Ubuntu (and several flavors), Bohdi, Mint, Fedora, Puppy, and Crunchbang. I really liked puppy, but haven't gotten around to installing on HD yet. Bohdi has promise, but I didn't have the time to configure it properly for it to have a huge impact on my decision. My older machines struggle with Unity, and Mint and Fedora required a bit of fiddling to get some things working correctly. That left Crunchbang as my top. Still running it on two computers: an old P3 800MHz Thinkpad, and my FX3000 desktop. Wish I had tried

omg! Didnt know that trying to think about possible reason for Trisql not being on list will trigger this! Its worrisome that such people are lurking around, looking for an excuse to hound people. Spare me, ok?

Give it a rest already. No one has attacked you. There is no need to put people down.

I keep coming back to Linux Mint. It has everything I need in a desktop system (or laptop system) and is super easy to use. The only reason I use anything else is because it's more difficult to learn Linux when the OS gives you no reason at all to use the command line. For my purposes. Linux Mint is desktop perfection.

Crunchbang is great when it comes to use an openbox session without annoyance in your way, plus it's debian way faster than ubuntu, and you can always strip it more if you like!



Christopher

Slackware. I have used/tried 50+ different distros over the past 14 years, but I keep coming back to Slack.

Well done, Slackware!

OMG! Slackware takes the throne this year! WHOOOO!

No surprises. Slackware has always been at the top, it's just that it doesn't want to be seen that way.

Unix and The End User

Regards.

Uh, has anyone checked the temperature in hell lately?