The Brand New UltraMegaSuper "Which Distro" Thread

Thanks. Ok i've seen the mega-thread but i thought it was 32bit specific

No, it's not 32 bit specific - the advice for you is largely the same as it is for everyone else.

I have merged this thread into the megathread.

Hi,

Simple question:
What is the most secure and stable Linux distribution out there?

I'm looking for a distribution that is like Slackware and OpenBSD: Simple, secure and stable. And I specifically am interested in distribution that runs Linux kernel.

Ty,
jaakkop

All Linux distributions run the Linux kernel (hence the name Linux distribution). I would suggest you take a look at Debian because the Stable version is quite stable and secure.

Originally Posted by reddazz All Linux distributions run the Linux kernel (hence the name Linux distribution). I would suggest you take a look at Debian because the Stable version is quite stable and secure.

Yeah well, I mentioned specifically Linux kernel, so people wouldn't start suggesting *BSD distributions or other *nixes.

Originally Posted by jaakkop Simple question: What is the most secure and stable Linux distribution out there? I'm looking for a distribution that is like Slackware and OpenBSD: Simple, secure and stable. And I specifically am interested in distribution that runs Linux kernel.

Slackware? That's simple, runs the Linux kernel and is exactly like Slackware.

See also Zenwalk.

And this has been merged into the distro megathread because it fits there nicely.

hello people
i am a noob on linux and i am searching for the best distro for my pc , i have successfully installed mandriva linux without any problem , failed at installing xubuntu form both cd's
i have a very old pc with 666 mgh intel pentium III processor and 128mb ram , and as graphic card an ATI 3D rage IIC AGP .
now what i need is a distro that is light on my pc , that doesnt make me much problems and that is easy to learn ....

thanks in advance , i hope you can help me ...
I3lind

Go for Kubuntu! Download or have someone with dsl download the ISO for you and burn it to a CD. Try the Live CD option first to see how it works with your computer. Then install it on the hard drive once satisfied with the Live CD demo.

I've been using Linux for quite some time, now. The easiest Linux distribution to learn and get around so far has been Kubuntu. It will permanently live on my laptop.

i have heard that KDE isnt good for a slow pc , as my pc is very old and slow i am afraid to get any problems while installing/running it .... any other choice for me ?

I've tried to run Ubuntu 6.10 live on a Celeron 633 with 128MB. Insert CD, boot, go have coffee, go have more coffee, go have supper, go have a beer. And it's still booting. I haven't checked what was all going on, but I think that (K)Ubuntu is not suitable for the given system.

You might have to analyze why Xubuntu failed. Did it give error messages somewhere along the line?

There are plenty lightweight distro's. Problem might be that they don't come with a lot of (for you) usefull software (although you can always download).

KDE is indeed resource hungry, so a leightweight window manager offers some advantage. However you will still find that apps apps (openoffice, firefox) might take a while to load (just a limitation of your system as well as the fact that those apps are slow).

You can have a look at Slackware (version 11 was released a couple of days ago). In my opionion Slackware is easy to learn. It comes with a number of leightweight window managers as well as KDE.

I run slackware (10.1 and 10.2) on anything from from a 450MHz proc with 128MB memory to 3000MHz proc with 1GB memory.

Some experience:
10.0 no out-of-the-box support for HP3400 scanner and Epson R300 printer
10.1 not checked with regards to above hardware
10.2 out-of-the-box support for above hardware

I3lind5pot i dont think kde will be that hardon your 666 mhz intel considering my other pc a p3 500 mhz on which i first used linux and kde as is display maanager , light display managers might poose to be a little too difficult for a newbie
for a good distro , i strongly recommend PCLINUX its homepage is Pclinuxos.com I think its best for newbies even i after switching many distros like ubuntu , redhat etc setteled with it... its great atleast for me

Yeah PCLinuxOS is my top choice as well, and Kubuntu. you should have no problems running KDE on the machine discribed above. I run Linux with a KDE desktop on on a PIII 866 with no problems. However if you want to look at some lighter options these are my suggestions

feather Linux
http://featherlinux.berlios.de/

Vector Linux
http://www.vectorlinux.com/

DSL
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

Puppy Linux
http://www.puppylinux.org/user/viewpage.php?page_id=3

Slackware
http://www.slackware.com/

BeatrIX
http://www.watsky.net/

you can find more here

http://www.linuxlinks.com/Distributi...Distributions/

But I'd give PCLinuxOS a go, and if you are super keen maybe Kubuntu as well (or Ubuntu if you like Gnome)

http://www.pclinuxos.com/news.php

Kubuntu
www.Kubuntu.org

Kubuntu Shipit (free CDs)
https://shipit.kubuntu.org/

Ubuntu
http://www.ubuntu.com/

Jake

I have merged this threasd with the existing megathread stickied at the top of Linux-Distributions as this thread is best answered by that one.

Originally Posted by MrVahn Yo guys. After sometime I got bored with my SuSE, but I still consider myself as a linux noob. Still, I want something more exciting, something to tinker with and learn. SuSE is more like a windows system (which I am sick of using by now), and has few things to learn with. I am a computer science and information technology student, and I want to learn more about programming languages, how a computer actually works etc. I want something more stimulating than SuSE, but not hard for a noob like me. Maybe sooner or later I will try to go for Gentoo but as of now, I still have a lot of things to learn. Slackware sounds nice to me, especially slack's huge selection of editors. Emacs and Vi are still a mystery to me but I am very curious on how I can make them work. Now it seems that I have answered my own question but I need recommendations from you guys. lol.

You knock SuSE and then like another distribution because of programs found on SuSE. If you want a SuSE distribution that doesn't try to look like Windows I'd suggest you give SLED 10 a try. I am certainly with you in that I'm sick of Distributions that try so hard to look like Windows. If I ever miss the Windows experience I'll leave my doors unlocked so people can come steal from me.

The best and most efficient way to find a distro is to install a few and try them out for a week apiece. Then you can decide for yourself. We can only tell you our own likes and dislikes.

And I have merged this with the "Which Distro" megathread at the top of the Linux-Distributions forum.