For the last 2 years Ubuntu has been the best of the best in the Linux world (in my opinion), but today it has become very slow and clunky (also in my opinion). Maybe this will change when version 8.10 is released, but right now I have a fast Internet connection and I feel like experimenting.

Which distros should I try? Fedora? Suse? Mandriva? The one thing I loved about Ubuntu was how easy it was to install almost anything. If I could get a distro that was light weight, stable, easy, and had a huge repository, that would be great!

Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Fedora is pretty flexible. When I tried Ubuntu for the first time (after a whole year of Slackware) I got pissed to the point I did a Gentoo install. Which, I might add, I've been happy with ever since.

(Oh, and try Fedora 8 if you go with Fedora, btw. Fedora 9 is still rough on the edges.)

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll give Fedora a try and then come back here and post my thoughts.

Xubuntu
Kubuntu
Debian

Then the cut-down lightweight or semi-lightweight stuff like
PuppyLinux
DSL
Mepis (but my experience is the hardware detection can be infuriatingly slow)
PCLinuxOS

The hardcore "I want to compile everything": Gentoo
The "I want the option to compile everything": Slackware

And of course RedHat/Fedora and Suse.

Those are probably the most popular ones at the moment. For an enormous list (including numerous specialized distros) have a look at distrowatch.org

try open suse
http://www.opensuse.org/
http://opensuse-community.org/Multimedia

I'd say Fedora, Debian or OpenSuse. I'm not found of MEPIS or DSL (bad experience)

After reading up on your suggestions, I think my main options are OpenSuse and Fedora.

Thanks again for the replies.

Based on how you like the repositories, I think you may like opensuse. I have run opensuse 10.3 32 bit and 64 bit on desktops and 32 bit on laptop and have had very good success. I find opensuse to be very polished and able to perform all of the tasks that I require. The repositories are good when you add to the list (packman, videolan, nvidia etc). My only gripe is it is slower then the Ubuntu software lookups once all the repositories are added. The best part of Ubuntu is the software installation is extremely easy. However, opensuse has a very good selection of software itself. With version 10.3 there is the ability to automatically (with your approval) add new repositories. There are also some programs that allow you to automatically install software, again with your approval.

While I do like Ubuntu, there is just something about it that is different then other distributions. This may also be due to the fact that I prefer the KDE desktop. I do like Fedora, although I feel that it is incomplete. I also like the Mepis and PClinuxOS distros.

The fun part about linux is that you can try these distros without setting yourself back a lot of money. The other fun thing is everyone claiming which is the best distro.

I think Suse is a good option with one caveat to remember.
IMO permissions in Suse are very strict and sometimes the simplest task won't complete-often without the nice warning "you do not have permission to...". As a general rule, if it doesn't go and it should, think Permissions first.
Matthew

If you are going with Fedora-8 you might as well just go back to Ubuntu 7.10 - which was a great release in my opinion.
I switched to PCLOS for the time being, but I wouldn't pick it over 7.10. I think it even has more packages available - at least for some cutting edge programs that I use, that I had to compile in Ubuntu - they are available for PCLOS in their latest version.

Other things are not so great. They made some strange default choices for samba and it seems a little less stable in general, but no show-stoppers.

Do not forget Mandriva 2008 Spring it is a nice Distro.
Suse is stable but rather very strict use it a long time now

all the best

Like you I have a fast Internet connection and currently have the top 42 distributions as listed on Distribution Watch. I also teach Linux in open classes at our city library. I have discovered that the strangest things attract people to the different distributions. Some go with a dist because it uses KDE and some because it uses Gnome or one of the other desktop managers.

I can share with you that the most widely used distribution in my classes is Linux Mint. Linux Mint 5.0 release candidate 2 is now available and is the most complete distribution I've used. It is also part of the CNR program download distributions (although I won't use it) and offers its own click and install software portal.

Linux Mint is built on Ubuntu's latest release and then incorporates an extremely pleasant menu system. I find many of the features of Linux Mint on other distributions but never a distribution with all of them.

It comes as a live CD and I would urge you to give it a look before you install anything else.

PCLinuxOS-2007 in my opinion is at the top of the heap. I have tried a bunch of different distros and have been coming back to PCLOS since version 7.10. I have also tried Ubuntu several times, because of the hype, and have never liked it. Again, this is just my opinion.

I agree with your first post - Ubuntu I think I stopped using Ubuntu after 5.10 as it was just soooo sloooowwww in context of responsiveness.

Since I have hit on Zenwalk [www.zenwalk.org] and have never looked back.

This distro is lightweight installing default with XFCE but with other desktops available. Excellent respositories - in comparison to Ubuntu they are not as bloated - just streamlined they always seem to have 'just what you were looking for' feel about them.

Zenwalk offers just what I need:
Stability
Modern and user-friendly (latest stable software, selected applications)
Speed and responsiveness
Fast (optimized for performance capabilities)
Sensible and logical feel about the distro
No gold plated development syndrome here
Rational (one mainstream application for each task, though others are available if you have other preferences)
Comes complete with non-free essentials like flash, mp3 and other proprietory software etc: Complete (full development/desktop/multimedia environment)
Evolutionary (simple network package management tool - netpkg)

Hmm, Ubuntu still works fine for me. It certainly blows the doors off any Windows OS.

I personally don't like Redhat distros, and used what I learned from ubuntu 6.06-7.10, to get Debian Etch up and running on two PC's. If you have a clear understanding of Ubuntu(which after 2yrs, I imagine you do), Debian will have a very small learning curve.

I still have a laptop that runs Ubuntu 8.04, because wireless is easy to set up on it, and I can't get it to work on Debian, but I've had no issues at all w/ 8.04.

IGF