I have been using Linux for around 18 months now, and have bridged the gap from newb to intermediate user. I’m quite happy using the command line, though don’t profess to be a technical whiz and still use the net to look up how to do various things when needed.

My main aim with any distribution now has changed from pure ease of use to wanting a custom built solid but up to date system which is lightning fast (preferably in KDE as i love this environment and most of my apps are K native). I love debians package base for the sheer volume available, though I profess I only use a few applications day to day, being:
Amarok
Kmymoney
Virtualbox
Opera browser
Firefox/Iceweasel
Chromium-browser
Openoffice (or some other)
A Media server package
A Photo package

I don’t like the excess packages that come on most live cds as I just don’t need them:
Suse I found too bloated and slow on my machine, plus too many packages on cd
Ubuntu I didn’t like the over simplification and didn’t get a good feeling with it, plus too many packages on cd
Fedora I always found some bugs and the kde desktop isn’t up to much I don’t think., plus too many packages on cd
PCLinuxOS I found kept crashing for me, no idea why but I gave up with it, plus too many packages on cd
MEPIS, well it looks awful and networking wouldn’t work, plus too many excess packages (would love a minimal install)

I currently use sidux, as I found it to be really quick in kde, and I love the debian base. I also love the rolling release idea. It took 5 mins to install and boots in no time at all, plus the applications are fast and responsive. The only issue I have is that I was informed that if you don’t update it regularly, you run the risk of your system going down, as being based on sid it becomes out of date very fast. I use smxi and each distribution upgrade takes some time and many MB of packages to download, plus even on minimal install there are many bits I don’t need like additional browsers, photo viewers etc I just don’t use.

My question is, Is there another distribution out there that can rival sidux in terms of the specifications im after and what would you recommend:

Fast
Minimal
Rolling release
KDE
Up to date
Fairly stable
Packages available

Many thanks

From those criteria i would say a net-install of Debian Testing.
Just install the minimal system,don't install the desktop option from the installer.
Reboot into a command prompt and install the packages you want.
Make sure your /etc/apt/sources.list entry's point to testing rather than Squeeze and you will have rolling release.
No need to reinstall again.
Although KDE and minimal don't really go together in my opinion.
Have you considered something lighter?.

Thanks for the reply. I have considered other window managers, i just figured as the applications i tend to use were more KDE centric that this was the neater option. What other window managers would you say would work well with this option (only really used gnome, xfce and KDE).

If you like KDE,have a look at LXDE:

http://lxde.org/

And also you will still be able to use your favourite KDE apps with other desktop environments or window managers.
Have a look at the desktop screenshot thread for some ideas:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hot-ii-631292/

Arch

Cheers. So if i install debian testing, is it this link i presume:
Debian Testing

And do you literally mean to change the source list from 'squeeze' to 'testing'

One final Q, what is Debians KDE experience like?

Thanks, Im going to give Arch and Debian testing a while on my VBox to see what they both offer.

Many thanks

Yes,that's the right link.

I do indeed,here is an example from mine:

Don't know on that one,I parted with KDE once '4 entered Testing.
Haven't tried it since.
May be worth posting on LQ's Debian forum,ask how people find it currently.

Thanks very much i really appreciate it. I'll give it a whirl tonight.

Well i did the Debian install. 64 bit. Works like a charm all apart from flash, which works but without sound.

I chose targeted driver installation and think i have some quirks on some of the bits on my system, ricoh card reader, pc internal speaker etc.

Just out of curiosity, do you use the 32bit or 64 bit version? Starting to wonder if the 32bit version might have been better?

Adobe have currently dropped support for 64bit flash.
So it's now advised to go back to using nspluginwrapper and 32bit flash plugin from Debian Multimedia:

http://debian-multimedia.org/dists/t...er-mozilla.php

The details of how to use the repository are on the home page of their site.
I would suggest removing whatever implementation of flash you are currently using before using this method.

I find the Pc speaker doesn't work for me either when i use a Debian Kernel,however it does work when i compile my own.

I use the 64bit version and have done since Etch.
Everything i did with 32bit i can now do with 64,although sometimes it can take a little more effort.
Also,you can use the ia32libs package which will let you run 32bit packages as well.
Stick with it.

Cheers. I used this method to install flash:

http://wiki.debian.org/FlashPlayer

But no sound, so i'll try remove this and install the other method.

Many thanks.

Good to see you've found the Debian wiki.
Just out of interest,do you have sound working on the system apart from flash?.

Hi, yeah the Debian Wiki is excellent and where i go for most of my info and how to's, except for when i cant get something working!

Yeah sound works perfectly apart from on flash, but that may be pulseaudio related and i need to edit a few files to hopefully make it work.

Thanks again for all your help

I think it's worth pointing out you don't have to run Pulseaudio with Debian.
Personally i just use Alsa.