Yet another distro recommendation thread

Ok, I know that there are a lot of these "can you recommend me a distro?" type threads here, and I was wondering if anyone could recommend one to me as well. However, I have been using Mandriva Free versions (2006 and 2007) for almost a year so I'm not a complete newbie anymore, so I have a few stipulations.

Does anyone know of a good distro that has the following features:

Uses LILO as the boot-loader (I'll be dual-booting with Windows XP and I've found LILO to actually work with very few problems. I tried installing Fedora Core with GRUB, but once installed, the system never would load the boot-loader and booted directly into Windows)

Uses KDE or has it available. (Just a personal preference.)

Is relatively easy to use, a.k.a good package manager, and a graphical installer would be good too.

Finally, I'd rather not use Kubuntu as it seems a little too "dumbed-down" for me. Nothing against it, I'd just like to try something else.

Mandriva has been an overall good experience, but the free versions seem a little lacking. I'd like to find something similar, but with no restrictions placed on it because it's free. Thanks.

Originally Posted by NobeyamaGP Ok, I know that there are a lot of these "can you recommend me a distro?" type threads here, and I was wondering if anyone could recommend one to me as well. However, I have been using Mandriva Free versions (2006 and 2007) for almost a year so I'm not a complete newbie anymore, so I have a few stipulations.

If you're aware that this is merely one of very very many threads in existence, why post another one?

Originally Posted by NobeyamaGP Does anyone know of a good distro that has the following features: Uses LILO as the boot-loader (I'll be dual-booting with Windows XP and I've found LILO to actually work with very few problems. I tried installing Fedora Core with GRUB, but once installed, the system never would load the boot-loader and booted directly into Windows)

Slackware. Alternatively, once you have installed the distro (and you are pointing Grub at the mbr, right?) uninstall Grub and install Lilo.

Originally Posted by NobeyamaGP Uses KDE or has it available. (Just a personal preference.)

All of them have it available. In extreme circumstances, go to www.kde.org and grab packages for your distro.

Originally Posted by NobeyamaGP Is relatively easy to use, a.k.a good package manager, and a graphical installer would be good too.

Most distros these days have package management. These managers tend to have a graphical front end.

I posted this because I didn't see anyone else with my specific opinions about what I like about a distro.

Yes, I pointed GRUB at the MBR and even tried using the trick with changing boot order in BIOS. (I'm booting it from a separate physical drive) Neither one worked, and that's not even the issue anymore, so I don't really need help with it. I just wanted to give a reason for why I prefer LILO.

As for the graphical installer, I probably should have worded that a little differently. I meant a graphical installer FOR THE DISTRO, not the package manager, sorry for the confusion with that.

I simply thought that if anyone out there had a really good experience with a distro similar to what I'm looking for they might want to let me in on it. I haven't given up on Mandriva just yet, I just wanted to know if anyone could recommend something similar to it. Thanks.

ok...internet drama over. -_-

Almost forgot, It'd be nice if it had Japanese language support too.

I'm pretty sure that any major distro will fulfill everything you've suggested that you need. Check out DistroWatch.com and pick one out.

PCLinuxOS is based on mandriva:

PCLinuxOS .92
http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/metalab/dist...glish/preview/
ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/metalab/distr...glish/preview/

This is the distro I use and recommend, Why because it works right out of the box. No need to configure Everything, everything just works. It also comes as a 1 CD install that is a live CD that you can install later if you wish.

if you want 9.3 look here:
http://pclinuxos.com/page.php?7

hope this Helps,

Jake

Originally Posted by NobeyamaGP Mandriva has been an overall good experience, but the free versions seem a little lacking. I'd like to find something similar, but with no restrictions placed on it because it's free.

What restrictions make you feel it is lacking?

Well, I know the new pay version comes with LinDVD which isn't available on the Free version. Also, from what i heard, there are a lot of other nice little things that aren't given to you directly, though I have found some of them since then on the urpmi mirrors. I'm in no real hurry to can Mandriva or anything. I just wanted to see what else is out there.

Thanks for the tip about PCLinuxOS. I'll have to check it out.

And thanks everyone else for your input.