good stable distro
 

ok, so I assume that you've heard this one before, but I must ask... I am looking for a good stable distro. It seems like I've tried everything that there is to offer, but I seem to get the same problem with all distros. When I have multiple windows open, either the application will crash or X will crash and kick me back to kgd/gdm/entance<-? Are these common problems with linux or is it just my hardware? I am determined to stick with Linux/***BSD. I have had it with Windows and Microsoft altogether. Besides, who can argue with free software?;) Thanks.

:newbie:

Hmm, in all my time using Gentoo I have never run across the problem that you describe ... the only issues I have is running some alpha apps.

Which distros have you tried? Some distros do like to use the most updated, yet maybe still buggy, software, while others like to hang back with the stable ones.

It's also possible you're running incompatible hardware and/or bad hardware. I suggest you look at the HCL here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl

The Ubuntu Dapper is a stable long term release. Most distro's are stable, unless you install bleeding edge software.

If you've had that happen on multiple non-beta versions it may be a hardware issue.
Maybe something as simple as incorrect configuration, bad RAM, or not enough swap.

I second that. I have used different distros, from Red Hat to Fedora Core to Mandrake/Mandriva to Ubuntu, but I've never run into the problem you describe.

I have never run a memory test, I'll do that tonight to see. I don't think that it could be a swap issue, as I usually reserve approx. 2gb of my HD to swap.

As for the disros that I've tried, I couldn't even start to list them all. I have a stack of about 30-40 ISO disks. The most recent distros that I've tried were MEPIS and Sidux. Both had the problem. Zenwlk seems to work ok, but I can't get NDISwrapper to properly configure my WIFI card(My router is in my garage/house is not wired)which is a must-have.

I'll check out the link, thanks.
I can't seem to get a good ISO for Ubuntu (I keep getting hang-ups during install) md5 check is good, downloaded several times with same outcome. However, live-CD works fine.


I have not tried Gentoo yet, I'll check it out and let you know.


Thanks for the replies. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this.:D

Doesn't sound like a Linux problem per se but rather a user running X with Desktop/Window Manager type issue.. don't just point and blame Linux when it's 3rd party applications causing the system to crash. Linux is the kernel, not the X environment, so any distro will do, you need to find replacements for your applications or find out why those are crashing.

Stable Distro ? if Stability is the only criteria.. Then the answer is Debian Stable of course...

well, memory test checked out ok and found no compatibility issues(though that is a very handy page). I downloaded Gentoo and it seems to be doing the trick. Thanks for the recomendations.

If the problems arise later, I'll be sure to drop a post. Thanks for all the responses.

You must have a hardware issue, or else you are doing something (what? I dunno...) the same incorrect way with each distro.

The symptom you describe is odd. The last time I had any problem even remotely like what you describe, it turned out to be a power supply that was marginal on its +5V line, and it would sometimes crash X but more often would lock the whole system up.

The fact that you describe this symptom as occurring on many different distros pretty much rules out the distros as the problem.

How many video drivers have you tried?

Burn CD at lowest possible speed.

i second that

I'll have to check the power supply. It is on a laptop though, so I'll have to work up the motivation to crack open the case. ;)


As I just mentioned, the affected machine is a laptop(monitor is listed as generic) and have found that the only video driver that seems to work is the default driver(in kernal?).

I've tried at multiple speeds and continue to get a hang-up at 23% during install.