what's the hardest to use distro?
 

what's the hardest to use distro?

To use or to install?

Linux From Scratch looks hard to me, but then I'm not a guru and haven't really looked into it.

As far as using goes, they all broadly use the same commands so they are all equally hard.

Odd question, or is it me?

what are you expecting as an answer? there is no "hardest" one, as you can just plain make your own.... so no distro is even invovled.....

Most will say Slackware since it lacks integrated GUI configuration tools. But its not really all that hard as it seems to me that the config files are straightforward, easy to read and edit.

Some will say Debian is the hardest install but fairly easy afterwards as you have apt-get to install packages, etc.

But there really isn't a hard distro to me, it just all depends on the person, experience and so on.

You should isntall different distro's and try to determine which one is hardest for you, cause your only going to get different answers with opinions in almost all cases.

Cheers.

Lindows.

It .... just .... hurts to think of paying for all that freely available software.

LOL :D :D :D

Can you install x on slackware? I have slackware but i haven't installed it yet.... I just wanted know which distro I should try to use (the hardest) because red hat seems to be dumbed up a bit.

I read a saying in my magazine that says, 'if you use red hat, you learn red hat, if you use suse, you learn suse, if you install slackware you learn Linux'

All distros can install X. When you break down each and every distro, they are all the same technically, they all run the same kernel. Some might come with packages that others might not, but they are all the same in the end.

Well I may agree with them on Red Hat ... :D

As trickykid said, at the basic level, all distros are the same. It's a matter of what front-end (trying to come up with a better word) you want to deal with. I personally use slackware because it makes me read config files and sort my own messes instead of holding my hand, but I've never had a problem with it that the folks here at LQ couldn't answer or help me through. If you learn linux, meaning the commands, basic file structure, basic architecture, et cetera, you'll know linux, irregardless of the GUI or distro (albeit with minor changes, of course)

Why the hardest and not the easyest
 

If I would have to say which linux distro is the hardest to use I think I'd vote for Red Hat (only seed versions 9 and earlier).

I can easily say which linux distro is the most user friendly and easy to install, and that is SuSE(or Novell Linux same thing :D ). I have to say that's easier to install than Windows. You don't have to know much about linux (or computers in general) to get a working linux system.

If you are seeking to exercise you brain without blowing a fuse, take a look at Arch Linux. I have learned more from setting this up than with any other distro.

The full masochist route would be NO distro. LFS is an organized way to do that, but you could just start collecting the pieces on your own.

After being a member of this forum for a while I can say: Hardest distros are Mandriva and FC, maybe Suse too. People using these distros seem to have hardest time getting things working. ;)

i heard somewhere (on the bus) that in debian the kernel compilation is a bit different compared to most of the other distros', is that true?

You might have got this impression because of the number of threads that reffer to these distros, but these are also the most popular. The greater the number of users the higher the probability for something to go wrong.

PLD Linux is supposed to be pretty advanced, never bothered to try it though Arch suits me nicely.

I have met a lot of strange people on buses, but never another Linux nut.....;)

Why would kernel building be different on Debian? A kernel is a kernel. any kernel can have custom features compiled in. Certainly it is true that many distros have their own flavor of kernel, but the compilation process is the same.