vinifera,

DistroTest.net works perfectly for me (after allowing popups).

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While it worked for me, it was a bit slow - although that could well have been my internet connection rather than the site itself.

Nice link BTW beachboy2!

There are many flavors, but all are the basic linux core
Try them then decide
Almost all distros provide a live iso image you can download and install to a USB flash drive.
Download the one you want to test (some distros have more than one flavor) and try it booted from the live USB. Once you have one or more that you like spend a little more time testing. Then once you are satisfied with the choice, install it. If later you decide you really don't like that one then install a different flavor.

This is the basic procedure all go thru when switching to linux.

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Blame this on mobile computing. The flat look took off with running apps on smart phones. I kind of liked the old 3-D buttons and menus. At least you knew what to click on.

hmm here is a bit odd question
what would happen (and can this even be made), if user downloads and installs newest kubuntu (or ubuntu)
but then to install KDE 4 (which to me was nicest looking linux ever)

would new apps work on older shell ?

No can do. You will get a myriad of version conflicts/blockers when attempting and when forcing install then your box will be command line only.

https://distrotest.net/PORTEUS has a KDE 4.
http://Distrowatch.com/porteus mentions this. (LQ loves slack, which porteus is based on.)

Cool distrotest site discovery; thanks.

@OP: which Linux do you run? Virtualbox?

Edit append: another vote (to/in my mind) for slackware:
Here, someone mentions they run KDE4:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...in-4175680040/

Basically a newbie doesn't know which to take and asking others to recommend a distro is like asking a committee to find you a partner.

So you just have to choose one that appears to suit your needs and take it for a road test..... Which can lead to a lot of frustration and changing (distro hopping) your selection.

When selecting a distro, I suggest you have a read of the distro's forums and see whether the attitude of the respondants appeals to you...... The bonus of doing so is that you might read something which you later need to know.

Reading http://distrowatch.org/weekly.php?issue=current should give you an indication of what the writer found when using the distro for a week...... there is a new article each week.

Bear in mind to make this reply things have been simplified. There are, very basically, two types of distro's

A rolling release. Which is a distro that is on the leading edge. Often requiring a lot of updating, some understanding of the linux system and a willingness to fix things that break your system.

A fixed release. Which is less likely to need so much updating, but after a fixed time to remain current a re install is required.

Mrmadza's reply is quite good, but neglected to mention Slackware. Which is an old distro.

One last point. When installing any distro you'll probably have to reformat the dive, which will wipe everything of the drive, so have EVERYTHING you might even remotely want to keep on an external drive BEFORE you start the install.

Good luck and welcome to the world of linux.

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It's there, last word of a paragraph after Gentoo & LFS.

Mobile computing has been around for years, the flat themes are somewhat recent. Unfortunately the software authors and distro packagers have to keep with the current themes or their stuff gets called "dated".

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and what happens when for example your distro after 3 or 4 years changes version
and becomes uglier and unchangable, how do you guys deal with that ?
do you stay on older version or suffer ?

No, you move to a different distro. That's one of the major differences between Linux and Windows. If you don't like the latest Windows, you can't do anything about it except stick for a while with the old one. But soon enough MS will stop supporting it, which means that the anti-virus firms will stop supporting it too. And then you will have to move to the new version whether you like it or not.

With Linux, if a program or a whole distro changes in ways you don't like, you just look for a different one.

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thats what i did, i moved to Arch linux bcus you can do anything you want with it.
minimal install and only couple of programs on it.

When Gnome 3 was released, people who disliked the changes involved created Mate.
Similarly, Trinity was created by people who disliked the changes of KDE Plasma 4.

It doesn't just apply to the graphical side - when Debian switched to systemd, Devuan was created, and when Red Hat recently announced the death of CentOS a number of alternatives popped up.

Reviewing the thread, you seem at least partially aware of this, and I share your frustration at how poorly such information is presented, especially since it would be relatively simple to do it otherwise. (Distowatch has a fair amount of information, but so much could be improved to make it easier for new and experienced users.)


One more thing - you asked earlier about name changes and if anyone answered that I missed it. The reason is simply that names generally don't come under the GPL license that the code does, and often there are explicit restrictions of not being allowed to use the original name or imply endorsement.

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Not quite.
Rolling release distros are not necessarily risky. Manjaro and PCLinuxOS try to be stable and generally manage it.
Fixed release distros can often be updated from one edition to another rather having to be reinstalled.