In the beginning, there was UNIX, and it was good.

Dr. Vinny Goombatz · 03-25-2016, 04:30 PM

Now that I'm getting back into more of the SW and user end of the "Biz" I've discovered that there are many vendors of Linux or "distros" as the buzz is. So, the burning question of the day is, or at least for me, is which of the distros would work the best for me. I'm not necessarily interested in gaming although I do.

I'm more interested in the technical. A little background. I spent some 8 years in SW @ what is now Lockheed Martin the rest of 22 years making avionics gadgets including processors for the GOV. I've written OS, crude as they were back when, for test equipment, symbolic debuggers, and I use to be called the Bat man, dot bat script that is. So I'm not "New" but then I'm not up to date either. I would like the expertise of this forum to advise on which vendor of Linux has the latest utilities to hack and slay through cyberspace et al. You know, only the shadow know what lurks in the hearts of logic circuits.

offgridguy · 03-25-2016, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Vinny Goombatz

Now that I'm getting back into more of the SW and user end of the "Biz" I've discovered that there are many vendors of Linux or "distros" as the buzz is. So, the burning question of the day is, or at least for me, is which of the distros would work the best for me. I'm not necessarily interested in gaming although I do.

I'm more interested in the technical. A little background. I spent some 8 years in SW @ what is now Lockheed Martin the rest of 22 years making avionics gadgets including processors for the GOV. I've written OS, crude as they were back when, for test equipment, symbolic debuggers, and I use to be called the Bat man, dot bat script that is. So I'm not "New" but then I'm not up to date either. I would like the expertise of this forum to advise on which vendor of Linux has the latest utilities to hack and slay through cyberspace et al. You know, only the shadow know what lurks in the hearts of logic circuits.

I generally recommend Linux Mint for new users as it is very functional and easy to learn, I personally use lubuntu at the moment
as it is fast and lightweight and adequate for my needs. But don't be afraid to experiment with whichever distro interests you.
Enjoy

rokytnji · 03-25-2016, 05:55 PM

Posting from

Code:

$ inxi -S
System:    Host: harry-Latitude-XT2 Kernel: 4.2.0-linuxlite i686 (32 bit)
           Desktop: Xfce 4.11.8 Distro: Ubuntu 14.04 trusty
$ cat /etc/llver
Linux Lite 2.8

with workable touchscreen and bluetooth running like a raped ape.

At one moment in life. I was a on CH-53 and was a Avionics crew chief. At a later moment in life. I did booleen programming on plc's for robotics. Now just a used to be. I've always been called rok.

https://www.linuxliteos.com/manual/

on the Debian side. I like to roll with MX and AntiX linux.

I dabble with GhostBSD when
I want to self flagellate my brain.

I am sure others will jump in here and tell you , "You must/need/should roll with Slackware".

But a lot of them won't supply links for some reason.
So to be nice. I will.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...o-next-644746/

Timothy Miller · 03-25-2016, 06:00 PM

If interested in the technical aspects, honestly Slackware IS a fantastic distro. Other than LFS, there's no distro that requires you to learn how your system works more than Slackware (if you want it to run smoothly, at least). Not my particular cup of tea, but then, I'm more concerned with I just want to power it on, and it work, so Slackware's doesn't have that appeal to me. For someone who's interested in the technical, it should have a very good appeal. Also, being one of the oldest and most widely supported communities, there's TONS of people willing/able to help you out if/when you have issues.

jamison20000e · 03-25-2016, 06:24 PM

Hi.

A netinst has come to be my favorite but I like\run yum and others too.

Free to try* them all (live, VMs, &c...) have fun!

przemo · 03-25-2016, 06:57 PM

"In the beginning, there was UNIX, and it was good." thinking that way the best will be any of the BSD family as is closest to UNIX, then Slackware and the rest of the gang big gang Fedora, Debian, Arch, Gentoo.

OregonJim · 03-25-2016, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Vinny Goombatz

\which vendor of Linux has the latest utilities to hack and slay through cyberspace et al.

Quote:

Originally Posted by offgridguy

I generally recommend Linux Mint for new users as it is very functional and easy to learn

Linux Mint is good for newbies, but it is *far* from having the "latest". Some packages in Mint are upwards of 9 years old.

If you want the latest, *along with* the ease of Mint, I'd suggest Korora. It's Fedora with the added newbie-features of Mint.

But, as offgridguy says, don't be afraid to experiment.

przemo · 03-26-2016, 04:08 AM

[qote]Some packages in Mint are upwards of 9 years old.[/quote]

mostly security updates?!?! i bet.

aragorn2101 · 03-26-2016, 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Vinny Goombatz

I'm more interested in the technical. A little background. I spent some 8 years in SW @ what is now Lockheed Martin the rest of 22 years making avionics gadgets including processors for the GOV. I've written OS, crude as they were back when, for test equipment, symbolic debuggers, and I use to be called the Bat man, dot bat script that is. So I'm not "New" but then I'm not up to date either. I would like the expertise of this forum to advise on which vendor of Linux has the latest utilities to hack and slay through cyberspace et al. You know, only the shadow know what lurks in the hearts of logic circuits.

I am impressed Dr. Goombatz. I am a PhD student in Physics specializing in Radio Astronomy and currently working on a project to aid development of the SKA (https://www.skatelescope.org/).

Very glad to see someone interested in the technical aspects. The perfect Linux distribution for you is the good old Slackware. It is still the most Unix of all the distros and true to its origins dating back to 1993. From this it might sound that Slackware is an old rusted distro, but it is quite the contrary. The current tree is running kernel 4.4.6 with latest Xorg and KDE 5. It was recently announced that Slackware has reached Release Candidate status for version 14.2. So the new one will come soon.

So, if you want a profound Linux experience, check out:

http://www.slackware.com
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=slackware
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slackware

wpeckham · 03-26-2016, 07:01 AM

No one seems to be emphasizing distrowatch, so let me: you will see links in some of the above posts, in signatures if nowhere else. You can also simply browse to http://www.distrowatch.com and look around. You can there examine distributions, descriptions, packages included and at what versions, and comments. The descriptions have links to the maintainers site, forums, download sites, and more.

Also, check out ez2boot. www.easy2boot.com/ I use it to pack a very cheap usb key with dozens of live-cd distro images. I can then boot one, play, and reboot without having installed anything to the drive. Like test driving the entire Ford fleet one lap at a time.

Germany_chris · 03-26-2016, 07:22 AM

The best distro is the one that suits your personality best and the only way to do that is start tying them.

tronayne · 03-26-2016, 07:39 AM

If you liked System 3 or System VR4 or Solaris you'll love Slackware.

Slackware does not brand utilities or applications -- they are as close to the developers intent as possible, no fooling around with things that don't need a twiddle here or there. Clean, works and a joy to use, stays out of your way. Been using it since the mid 90's, won't bother with anything else.

If you liked Sun OS, you'll like BSD (various flavors).

Hope this helps some.

syg00 · 03-26-2016, 07:42 AM

"In the beginning, there was UNIX, and it was good."
Rubbish. It became a pox of proprietary lock-in that did no favours for customers. All this pandering to a (non-existent) past is piffle. Probably why I never got on with Slack to any great degree.
Linux gave us choice - use it.

DavidMcCann · 03-26-2016, 12:32 PM

Trying Linux distros is an old hobby of mine (neglected in recent months) and I've used (or failed with) 114 from Red Hat 9 onwards!

Any Linux will enable you to get to grips with the innards of the system. Press Ctrl-AltF2 and you're in a CLI environment, if you want it.

Slackware (and its derivative Salix) is very good. The two qualifications that must be made are (1) it's are rather different in some details to other distros and (2) the Slackware repository, small if perfectly formed, means that you have to get a lot of programs from various other sources. (Most of them can be installed from the Salix repository without any problem, but Slackers think that's cheating!)

Arch, as rolling release, has the latest things and doesn't often break: the golden rule is to always to read the current notes before an upgrade. Its documentation is wonderful: I often use it as a guide to other distros. Installing can be fun (or a nightmare) as you do it manually rather than by running an installer. Or you can cheat and use the Bridge installation disk.

Mint and PCLinuxOS are two of the most friendly distros.

The GUI is the most conspicuous difference, and some distros are more reliable with their flagship one.
> KDE: Highly configurable, full of eye-candy. Try it with PCLinuxOS or Slackware.
> Gnome: Make your computer look like a tablet! Or use it if you actually have a tablet. Ubuntu Gnome or Debian.
> Unity. Make your computer look like a phone! Ubuntu (no one else seems to want it...)
> Xfce. The old reliable, still going strong after 20 years. Bridge (for Arch), Salix, Manjaro.
> Mate. Modern GUI with traditional style. Mint.

onebuck · 03-26-2016, 02:25 PM

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Vinny Goombatz

Now that I'm getting back into more of the SW and user end of the "Biz" I've discovered that there are many vendors of Linux or "distros" as the buzz is. So, the burning question of the day is, or at least for me, is which of the distros would work the best for me. I'm not necessarily interested in gaming although I do.

I used UNIX for a long time and find Slackware to be the best UNIX-Like distribution and I have used Slackware since PV's first release. Look at;

Quote:

From Slackware®-Links

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Vinny Goombatz

I'm more interested in the technical. A little background. I spent some 8 years in SW @ what is now Lockheed Martin the rest of 22 years making avionics gadgets including processors for the GOV. I've written OS, crude as they were back when, for test equipment, symbolic debuggers, and I use to be called the Bat man, dot bat script that is. So I'm not "New" but then I'm not up to date either. I would like the expertise of this forum to advise on which vendor of Linux has the latest utilities to hack and slay through cyberspace et al. You know, only the shadow know what lurks in the hearts of logic circuits.

If you do enjoy the technical aspects then for sure Slackware would be a great choice. The Slackware Doc Project is a great resource for new & old users. Of course the LQ Slackware forum can be helpful and resourceful to old & new users since that forum is the official Slackware forum.

So you want to be a Slacker! What do I do next? is a Sticky in the Slackware forum that provides users up to date relative information.

Slackware forum is a good user friendly place to get help when you get stuck.

Be sure to look at Slackware®-Links for additional help & resources. More than just Slackware links!

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!