As many of you probably already know, Red Hate send an e-mail around informing it's known users that it will no longer be supporting or developing it's desktop/workstation suit. It will be strictly an enterprise solution company now.

So, my fellow Red Hate users... what will be the biggest Linux distro now? Let's take a look at our options and get some people's opinions shall we?

On what basis shall we judge the distro on? Here is the list of things that I think are most important for me. Please add to this list if you want...

Install - the distro should be easy enough to install, but maybe not as easy as red hate was.

Updates and Software Selection
Debian, Red Hate, etc. have programs like apt-get or up2date to keep the system up to date. They even have a nice guis like synaptic. Other systems like Slackware have an updater, but not a gui (that i'm aware of). Slackware's updater also only allows you to use one mirror, instead of many reposatories like apt-get uses. It would also be nice if the distro would support RPM and DEB packages... obviously.

Ease of use
Give me KDE 3, Gnome 2, or Ice WM and that's about all the ease of use I'm going to need.

Dedication
A group that doesn't have their heart somewhere else. I think it's really important and maybe it's even a good thing that Red Hat bailed on us if they're just not going to be able to focus on it anymore.

That's all I can think of right now. Here are the distros I'm looking at:

Debian -- I can't wait til I can figure out how to get it installed with X running correctly. We got a nice updater and everything else I need!

Slackware -- WWWWWOOOOWWWWW! I love it! I was trying it out even when I didn't know Red Hate was going to bail. It's support for RPM and DEB packages seem to be zero (at least to start), which makes me mad. It's updater isn't very impressive. I can't get the stuff I want from it... like rezound and k3b. -- also, the slackware-live.org scripts are REALLY cool!
---- Update --> http://www.linuxpackages.net is a GREAT website for Slackware software! They have all kinds of good stuff you can download and install on the fly!

Icepack
Nice partitioner and configuration stuff. Havn't gotten it installed or anything yet, but I looked over the site pretty well. Dunno how thing one is going to turn out, but it's worth a try.

Suse
Lot of people like this one. I believe it comes with an updater. Definately worth a try.


Soooooo, what's everyone thing about all this stuff? What distro's have you tried and what have you liked about them? Do they have updaters like apt-get and gui's to go with them?

Well I personally use Debian Sid. Probably the most difficult to install, but well worth the effort. Other distributions that I've used included Redhat 8.0 and Mandrake 9.1. I never liked RedHat. It made me feel like my custom built computer was a Compaq running Windows. Everything was overdecorated to make it look like Redhat.

Mandrake 9.1 was nice and easy, but I got impatient with the amount of time I'd have to wait for an update.

Debian Sid is very nice. It's very pure and is all about Free Software. I really enjoy it and encourage others to try it out... That is if they can install it. It also is updated everyday. So people who like cutting edge, fresh software should use this one.

I havn't tried any of the others since I really have found a home with Debian. But I'm sure the other ones are good also.

Now that they are saying my Red Hat Network account that I paid for is pretty much useless (no more priority downloads etc. or renewal), I too am on the hunt for a new distro. I am leaning toward Suse, and would love to hear calm collected arguements pro or against. I tried Debian and it was not to my liking, and Mandrake just didn't float my boat.

I'm not very technical and know only a few, basic command lines. Both MDK9.0 and 9.1 have been buggy for me, and I'm tired of my Red Hat 8.0.

I just bought Suse9.0 the other day and I'm trying it out. It DOES have wonderful, automatic updates. When I did my first update, it installed Microsoft fonts and updated my NVidia driver. (During installation it gave me the 2-d Nvidia driver that is listed as "nv" in the X11 file). When I rebooted after the updates, the Nvidia splash screen appeared! Now I don't know if this includes 3-D acceleration or not. I'm having problems on the laptop (which has the NVidia Gforce 440 card--Toshiba 5005-S507).
I'm having problems trying to play Frozen Bubble...it practically freezes, taking 5 minutes to load, the can't play but in ultra slow motion, so I have to "power off" the machine to get out of it.

SUSE 9.0's GUI is very nice (though I don't like its lizard). After I set up multiple partitions I'm going to try MDK9.2 and Libranet 2.8.1 (debian), and Xandros 2.0 (debian--late December). I will also probably try Fedora 1.0, but not sure.

What I'm *really* waiting for is next April when the distros are using kernel 2.6 and a later version of KDE and possibly a later version of Gnome. I also like IceWM very much (which is the default in Libranet).

Laptops all have their "quirks" and "headaches" with different Linux distros. I found Libranet's XAdminmenu a real joy to use for configuration. It took only 5 minutes to download and set up Realplayer 8, Flash, Microsoft fonts, (and one other...I forget now). In the past it has taken (in other distros) between 45 minutes to an hour to set these up (of course, they were the downloadable free versions of Mandrake, etc.)

I'm very fond of apt-get and synaptic. Xandros has its own program similar to synaptic (probably based on it) for updates, etc. But you can't use Gnome with it without messing up its own proprietary stuff. At least they don't charge an arm and a leg to use it like Lindows does with its Click 'n Run! In fact, there are not extra charges whatsoever. And --like Mandrake Club (but without an extra fee to join), you can get really good discounts from Xandros for Win4Lin and other products. Its full deluxe version already comes with Crossover Office ($99.00 US), but you can get a more basic version for, I believe, $39.95.

I guess I'm rambling here, so I will now close.

Cheers,

Richard L.

Call me crazy but I'm probably just going to go with Fedora...

This is what I have been telling people:

I am utterly astounded at how so many in the Red Hat community seem to treat Mandrake as if it doesn't even exist.

The quantity of misconceptions and untrue statements like: As if it didn't have an updater or easy file installer totally amazes me.

I have been watching people puzzling over what they'll move to and I have seen almost no one even acknowledge Mandrake's existence.

Even though they just got shafted by a M$ clone in the linux community, most seem almost anxious to be shafted all over again by anothe M$ clone with a good track record (cough!) like Novell.

I just don't get it...(shaking head).

It's me again. Anyway, I just wanted to respond to Pcghost's comment. I hear that Boat Floating will be implemented in Mandrake 10.0 (jk... Gotta be a smart-alek sometimes )

Well, Nu-Bee, you are entitled to your opinion, but those of us above that have mentioned Mandrake do not have any *misconceptions* as you accuse us of having. All the distros mentioned thus far have their strengths and weaknesses, all depending on one's computer hardware.
And, yes, many Mandrake users have had to tolerate many of its bugs and exhaustive updates because they rush their new version out prematurely, which have been posted on forums such as www.mandrakeusers.org and the Mandrake forum at www.linuxiso.org.

No distro is perfect.

Also, it is immature of you to attack Red Hat and SUSE as M$ clones just because people are willing to pay for a distro. After all, Windows XP (not the upgrade) costs $299.00 for Pro and $199.00 for Home. I find that paying $39.95 for either Red Hat 8.0 or for SUSE 9.0 much more inexpensive and well worth it. You can also get SUSE9.0 for *free* from its ftp server about a month after the new version comes out. And Red Hat is still offering its desktop for free under the new project named Fedora.

I am assuming (and maybe unfairly) that all of your versions have been downloaded free versions that you haven't paid for. That's okay, but none of the distros can survive if everyone is a *freeloader*. Do you support Mandrake by being a member of its Mandrake Club? Or does that also make Mandrake an "M$ clone"?

Shake your head all you want, but I'm shaking my head at your comments.

Cheers,

Richard L.

I also am going to give Fedora a chance before shopping around. So far, I like the differences they have incorporated into it, but the big test will be the monitor panning!!

Red Hat is free to download too! (the desktop edition that is)

What's the website for fedora?

Debian. If you have trouble with text menus, then Libranet or Progeny or one of the 50 other debian+pretty installer distros.

Debian is king (and/or queen) here.

Debian has all of these.

Debian is a volunteer distro run by people who have no motivation other than making and maintaining the best distro available.

Maybe try Libranet.

Ugh, dependency hell. Even with the precompiled packages, you're still back to the days where redhat distributed rpms but made you do your own dependency resolution. Of course, if you MUST make your system more like Debian, you could use slapt-get, but then again you could just use Debian.

Suse is even more commercial than redhat.

That was a good wake up call Tak. I guess any debian based distro is going to be the same thing as debian + a nice installer. All you have to do is fire up synaptic and you're ready to go. Thanks.

I have another question about debian vs. red hat. People tell me KDE runs faster under other distros like debian than it does under red hat. anyone agree?

fedora.redhat.com

I, personally, hold no animosity for RedHat. But then, I'm switching to debian when sarge is deemed stable.

RedHat's been really good for the girlfriend, but I keep trying to run RedHat like it's a debian system, and it's just not working out.