LinuxQuestions.org - New feature idea: Linux distro chooser wizard!

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New feature idea: Linux distro chooser wizard!

Hey all!

How about a wizard allowing newbies (or people considering Linux) to choose a distro that matches their needs/skills best?

You know, a few pages of questions, like "Have you used Linux before?" and "Do you actually want to install Linux on your computer, or just wish to preview it without changing your hard drive?" and "Do you like tinkering with configuration files and troubleshooting in general?"....

Once the wizard comes up with the possible choices for the user, we could have comments from actual users of the resulting distros, and even quick download/purchase links!

What do you think? This would be pretty easy to implement...

well cos generally from experience it would go something like....

1) Do you feel the need to use a wizard to choose a distro for you?
a) yes - use mandrake
b) no - ok, choose yourself thanks. bye.

:)

oh and the link section: http://www.linuxiso.org

I like that idea sewer_monkey. I see a few potential problems as what I see as a good distro others will certainly disagree with. I have added this to the long term TODO and will definitely take a further look into it. Thanks.

--jeremy

Quote:

Originally posted by jeremy
I like that idea sewer_monkey. I see a few potential problems as what I see as a good distro others will certainly disagree with. I have added this to the long term TODO and will definitely take a further look into it. Thanks.

--jeremy

Well, there are good distros for everyone. Obviously you won't be suggesting Debian or Slackware to a MacOS user? :)

Quote:

Originally posted by acid_kewpie
well cos generally from experience it would go something like....

1) Do you feel the need to use a wizard to choose a distro for you?
a) yes - use mandrake
b) no - ok, choose yourself thanks. bye.

:)

oh and the link section: http://www.linuxiso.org

I agree for the links section, but I disagree with your model of the wizard. ;)

I was thinking more along the lines of creating several variables, say "user's computer experience/comfort level when using computers", "user's willingness to tinker with config files", "user's preference/non-preference of a pretty GUI", e.t.c.... Then ranking each popular distro with these values (say from on a scale of 1 to 10). The wizard, in turn, will calculate these values for each user, and match them with the best "fitting" distro.

There are also key questions that would drastically reduce the distro list... Such as "are you willing to format/repartition your hard drive to install Linux?" If the user answers "No", then the only choice for a distro you'll have would be "DemoLinux" or "ZipSlack/BigSlack".

Quote:

Originally posted by sewer_monkey
There are also key questions that would drastically reduce the distro list... Such as "are you willing to format/repartition your hard drive to install Linux?" If the user answers "No", then the only choice for a distro you'll have would be "DemoLinux" or "ZipSlack/BigSlack".

or mandrake ;) also installable inside a fat32 partition... yeah i see a few cases where there would be exceptions where that would help, but i still personally think it would be slightly redundant. It would still be an interesting feature to have tho i'll admit. Generally tho i still think that generally if you are in a situation to ask that question then you'll want mandrake, suse or redhat... which are prettry interchangeable at the end of the day. i only say mandrake in particular as it does have the slight edge in userfriendlyness (it's a word as of now ok?). i nice big flowchart would be pretty cool tho, as long as enough descisions and fundamental differences can be found.

for the buying link you could send them to http://www.linuxcentral.com unless you really like the distribution ;)

verigoth

Heres what I would like in it:

Part 1:

Do you want a GUI (KDE/Gnome)?

Yes - Go to Part 2
No - Go to Part 3

Part 2:

Do you want an easy installer?

Yes - Go to Part 4
No - Go to Part 5

Part 3:

Do you need the latest versions of everything?

Yes - Choose Red Hat
No - Choose Debian

Part 4:

Do you need easy configuration tools (things like modems, etc...)

Yes - Choose Mandrake
No - Go to Part 5

Part 5:

Are you just starting out with Linux?

Yes - Choose Mandrake
No - Choose Red Hat

:D

Nice. I'd add also a possibility to choose firewall distro (like Openwall, etc).

how about this

1. Do you like how Mac OS works?
yes - choose Mandrake
no - go to 2
:D

i don't know why but Mandrake reminds me so much of MacOS it isn't even funny ;)

Quote:

Originally posted by Mara
Nice. I'd add also a possibility to choose firewall distro (like Openwall, etc).

whats nice:confused:

Quote:

Originally posted by rverlander

whats nice:confused:

biscuits.

erm.. is that list of potential questions genuine? i'm presuming that's a joke version yes?

Quote:

Originally posted by rverlander

whats nice:confused:

I think you're joking, rverlander, but... My 'nice' means I think the idea (the wizard or whatever you call it) is good. :)

Allright! Anyone up for starting a SourceForge project? ;) :p

ME!!!!!
IF:
1) It's programmed in C++ (I want some experience, but I wont budge if you ignore EVERYTHING I "develop" ;) )
2) You won't tell to CIA you have something to do with me.
3) You (or someone else) is patient enough to tell me how to do things.

Oh f***, sun is rising, back to "Teach yourself c++ in 21 days"- book! :study:

erm... I was thinking more along the lines of Perl or PHP... Ever tried to write any CGI app in C++?!? Why bother when there's perl and PHP?!?

choose a distro???

As a very recent newcomer to linux (had it dual booting for about a month now) and a very recent reader here at LQ, I notice that some of the contributors to the thread are some of the bigger names in posting at LQ who are obviously, exceptionally knowledgable.

I notice that the commercial aspect of such a facility seems to have been mainly overlooked in the current posts in favour of various posters' personal preferences and experiences.

Surely, while it's fair to say "I like xxx distro because of ..." it should not be presumed that that would necessarily (but probably) lead to the use of a specific distro being used for a given level of user.

In my case I can say that i would have needed more help in getting mandrake up and running than I did to get the suse that i am currently trying to understand on the go, this is purely because when I installed the mandrake, yes it did have a nice friendly feel and it also at least acknowledged the existance of the usb modem that I already had for my dsl service under windows, but it stomped all over the windows boot loader and would not let me in, leaving me with no net access at all (and I was very pissed off with the 2 hour windows re - install brought on by my lack of knowledge)

The suse does seem to have a colder more distant approach (and yes I am well aware that some would level that comment as a german national trait!) but in its defense, it installed with the minimal of fuss, seamlessly allowing me to dual boot with windows which meant I still had outside contact to try and find help/information when I get stuck

I should like to also point out that the vast majority of newbies (judging from reading some of the posts at LQ) will have little or no knowledge of either linux or most of the available applications that come with any given distro.

Someone suggested a possible sample question of "do you want a GUI (kde/gnome)?"

With a lot of potential newbies you would have to explain what a GUI is, and this inturn questions the reasoning for wanting to try a linux distro in the first place.

I will be honest, whilst I have a brother who is not only an IT professional and linux (red hat) obsessive, the older I get, the more left wing I become as a person (life experience/observing various iniquities in the world etc etc). Consequently, these are the main, though not the only reasons to want desperately to try something different and move away from microsoft dependancy. This is as opposed to a pure enjoyment of things IT. i.e. it's less of a toy and more of a tool (and I can still stand here and call "Uncle Bill" a bastard).

Oh and the logical conclusion for a distro chooser, would be a completely different web site that could be in a position to attract a fair slice of financial support - but would the site organiser have the "balls" to stay impartial and not fall into the trap of the deepest pockets!!

Well done all of you but I still want a large fries with the next portion of thought!!!

(which then opens the debate for ketchup v mayonaise on the fries - sorry I'll have to go for the european flavour and opt for the mayo)

Quote:

Originally posted by rverlander
Heres what I would like in it:

Do you want a GUI (KDE/Gnome)?

Just remember that ANY distro can have a GUI, as long as it runs X/DirectFB/Something. I mean, I have seen quite a few LFS boxes that run KDE :p

RefriedBean

99.999% of newcommers want GUI. So the default answer is: yes.

Code:

#include <iostream.h>

void main()

{

int a, b;

cout << "===Welcome to Ultimate Linux Chooser===\n";

cout << "Do you like tweaking settings(y/n)? ";

cin >> a;

if (a == y)

  {

  cout << "Do you know what bash stands for(y/n)? ";

  cin << b;

  if (b == y)

    cout << "Slackware are worth trying for you!\n";

  else 

  cout <<  "Go with Debian!\n";

  }

else 

 cout << "Give Mandrake or RedHat a try!\n";

 cout << "Find RedHat in TuxCDs.com as XXX XXX.\n";

}

Not sure if everything is correct, just felt like writing something.
I can't any perl.
EDIT// What is CGI???

This piece is not checking if values are correct, but nice try :)

How to make it check?
Just on day 5, can't know everything :)

Well, it works anyway, tho it might not be stablest program out there. :)

You need to read to a char table, then look if the value is correct (for example, no numbers).
BTW, not if(a == y), but if(a == 'y')

aha.
Day 6 going, back to study ;)