Hey everybody. I have been using Ubuntu for around a year now on a 4 year old HP laptop I set up to duel boot with vista. Recently I am finding I want to learn more about Terminal and some security stuff.

I am also seriously considering formatting the drive and going with Linux only. But I am hung up wondering what Distro I should go with.

I Have been using Ubuntu 10.10, so I have not used Unity. I hate to say it with out trying it, but I have not liked what I have seen of unity in videos so far.

Also like I said above I have interest in some security and the tools in BackTrack but it only a hobby really. So I honestly don't need everything included with it. I also know that even though BT is more stable now it is still default root user and somethings are still not optimized to be your surf internet/watch youtube type of machine.

So I am looking for some guidance, should I just bite the bullet and try Backtrack as a main OS and make it do what I want, with lots of trial and error, and google searches? Or just stick with Ubuntu or even try Kubuntu and just download the list of tools I want to use as I go? That is the only thing that is really pulling me toward Backtrack, is that all the tools are there in the distro ready to go. But on the other hand apt-get aint so hard either...

What do you all think? Sorry I wrote a book.

The majority if not all of the "tools" on Backtrack can be easily installed in Ubuntu.

Go with whichever distro works the best for you.

Why not give Debian or Slackware a try?

I have not used Unity either. Also, like you, from what I have seen of Unity I do not like it.
You might consider Lubuntu: http://lubuntu.net/ This is Ubuntu with the LXDE desktop. It is the fastest and lightest member of the Ubuntu family.
I have been using Lubuntu for the last several releases and like it a lot.
Since your laptop is a few years old you may find that Lubuntu runs faster than Kubuntu.
All of the Security tools that are available on Backtrack should be available in the Ubuntu repos using either Ubuntu, Lubuntu, or Kubuntu.

I all linux inside are same with different flavours , choose the one that suits you best,
'''Idea is'''
if (happy with ur current distribution) :
fire command line and start doing ur stuff cause you need some sort of familiarity in begning.
else:
try another distribution, and fire command line start doing ur stuff but you will miss some features and ease of use of your old distribution.

I am also using Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on several machines. I like the idea of the long term support so I am not forced to upgrade so often. I have used Unity and (as this is a family forum all I can say is) it might be OK on a smartphone or pad. As to a PC user interface - not for me. Ubuntu with Unity can be made to look almost like the classic interface http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1859961 I have tried this on 12.04 LTS beta 1 and it is still in the repositories. Provided it is still available when 12.04 releases in April I will probably move to 12.04 LTS as it will be supported for 5 years on the desktop vs. 3 years for prior LTS releases.

On the other hand if Canonical decides to kill gnome-session-fallback I will probably move my wife's desktop to Mint, my desktop to CentOS or Scientific Linux, my server will stay with 10.04 LTS as the server version is supported until 2015 and my netbook... I will have to try some different distros on that one.

Ken

Thanks for the ideas. I want to get the re install going tonight or tomorrow so I can mess around with it over the weekend.

I will check those out right now.
EDIT: Actually, I wonder if Slackware would give me any problems with my laptop?