I'm looking for an all inclusive Linux distro that doesn't load my machine with a lot of software I won't use like Apache. What all is in Ubuntu?

Is there an easy way to install this distro? Doesn't seem to be as user friendly as Mandrake. Thanks.

as i recall, ubuntu was really easy to install. i installed a copy on my laptop, but i haven't used it much.

but what do you mean when you say "all inclusive," and at the same time, "doesn't install stuff i won't use?" "all inclusive" *means* it includes everything.

reading between the lines of what you mean, i would suggest either: 1) slackware, and pick the packages you want installed during the install, 2) arch linux base system install and then install only what you want with pacman, or 3) debian, same principle as arch except with apt-get instead of pacman.

Gentoo Linux will not load your computer with a bunch of software you will never use. Everything is configured by the user. When a Gentoo Linux system is first installed all it has is the base system and the kernel. Then Portage's package management software called Emerge lets the user install only what he or she wants. Flags are used so that software only supports what it is going to be used for. An example is a software package that supports KDE Gnome and X. If the user only uses KDE, he or she does not need software that supports Gnome and X so he or she should have kde in his use variable but not gnome or x.

Ubuntu - Which packages are available in Ubuntu?, Ubuntu is a relatively simple install that gives you a Ubuntu/Debian desktop with Gnome and quite a few applications. Being a Debian based syetm it is not one of the easiest to get started on. They will even mail you the disks for free. You can always uninstall any apps you do not need or install the ones you want.

I installed it on my Dell C600 laptop and it works great. I also used the unofficial add-on cd to install things like Flash, Java, RealPlayer, Mplayer.
I was quite surprised at how easy the install was. Some of the packages are a little behind the Debian unsrable/Sid repositories but other than that it is a great distro.

Synaptic with all of the repositories gives you access to over 16000 packages. The community support is very friendly and the documentation is good.

For anyone wanting a Debian system, Ubuntu is not a bad way to go.

It depends what you call user-friendly. Depending on what kind of user you are, different distros are friendlier than others. I'll tell you honestly about Ubuntu:

When I first started out, I heard a lot of buzz about Ubuntu. It's still kind of the hot, new distro.
I tried it out. The installer got stuck at a certain point.
Then, I reburned the disk at a slower speed.
I started again. No partitions on the desktop. No numlock on by default option. A lot of stuff seemed to be missing.
So I went to Mepis.
Mepis was cool for a while. Then, it just seemed bloated and slow--slow to boot, slow to load apps.
So I tried about twelve other distros.
Finally I settled on Ubuntu.
If you aren't afraid of a text-only installer (everything's explained to you--it just doesn't have pretty pictures), and you aren't afraid to literally cut and paste command lines from this very comprehensive document:

http://www.ubuntuguide.org/

then, Ubuntu is quite user friendly. The forums are full of some of the most helpful, polite, and patient Linux users around. And Ubuntu has only one app per task (one music player, one media player, one word processor, one internet browser) to start with. You can always install other ones later.

It's completely free and has a new release every six months.

Thanks for the responses. I did install Mandrake 10.1, the 1st CD only. Because I didn't want a bunch of stuff I wouldn't use, but now find I don't have things like kpackage and KFM. I guess I should have installed all three CD's, then just removed what I didn't want. I assume Linux isn't like Windows where you can't remove stuff you don't want.

I notice many distros are "Debian" based or "Red Hat" based. What would be a 1 CD distro that looks like Mandrake?

In both Linux and Windows, you can remove programs you don't want.

Usually has to do with the software package managers (Synaptic/ Yum/ RPM/ etc.)

What do you mean by "looks like"? Any distro can have KDE, and, in fact, many distros come with KDE preloaded. Even ones that default to Gnome can use KDE. If you're talking about underlying structure, I believe PCLinuxOS is based on Mandriva.

I had trouble with PCLinuxOS. May I recommend BLAG? it's a single-CD version of Fedora Core 3, with built-in MP3 support and APT pre-installed.

Basically, the best distros use APT or YUM for package management, and Synaptic (or Yumex, but it's still awfully primitive) for package management. They're powerful, yet very easy to use.

This is why Ubuntu is popular.

I have noticed something though...there's a literal mob of KDE-based distros out there. Yet (arguably) the two most popular distros out there, Fedora and Ubuntu, are primarily GNOME-based.

A lot of people swear by PCLinuxOS, and, if it works for them, great. I couldn't get CUPS to work on a fresh install, though. One great thing is that it seemed pretty fast for KDE.

I second the recommendation. Blag is a highly underrated "user-friendly" distro.

hi,
if i remember right the ubuntu install is fairly basic but you can add and delete the apps. u want or dont want. the install wasnt that bad for me after i got the shipit cds. example: ubuntu only installs gnome desktop u can than if you choose install kde or xfce4.