I installed ubuntu as a test distro and it did not configure my monitor and video card. Complete manual configuration. I have very basic Samsung 17" LCD and ATI radeon 9200. After the configuration hassle, I thought the Gnome desktop was fine. I also installed KDE which was really buggy. Several apps crash, crash, crash. Fedora Core 3 recognized all hardware out of the box and runs like a champ. All that said, it is so great to have choices and many thanks to all the hard working people who develop these distros to make life better!

Slackware was my first distro.. needless to say, i found it a little intimidating so i moved on to Ubuntu. guess i got that backwards. oh well

quite true, i'm pretty happy with ubuntu as my living room desktop - most of the things this box gets used for are working now like totem, vlc, xmms, firefox, limewire, etc. my friends are usually quite impressed with linux when they come over. also functions as a router for my roommate. i use gimp for making screen printing images etc.

one thing i had problems with was getting all the linux audio software to work together. but hey, that's why i ordered Studio to Go . i figure i'll leave my ubuntu box as is and throw slack on a laptop so i can play.

definitely! different distros for different uses...

its really funny how some people bash others for using a "lower" distro then another person.. i am a yahoo messenger user, i go into windows chat and linux chat, its funny to see linux users come in and type havoc in a chatroom how elite they are cause they have a kewl uberelite linux sounding username and can copy and paste term commands so all the room can see what kinda supercomputer they are running from mommys basement..

ive often been told LINUX IS THE KERNEL?? isnt this true, the distro is whats wrapped around it???
so arent slackware,suse,fc3,mepis,ubuntu,gentoo all using 2.6.x.x.????

if this is right as ive been told, so we use different distros for "braggin' rights" in chatrooms and forums?
(figured we used different distros to learn something, be different, expand our intelligence and some of us use a distro that JUST WORKS)***for us***

i guess there's nothing like being a legend in one's own mind

the other funny thing is how some linux users bash windows , i figured with all the eliteness and intelligence of a linux user, why cant the said user get a simplistic,crappy, insecure,so called bsod'ing, OS like windows to work???




i'm an ubuntu/xp dual booter (used windows xp for almost 4 years, 2 bsods,hardware related, NEVER had a virus,spyware, or trojan or exploit that made me format/reinstall windows , perhaps i'm one of the few that have a clue)

ive used mdk,suse,slackware,fc3,rh9, cant figure out the simplistic install of gentoo yet.. but when i get another computer, ill try it again, ive found ubuntu just "works"for me

sorry for the rant, but its jumbled, but i'm sure it's understandable..

so, anyone leave ubuntu (and you had it working well) for MEPIS?? if so what was the compelling reason(s)?

i dont know much bout linux, but linux is the kernel, for example ubuntu is a distro of linux, but it is also another O/S in its own right i think. and different distros suit different people, for example gentoo wouldnt suit a beginner and xandros wouldnt suit a expert.

Sounds like you're visiting some noob channels there if people can actually be impressed about copy and paste, course then again I've not been in a linux channel for.. hm.. probably been over 8 years, when I was chatting with Mandrake trying to get Enlightenment going on Caldera.

That is correct.

Guess that all depends on what version of slackware, suse, etc.. you're looking at. Then again, what does the kernel version have to do with the name of the kernel or the distro?

I've never used a distro for "braggin' rights" anywhere. I use the distro's that I have been able to successfuly setup and get to work the best on my machine. If that would end up being LFS that would be what I use (thank goodness it's not), but for now Debian is getting high marks from me for ease of use, and I'm doing my best to re-learn Slackware (haven't used it in about 10 years) as it seems to be a really good mix of stability with current software (MY fix for the slow wait for a new Debian stable release). I for one don't use different distros to learn something (that's just a pleasant side effect), be different, etc... I use my computer to do my computer related tasks with. Admining my site, building interactive web apps, database work, graphics work, email, general surfing, listening to music, you know. All the things you do when you actually USE a computer, vs playing with it.


Ah, I guess we can all see now that you're here to make friends lol!


I don't like windows because windows (and more to the point Microsoft as a company) stinks. I, personally, have no problem taking care of windows boxen, in fact generally I get paid good money to do just that. I don't think Linux users have much problems with getting windows to work, and keeping them secure, it's the fact that *everybody and their brother* calls on us to fix their pc's when it acts up, and we go over, clean them up, patch them up, install firewalls and browsers for them to use to try to keep them safe, only to be called again next week. We go over, and everything is trashed again, because they can't fill out their daily surveys and install their auto-pron dialers using the browser we told them to use so they didn't, and kept getting "some pop-up stuff" (firewall notifications) so they turned off the firewall, etc.. etc.. That gets REAL old after a few years.

Good for you. You want a cookie or something?

I didn't leave Ubuntu for Mepis, but if I were looking to reccomend a Deb based distro to someone it would be either Mepis or PCLinuxOS, because they are more stable than Ubuntu. I personally will stick with the real thing, Debian, that is unless Slackware can sway me back (and I must say it's trying very, very hard). I had high hopes for Ubuntu 5.04, but sadly it didn't come close to living up to them.

Deeze,

I'm curious. What did you hope to get in Ubuntu 5.04 that is not there? As a minimum requirement, I was looking for a distro where I did not have to compile a custom kernel in order to get an X server up and running. Unfortunately I have not been able to meet that simple requirement with either Gentoo or Debain on a couple of my computers. Maybe I was unlucky and the particular NVIDA and Matrox video boards I have are all unsupported hardware, but I somehow doubt that since Ubuntu installed a correctly working X server and window manager with no complications.

Putting the developer tools in the distro iso and not making them available online somehow seemed a little strange at first, but after I thought about the bandwidth savings of doing it this way, it made more sense.

Ubuntu is great once it's all setup to your tastes otherwise it's a plane jane. By default it comes with no compiler and you'll want to install Java, flash and all your fav. apps which come default in distros like Debian and such.

Awesome, a number of unsupported statements. Well done. I'd suggest you try using it, rather than just bashing it for laughs.

Thats the problem. I have used it. It's dreadful.
It's security model is horrible.
It's not even close to following the FHS.
The latest release STILL installs broken init scripts.
The entire Gnome subsystem depends on Evolution remaining installed.
The module loading order randomly changes your nic 'names' if you have more than one interface.
Alsa shared libraries are not correctly linked. <-- would be classified as a showstopper in Debian. In Ubuntu it's still there in 5.04.
Just for fun, try making a new user with accents in his/her name.

These are just a few of the more serious flaws with the OS. I know all software has bugs. But for these to continue through TWO release cycles? Maybe it is just an average Linux distribution after all.

QUOTE:

"Ubuntu" is an ancient African word, meaning "I can't configure Slackware".

LOL

I have to agree with you with regards to dependencies. I tried to remove gnomemeeting and apt insisted that something like 6 other packages that have nothing whatsoever to do with gnomemeeting had to be removed as well

I think most newbies will find it user friendly because the installation process and package management is relatively easy compared to some other distros out there, but most power users will stay clear of it or use Debian proper.

I hoped to get a distribution that was stable and up to date. I got (more or less) the up to date part, it was the stable (or rather, not so much) part that was the showstopper.

hmmm one the most (if not THE most) popular of all linux distros apparantly isn't stable. shhh ... let's keep this a secret from you know who ... current users too.

Lesson to be learned here, popularity != stability. If I wanted to run a fickle, unstable OS, I'd go back to MS hehe. Then again, what do you expect when a bunch of pie in the sky utopians think they can tame Sid better than it's true master? I say they're in denial myself. LOL, looking forward to seeing what happens when they base a release off of a snapshot that is REALLY unstable. Sid has been unusually tame for many months now (even though that's still out of my "just wanna use it" comfort range), but the "kid that breaks all the toys" is going to wake back up when Sarge leaves the nest. I'm also looking forward to getting all the new goodies done up right by the Debian maintainers.

Blah Blah...

Many of them so called true masters are actually working with the 'pie in the sky utopians' and succeed in giving me a nice, up to date and very stable desktop system.