[SC.LUG] Distro Upgrades & Re-installation

[Ted]

Matthew Tolley wrote:
>
> Robert Marshall wrote:
>>> I'm having a 'distro day' today, installing a dozen or so different 
>>> distros to find which ones really grab me.
>> eeeeek! a dozen!?
>
> OK, a dozen may have been a bit ambitious! Due to technical issues and 
> other demands on my time I only managed 3 or 4!
>
> Actually I hated the Mandriva distro (the powerpack 2008 version) - 
> slower than Ubuntu, yukky default look'n'feel, didn't get me online 
> straight away (so far only Ubuntu has), and it mucked up my 
> bootloading options (wouldn't let me boot into my other Hard Drives).
>
> The serious point of the exercise is to find a distro that's so good 
> it converts my friends away from Windows! To impress them sufficiently 
> it should be easy to use, speedy, stylish and completely idiot-proof! 
> Distros that are 'hard work' aren't going to lure them away from the 
> dark side.
>
> I've shortlisted Debian, Zenwalk and PCLinuxOS as serious contenders 
> for my next distro, but if they don't come up to scratch I might end 
> up sticking with Ubuntu. I was trying to find out if there were 
> technical advantages or disadvantages between the rpms, debs and 
> slackware formats, as this could affect my decision. If someone can 
> explain the differences in non-technical plain English it would be 
> appreciated!
>
> While we're on the subject, how do I find executable program files in 
> Linux? In Windows I used to look in the 'Program Files' directory for 
> .exe files. Where should I look in Linux? Also how will I know whether 
> a CD is bootable?
>
> Best wishes to all,
>
>
>
>
> Matthew
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi Matthew...
http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php Will give you a list of 
available live cd's

 Mepis,Mint and Sidux are well worth trying..Sidux uses the sid .deb 
repos and has a really good forum
and chat irc group..Very easy to install and upgrade and the non-free 
packages are easily available
and will auto-install...Myah is another version of Linux that comes with 
all the facilities built in to
allow you to run anything you want..I feel the drawback with this distro 
that it uses it's own packaging system now instead of the slackware 
packages that ir was based on,saying that the distro writer is easily
available to answer any queries and gives good support on the Myah 
site..Best thing to do is to d/load
 a few distros and play with them to get a feeling for what they do
Hope this helps..
  Regards
    Ted Wager g3tpi
      High Peal UK
        Using Mepis Linux