[Sussex] What distro?

[John D.]

Paul Howard wrote:

> I have been happily using Linspire as my distro of choice for about a 
> year  and a half
> now but feel its time for a change.
>
> Now before everyone starts kicking Linspire, I know all the problems 
> and  all the usual
> moans about it but it's still a damn good distro. The trouble is a lot 
> of  the apps are
> getting way out of date from their CNR (click and run) wharehouse and 
> I  want a distro
> that I can install any app I want onto rather than just the ones that 
> they  have had time
> to update.
>
> I tried a recent (3.8) I think it was version of Knoppix but it 
> didn't  work well with my
> hardware (Dell laptop) and the last time I tried Mandriva I wasn't 
> that  impressed.
>
> So the question is - what distro to try next. I have always preffered  
> Debian based
> distros so far but would be willing to try an RPM based one.
>
> One thing it must handle well though is wireless networking. Linspire 
> does  this
> wonderfully and detetcs and uses my laptops built in wifi perfectly.
>
> I have got a copy of Xandros Business edition 3 to try out but haven't 
> had  time to
> fiddle with it yet.  Is it any good?
>
> Any suggestions?


Paul,

I'm gonna say that it entirely depends on your knowledge levels (nearly 
everyone on the list know more than me, hence my self proclaimed 
"nugget" status).

That said, I've only had real success debian wise, with derivatives i.e. 
a hard disc install of knoppix. I recently had Mandriva 2005LE, but it 
was annoying me (don't recall why, as I've mainly used mandrake/mandriva 
in the 3 or so years of using linux). I'm currently playing with SuSE 
9.3 which seems to be reasonably successful theres a couple of things I 
having to fight with, but nothing too problematic.

In truth, the distro I've enjoyed the most, has been gentoo. The only 
reason that I've dropped it in the short term, is that because it's 
considered one of the "power" distros, lots of stuff has to be done 
manually. Plus if I want to try and do something new it's like having to 
re-invent the wheel from a learning curve perspective.

The package manager is brilliant, the issue of compile times? well I 
just used to do the emerge overnight when my system wasn't in use so for 
me, it was a non-issue.The apps tend to be very up to date and if yuo 
wanted to try it, the install guide is very good (IMO gentoo docs are 
some of the best ones out there).

I'm just too impatient, and not being a natural "meddler", I usually 
fall into the "I don't care how it works, I just want it to work" bracket!

I've also received 10 Ubuntu discs in the post today. If you want one, 
you're welcome! I hope to get to the moot this month. Oh, that reminds 
me I'd better put my name on the list.

regards

John D.

p.s. if you did go for something debian based you'd get plenty of 
support here on the list, because the debian nuts just keep coming out 
of the woodwork!