Linux Distributions Guide

[-::Mr.Dave::-]

As you may or may not know there are many types of Linux available to users. I am going to list some of the varieties available and there plus's and cons of them.

Ubuntu
Link: http://www.ubuntu.org
Pro's: It is very user friendly and is designed for someone who has never used Linux before
Con's: Lots of programs, Alot of which are useless to a new user and could confuse a newbie

openSUSE
Link: http://www.opensuse.org/
Pro's: Has a nice graphical user interface (GUI), I reccomend the GNOME interface for ease of use. More advanced users can go for the KDE interface or there own personal choice
Con's: Again has some programs that arent as easy to use and the system isnt easy to understand. Better off in a workplace than a home PC

Debian
Link: http://www.debian.org/
Pro's: A very secure linux system kept updated reguarly. Over 17000 programs available for download and many addons and modules
Con's: Better used as a server OS as its very stable and has no security flaws and runs a LAMP server effectively

CentOS
Link: http://www.centos.org/
Pro's: Makes for a very sturdy system. Is the opensource version of Red Hat enterprise linux (RHEL). Is the common choice for webhosting servers
Con's: There are some known security flaws but these are being patched. Available in CentOS 4.3,4.4 and 5.0 or CentOS < 3.

Yellowdog
Link: Not available
Pro's: Some of you may of heard of Yellow Dog Linux. It is the system which the PS3's OS is built upon
Con's: Currently not available for desktop computing.

FreeBSD
Link: http://www.freebsd.org/
Pro's: Again another system based off RHEL. Is fairly stable and runs effectively
Con's: Its a cutting edge operating system therefore contains bugs in some of the software and there OS itself

Fedora Core 4,5,6
Link: http://fedoraproject.org/
Pro's: Runs very effectively, Nice and user friendy, Colourful desktop backgrounds and logon screens. Easy to use and navigate and consumes small amounts of CPU and RAM making it ideal for older systems
Con's: Fedora Core 6 contains a few bugs

Well I hope I have given you an insight into the available Linux distributions. These are just a few that are available and are the most used. I will be adding more as I get more information and test them

Any suggestions just let me know :)

Edited by ---MAD--- (Forum Manager): Thread stuck :).

[Tom H]

That is very good, I personally use CentOS on my other PC :)

Nice one

[-::Mr.Dave::-]

Thanks. I have personal experience as I play around with Linux reguarly on Virtual machines

[Bomb-Head]

Wow, nice guide :)

[DaveTaylor]

Ermm ye openSUSE one, any distro can have a nice GUI as they can choose from GNOME KDE XFCE Enlightenment etc so its kind of not needed

[Jamesy]

you missed out Sabayon :)

[DaveTaylor]

you missed out Sabayon :)
Thats based from GNOME so ye

[Jamesy]

i thought it was based on Gentoo?

[DaveTaylor]

The actual open source code of gentoo i think is abit but it's a GNOME project

[Splinter]

Mandriva - PCLinuxOS are also great distros and are really good when moving from Windows to Linux.

[Jamesy]

ohhh riteo :)
Im hoping to get my old pc down, plug it into my new telly in my room and put sabayon on it, the wobbly windows effects look cool :)

I also run YDL on my ps3 for a while, its Ok, not spectacular, it was my first, and so far, only Linux experience, apart from Pc-BSD on virtualisation.

[Splinter]

PC-BSD is phit.

[-::Mr.Dave::-]

This guide was written from my experience and knowledge with Linux to help the newbie users of linux

[Mr.OSH]

Very nice guide, well done + rep. :D

[I3rap]

A very nice list and good idea to people wanting to start using Linux.

[Sygon..]

Zen, Kubuntu.. Xubuntu

[Lambda]

I'm just going to address the things which bugged me most:

Debian is fine for a desktop, workstation or server, because of the package life cycle. Stable branch, stable system. To be a little more updated with a desktop setup, testing branch. If you want to help fix bugs, there's the unstable branch. Also, its repositories have more software packages than any other distribution with over 18 thousand. A point which is nearly always mentioned in Debian's favor is its package management tool, APT, which makes installing software incredibly easy.

There are security flaws in all the distributions.

Since when the hell was FreeBSD based on RHEL? Besides FreeBSD being older than RHEL, it's BSD, not Linux. One of FreeBSD's problems is that it's not quite as cutting edge. There's less support for it than Linux. In any case, FreeBSD is more stable than Linux and runs about as effectively; hence why it's one of the most popular server operating systems.

[Flisker]

Fedora 7 is out i use it ! =] it has a well nice loader =] add to the list =]. Why am i doing loads of =] i think ive gone =] crazy ahhh! nevermind.

[Johno]

There are lots of distributions, Whenever im looking for a new distro to try out I have a look at this :

http://730x.up.md/wp-content/44218-1.png (http://730x.up.md/wp-content/44218-1.png)

[Stephen]

I just ordered a cd from https://www.linuxiso.co.uk

Lol little trick I learnt.. When ordering from that site, register etc and when it gets to the choose either paypal or card, click paypal then click continue.. Now in the address bar c+p https://www.linuxiso.co.uk/checkout_process.php and then you get an email saying that the cds being delivered to you. Donno if they'll fall for the scam but ill wait and see if I get the cd :P

[Flisker]

@Pikachu: Pmsl.

@Circuitry: You can get any Distro that has KDE (Dont know about GNOME) and download Beryl you can get the "Wobbley window" effect.

[Stephen]

Oh damn don't do what I said actually.. I just got an email from paypal saying I attempted to do paypal fraud LOL

What I did was in the end I bought a copy of linux just incase my trick didn't work.. This is what it said in email:

Dear Steve,


Ed Redfern ([email protected] (http://by111fd.bay111.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?curmbox=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&a=1ed9770498022d28cb74a6d67a05635ee6ec06476cb70a44 777135261262ee38&mailto=1&[email protected]&msg=983AC39B-3CE7-4EE8-B423-DF93446EC321&start=0&len=2344&src=&type=x)) has issued you a full or partial refund
for your payment.

Please do not reply to this email. Email sent to this address cannot be
answered.

Message from Seller:
Paypal Fraud Alert
Your orders have been cancelled.


----------------------------------------------------------------
Original Payment Details
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Date Payment Sent: 29 Jul. 2007

Amount: 3.50 GBP



Sincerely,
PayPal

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will
not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click
the Help link located in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

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[29t88]

I Run Ubuntu On 1 Comp Win Xp And Ubuntu On This One Then i Have My Server Running 1992 Slackware And An Old Prompt Version Of Redhat :D