Other distros?

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excollier
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Re: Other distros?

Post by excollier »

systemd.jpg
JusTertii wrote:Why the hating on systemd?

Doesn't Mint use it?
"You'll never know if you don't know now"

Mint has elements of it, I believe, but not in it's ugly entirity.
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austin.texas
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Re: Other distros?

Post by austin.texas »

I have tried a boatload of different distros.
Knoppix - An unbelievably useful and beautiful live DVD (4.7GB download). Debian Wheezy based. Runs on anything. PAE or non-PAE. 32 bit or 64 bit boot options. LXDE is the default desktop, with GNOME, KDE, Openbox options. Uses 170 MB of ram.
Korora 20 - based on Fedora 20. I installed this on a new desktop I built recently, using the Cinnamon DE. They formerly had some glitches with Cinnamon, but those are apparently fixed now. The yum package management is probably better in some ways than aptitude. The installation program used to be very nice, but they have "fixed" it. I am not impressed.
MacPup - mentioned above. Really cool!
PCLinuxOS - Already mentioned by tek_heretik, is another great choice. I really like it. It was my standard OS before discovering Linux Mint. "Mylivecd" to create a customised live CD of your OS is a cool feature.
Last edited by austin.texas on Thu Dec 04, 2014 10:22 am, edited 3 times in total.
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excollier
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Re: Other distros?

Post by excollier »

Yeah, I've used MacPup in the past, very nice live distro.
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Bryan88
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Re: Other distros?

Post by Bryan88 »

Another vote for Puppy Linux. It runs fast on my old HP laptop with 380mb ram, I can disable tap-to-click on the touchpad (a dealbreaker for me) and Palemoon doesn't crash when I watch youtube videos.
pht900

Re: Other distros?

Post by pht900 »

Antergos (Arch-based), if you can find where is what.
Knoppix for Live CD only, nice looking, but not much use for me.
WattOS, simple and clean, before they switched to Debian.
Puppy, if you get past install and find suitable distribution. My favorite Pupeee is no longer supported.
AntiX to try plenty of windows managers.
Mint as main work horse.
JusTertii

Re: Other distros?

Post by JusTertii »

I must admit to being quite partial to the version of Puppy linux I downloaded. But, their website's an absolute mess, so I've no idea where to re-download it!

I'm also interested in dipping my toes in the water with something Arch-based. I've heard many things about it, and would like to experiment and form my own view on it. Any good distros for a novice to try?
lgt791

Re: Other distros?

Post by lgt791 »

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Re: Other distros?

Post by austin.texas »

JusTertii wrote:I'm also interested in dipping my toes in the water with something Arch-based. I've heard many things about it, and would like to experiment and form my own view on it. Any good distros for a novice to try?
I have heard good comments about Antergos (Arch-based) (mentioned above by pht900)
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MasonF

Re: Other distros?

Post by MasonF »

All these posts and not a mention of Deepin?

Deepin is a Chinese distro and it has edged out Mint as my favorite Linux distro. Altogether i've tried about 20 distros and of those, my three favorites, in order of preference, are Deepin, Mint, and Elementary. Elementary is slower to bring out new editions. The last time I checked they still hadn't finished their Ubuntu 14.04-based "Freya" edition. I've used "Luna" quite a bit and I liked it. I don't currently have it installed.

When they released Deepin 2014, I liked it immediately. And then gradually over days and weeks it self-destructed until it reached the point of being unusable. I came close to giving up on it altogether, but they released 2014.1 and it fixed the major problems and most of the minor ones too. It was still a work in progress and I expected forthcoming updates to improve things even more -- and they have. I've never used Mac OSX, but I guess Deepin is similar to it. However, I've read that Deepin is significantly better than Mac OSX. Of course, it's all in the eye of the beholder.

I've read comments online from people who object to using an operating system that comes from a country that engages in cyber warfare. I had to laugh at that, since the writer was from the US (as am I). There were also concerns voiced about the Chinese government interfering with Deepin, but I don't see that as a practical issue. If someone wants to hack an OS to steal data, then it would make sense to hack into the OSs that dominate the market. And that wouldn't be any distro of Linux. I don't use a computer for business, so I have no sensitive business data that might be at risk. I may be naive, but I really don't take that threat seriously for someone who is one of a small number of English language users.

Mint is a great OS and it's my second favorite. I'm running it on one of my computers and I use it every day.

Elementary OS seems to be half way between Mint and Deepin. The desktop looks superficially similar to Deepin's, but I like Deepin's features better. One of the things I like best about Deepin is the way one does updates. Click on what they call the Deepin "Store" (stupid name). Then, a couple of steps has Deepin checking for the fastest mirror for each individual user. When that mirror is identified, one clicks "OK" and Deepin uses that mirror to download all updates. This feature could be improved by reducing the number of mouse clicks necessary, but it only takes a couple of seconds to do the clicking so it's no big deal.

I downloaded and installed the beta of Elementary's next scheduled edition, "Freya," and used it for a few weeks, but I didn't see any major changes or improvements over "Luna." When they release the final version of Freya, I'll probably install it on one of my computers just to try it out. However, I doubt it will persuade me to change from Deepin and Mint.

Other distros. I used Ubuntu (both 12.04 and 14.04) for awhile, but, while I don't hate it, I don't prefer the Unity desktop.Ubuntu is like Windows 8.1 for me -- if it were my only OS, I could live with it, even happily, but there are better alternatives for me. Compared with Ubuntu, both Mint and Deepin have run better on my computers.

I didn't get around to trying Pear until it had ceased to exist as a viable OS. I haven't checked its status recently, but last year a "major tech firm" that wanted to remain anonymous, bought Pear and "disappeared" it. There was speculation about who that firm was and what its plans were, but so far, I've heard nothing new. When I search for it now, all the links are dated in the first half of 2014. Pear was supposed to be the Linux version of Mac OSX. Unfortunately, Pear disappeared before Shellshock (Bash Bug) was discovered. That means that no fix was issued for Pear and it is vulnerable. I'm sure that tech saavy individuals could probably fix that, but one has to ask, "Is it worth it, given that Pear has apparently had its last update?" As other distros improve, Pear will remain static, with users limited to whatever downloads they can find of the last Pear releases. Naturally, one company that was suspected of disappearing Pear was Apple. Others doubted Apple would bother to buy it to kill it, since they seem to enjoy suing other companies so much. Killing your competition by buying it is a tried-and-true practice in the computer industry.

After looking at twenty or so distros, I'd say, if you haven't tried Deepin, take a look at it. The Chinese did a very nice job on it. And after an unbelievably rocky start last year, they really seem to have gotten it working smoothly. One of the supposedly customizable features in Deepin is the icon set for the "Dock." For months I tried to change the icon set, but it never worked. I sent a query to Deepin many months ago and they said the icons weren't changeable yet. Two days ago, or so, I noticed that the icons in my dock changed after an update. It seems I had left a set other than the default set selected, and finally, after all these months, the Deepin team got the other sets working, and after the update, my dock icons changed to the set I had selected last July. Better late than never.

Note: one of the reasons for my preference for Deepin over Mint is that Deepin runs better on my computers than Mint does -- especially Cinnamon, which I could never get to work on my newest computer. I look at Deepin and Mint as two approaches to a computer desktop and both do their approach very well. It's just a matter of personal taste which one any individual will prefer.
wywer

Re: Other distros?

Post by wywer »

all41 wrote:This is like a golfer on a dream vacation in Florida--play everything you can.
When it's all over and you are back in your nest, you will return to your favorite local course.
This truly sums up a distro' hopper's final resting place!Even for a guy like me who loves debian,especially LMDE,i found that the nearest to "best" is the LM LTS,i've chosen-Rebecca MATE 64 bit,as of now!Distro' hopping is like addiction,yet sunconsciously even the addict is longing for a "comfort zone".MX-14 Symbiosis was nice,but frankly,the helpsite was a hangout for Sadists and Masochists and since i am neither,i moved on! Now, 3 hours back tutan_kbron has reported a"bug"(??) in https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/1408083
You can read my comment on it there.Before one passes judgement on any distro',the plus points and minuses apart,the help forum should be also considered as an"inclusive"!I must have hopped 8-10 distro's (lost count,almost),the distro' dedicated helpsite of LM (not including general Linux help sites like linux.org,etc),is as of now has good "talented and helpful" knowledge pool.The goal of a helpsite should ideally be"the buck stops here",meaning the new entrant& the veteran alike need not go hunting for answers elsewhere,again ideally!.Yet,ideals continue to remain-unattainable :| !Peace.
regards-Wywerjet
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