Why are you using the distro you are using?

[happybunny]

I have been reading through a lot of the "which distro should I use" threads, and thought maybe if I asked the question differently I could get a different answer.

So my different question is:

"why did you pick the distro you picked?"

Don't respond with why I should use it, but why you found that distro to work for you.

thanks
happybunny

FYI: we chose RH ES at work for all around support--RH, HP, and Oracle
I use FC1/FC2 on desktops since it is so similar to how our servers at work, work.
I am still looking for the 1 killer distro to end all distro's for home...thus this post.

[DSwain]

Gentoo right now. Lets see... well, in my case I started it because I had a friend who recomended it, and he always would be picking out certain things like when I had some problem, like dependancy hell, he'd always say something like "Portage does that for me..." or something to that extent. Eventually, with his help, the install docs, and three install attempts, I finally got it going correctly. Why I keep using it? Well, personally I like the installation. Very time consuming, but very fun. Portage is the lazy man's package manager which is good on my part. The make.conf file is also very fun (throw down some mean CFLAGs and good USE flags) and it flies. Finally, for a source distro, it's pretty easy to use I find personally. Adding things to startup is not very difficult at all.

Someday I would love to do LFS, but for now, Gentoo is my DOC (Distro-of-Choice)

[StarKnight83]

Well, I run mandrake linux (9.1) on my main desktop cause 1 its the distro i started out on it recognized all my hardware off hand and its easy of use-my younger brother can use it w/o a prob.

My laptop is running Yellowdog linux for its easy of use; exelent default config; and it was made especially for my hardware (its an ppc distro)

and i tried gentoo; love the compile everything bit and the depth u learn about whats what the package manager is the best ive used but i went back to yellowdog when i couldnt get some of the X config and keyboard stuff the way it used to be.

And my .02 personally i dont think that there is that "killer" distro they all have their nitches and their quarks its all a matter of choice and preference and what you want to do with your system

[Wolfger]

I switched from Mandrake to Gentoo because I was tired of Dependancy Hell.
I love keeping my system stable *and* up-to-date with Gentoo's portage system. It's relatively painless.

Also, installing Gentoo made me more familiar with Linux from a "nuts and bolts" perspective. With Mandrake, I let the distro decide what my kernel needed to look like, because I was terrified of the prospect of configuring and compiling a kernel. Now I look at rolling a kernel as a somewhat enjoyable process. ;)

[Bryon Speede]

I use Debian unstable. Although it was a nightmare to set up initially I like the distro for everyday use. I find that after removing all traces of gnome and kde that the system is pretty speedy, much faster than RH. (I have a dual boot FC1 and Debian system to try out both distros. Debian won.) I like the apt-get package management system for it's dependency checking capability.

[Bowtie]

I guess I am kinda bass ackwards when it comes to the way I'm learning things about linux. I started off with RH (doesn't most everyone?? LOL) and went to Mandrake and then Suse. I still use Mandrake from time to time if I want a simple install with a trouble free hardware setup. However, ever since I've started using Suse, I like it more and more as the newer versions come out. To me the tools are easy to use (Yast2 for example) and the documentation can't be matched by anyone else. I don't have a problem paying for my distro as long as it works well and doesn't skimp on the extra software. Just my .02.

[Vectorman]

Lets see. I started with Redhat 7.1. After screwing around with it for several weeks I went back to windows. Then attempted to convert again with Mandrake 7.2 and it worked preaty good. unfortunatly there were some inconsistancies. like the USB devices didn't work. So it was back to Windows.

After another year or so I heard that SUSE 8.1 Pro had USB support. So I attempted the Switch again. and it worked great except for the One overriding factor for a Permanant switch from windows. My Wife didn't like it. Hates Linux actually. so back to windows for me.

Now I have kinda made a compromise with her. I have linux on the File/FTP Server (SuSE 8.2 now but looking at trying Mandrake 10.0 Official (I love the KDE thats ingrained with it or SUSE 9.1 both of these will allow me to burn DVD disks. (I know I can install DVDtools and get it to work, but I'm lazy on that score.)

Distro's that I've tried on my server.

SUSE 8.1, and 8.2, (Love each of these)
Mandrake 7.2, and 10.0 Community (10.0 was REEEEAAAAALLLLLYYY Slow)
Redhat 7.2, 9.0 (Liked 9.1 cause of the GUI admin stuff. but it was slower then SUSE and the graphics were lots worse)
Debian Stabel (didn't like the SETUP)
Xandros 2.0 Delux (doesn't support RAID but love the ease of use for a newbie it's great and it's configured to share with windows right from the box)

That will make the wife happy. cause I have a computer with windows on it. And as soon as I find a good Easy to use Program like DVD SHRINK for windows I will kiss windows good buy on that computer as well.


Joel

[gehidore]

i started with tomsrtbt then went to dedhat 6.2(still have the original disk) but after RH9 i went to caldera then slack. i am now stuck on gentoo, for me it has been the best distro i've tried.

but untill i get my new drives im going to hit slack again as im not waiting 8 days for my install to complete just to reinstall it again the next day on the new drives...

but personally i recomend debian slackware gentoo archlinux or BSD to any experienced linux user.

[Fryguy8]

I'm back to using debian (my first distro), after using lfs and gentoo for a while.

Debian, IMO does everything that gentoo did for me, except my system seems a lot more stable. And debian has more packages in it's database than gentoo did. No searching around for stuff, it's all right in apt.

[XavierP]

Slackware - just 'cos I like it and it does what it's supposed to with little fuss (should be a slogan: "Slackware - not as hard as you first thought!" ;))

Mandy 10 - because it's quick, easy and my g/f finds PowerManga works well and is fast enough for her.

2 excellent reasons in my opinion :D

[nabetse]

I also chose Gentoo because of Portage. I started out with Redhat then moved to Slackware for the extra configurability. I liked Slackware for the most part, but I couldnt stand the lack of a good package management system. Next, I Tried BSD after hearing about the Ports collection. I couldnt get it to work, unfortunately. Then I heard about Gentoo and Portage. I switched to it and have been using it since.

[happybunny]

so far it seems to be most people are basing their decision on how easy it is to update the distro than anything else....i find that odd.

[Loki3]

Originally posted by happybunny
so far it seems to be most people are basing their decision on how easy it is to update the distro than anything else....i find that odd.

You must of never tried to update a package on a RPM-based distro before. Eww.

Let's see:

Gentoo - I like portage. I like emerge. It's great for all the many reasons people have already stated. It's nice to only install applications and libraries that you use instead of a whole bunch of default stuff. Gentoo let's you have the control. It's bleeding-edge and the level of software optimization for Gentoo is insane. The community at the gentoo-forums turns out special hi-po kernel patchsets at an insane rate. They're already trying to compile stuff with gcc 3.5.

Mandrake 10.0 - A running, easy to use, simple, nice looking system in under 20 minutes. Great for the non-geek people of the household. Does everything windows can do but oh so much better with oh such much less effort than something like Gentoo.

[micro]

I like Slackware because of its more "unix" philosophy, meaning that there is not much of the distro (except packaging and some helpful scripts) interfearing with the rest of the system.
-------------------------------------------------------
Configuration - Setup:
At first it is hard to get things like mouse wheel, printer or X to work, but once you find the solutions and backup your "updated" configuration files it works for ever.

In general, Slackware is less complicated, if you get accustomed to a Unix configuration philosophy.
If not, you will find it more complicated because the graphical wizards do not exist.

Among all friendly distros, my scanner (HP Scanjet 3300) was recognized only in Mandrake 9.1 and up.

In Slackware I had to get latest SANE sources, patch them compile them, unload the SANE package that comes with Slackware and install the newly compiled.
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Packaging system:
Slackware packaging system seems a little primitive compared to others, but only in Slackware I managed to update the kde to the latest 3.2.0 without pain. Just from curiosity I tried to do the same with rpm based distros (Mandrake) or deb based (Debian etc.) ones and even with "force" or "update" parameters.

I do not mean compilation, I mean precompiled packages suitable for the relevant distros.
------------------------------------------------------
Now for the kernel:
Slackware kernel and Linus's Kernel are the same, while kernels from other distros are patched and not the same anymore. I admit that this additional work helps in multimedia and compatibility issues, but because I like to compile and install, this issue has created some difficulties.
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Administration:
Slackware init scripts are the simplest to understand of all other distros I've seen. They resemble more the init scripts from BSD than the ones from SystemV. They are files inside a directory and not directories (or links to other directories) containing other files.

Even the user creation (the manual one) is simpler in Slackware.
Try to create a user in a "friendly" distro and you will see that:
1) The user may not have the same capabilities as the ones created from the distro tools (Mepis Linux is an example)

2) if you haven't guessed right about user's additional groups, sound - or other - system capabilities may be inaccessible, so you may need to remodify the user's attributes.

These are not major drawbacks of course, but they can generate some nuisance to someone used to a more manual control of the system.
---------------------------------------------------

The simplicity of Slackware didn't stop me from updating the system. In fact it has helped me to do so.

Go to my home page and see:
Linux-UseMe- Desktop > all the apps I run
Linux-PlayMe > all the games I play.

If I need a new package, I get the source and compile it.
If I need an updated package, I remove the existing one, get the new one's source, compile and install it.

Slackware is my favorite distro, and even when I try other distros (the more friendly ones) in separate partitions, Slackware is the one I do my real work.

[o0zi]

I use Feather, for several reasons.
First of all, I created it, so I have utter control over what I do with it - I know how everything works, and that's the way I prefer it to be.
Secondly, it seems to run very quickly on my old 233Mhz machine, and the desktop environment suits my needs very well.

The lesson here is: if you want a distro perfect for you, make one yourself ;)

[bsm2001]

because it is better than winblows.

[saturn-vk]

I use slackware because I started with it, and I don't like to format and change. It also does exactly what I want it to do.

[nuttron]

Slackware because of it's simplicity ... started with mdk 8.2....learned a bit of command line there along with red hat 7.2 , good documentation for both with the boxed versions i got then..tried a lot of other distros....favorite was slack.....not a power user though....currently -slack9.0

[X_console]

Gentoo. I bought an iBook and wanted a Linux distro I could tweak and one that would be fast for my machine, so I selected Gentoo. The others just weren't to my liking. I would've taken Slack but they don't have one for PPC.

[canon006]

Mandrake, it was my first, I've tried others (Suse, Slackware, Gentoo, Vector, Mepis...) but I always come back to Mandrake. It lets me get my hands dirty when I want and it lets me get my work done when I need to. And it's easy enough that I find my 11 year old little sister using it from time to time to play various games (Pingus, Frozen Bubble, Rocks and Diamonds).

[twilli227]

Started with RH 7.3 -> 8 -> 9. Been running 9 for awhile now. Alot of people put it down, but guess what, it just works for me. I will be moving to slack shortly. Been messing around with slax at work, sure beats those windows boxes. Have been trying freebsd(still can't get my generic mouse to work properly) and am working on setting up an openbsd firewall box.

[blackhawk714]

Most definitely gentoo is the distro to end all distros. I switched to it becuase of ridiculous dependancy hell. It is fast as all can be running gnome or kde. Mine goes even faster running fluxbox. Great distro. Portage rules! :D ;)

[Enlighted One]

I started with Red Hat 9 becuase that's what my friend gave to me than I upgraded to Fedora becuase that's what a friend gave to me, and than I switched to suse becuase, guess what, that's what a friend gave to me. An now I am on mandrake becuase that's what I got in a magazine. But I am getting a broadband internet connection soon(finally) so I plan to download and attempt to install gentoo. I always have to have the newest and best so I hear that would be a really great distro for me.

[VolcomPimp]

Recently my opinion on whether or not I could
solely use linux has been changing rapidly
and so has my view on many distros...
As for distros, I started out w/ RH some years back
and played around w/ a few distros like mandrake
but this was back in the days where many of the
tools used to make tasks in linux easier didn't
work. I remember trying to install rpm's through
gui and it just didn't work.... no error messages
or anything... lots of things seemed to crash a lot.
I knew some of the basic CLI commands from back
in the dos days (back when I was in elementary.. somewhere b4 5th grade) and quickly picked up
some stuff like 3 step installs and messing around
w/ stuff even if I didn't really understand exactly
how the system worked. I moved around to mandrake and a few other distros like one of the lycoris beta's, which a lot of them didn't work well.
Once I knew enough, I moved to slack and learned as much as I could until I started to try and use it soley for a while though I still dual booted. pkgtool really hooked my on slackware
because I liked the way I could easilly add
and remove packages in console or term, but
when it came to creating custom packs I ran into
a problem... I went by various docs I found online
but creating packs was always just a big hassle.
I finally ran into gentoo and decided to install
from stage 1 and learned a lot by doing the
entire install from console, and learned
to deal w/ runlevels and services. The way
gentoo has everything setup was real easy
to pickup. I started using gentoo pretty much
full time, but many problems I had I was
able to fix pretty quickly on their forums
or just searching around. w/ previous distros
I always found myself going back to windows
because I'd get stuck on something.
For a while I went back 2 windows cause I didn't
feel like dealing w/ some stuff w/ gentoo for a
little while and I was really into NFSU which
I hadnt gotten working on linux yet cause of my
firewire not being setup.
Recently I went back to slack just on my laptop
and used swaret for the first time but I was really
unhappy w/ swaret and the distro in general.
I finally tried out apt through a debian style
knoppix install but about a half hour after
installing it I formatted the partition and
installed debian from debootstrap...
I've been really w/ debian so far and even
installed it on my main box while accidently
removing my winxp partition (which I was planning
on reinstalling, but at the moment I have no
need to). Yesterday I finally got my firewire hd
working and a few other things which have
bugged me for the longest time so I plan
on reinstalling gentoo on a reiser4 partition
w/ my drive which I used for XP.

So Im going to have 2 say my 2 favorite distros
are debian and gentoo... I like gentoo because
of the way everything is setup, portage, and
because it's source based. I like debian because
it's the best binary distro I've used, I love aptitude (I think if gentoo had an aptitude clone
it'd be perfect), it's fast to install, and because
I like some of it's micromanagement tools like
kernel-package.

I've been considering trying out some rpm
distro's again to see what they're like knowing
what I know now, and to see how they've
improved. Ive asked around to see if they have
anything to offer other than ease of use
for newbies but even expierienced users won't
give me a good responce leading me to believe
that there isnt one.

[GigaShadow]

Seems to me that I am the odd man out...I use Source Mage and have enjoyed it from day one. Always up to date, no dependency problems...runs fast (compared to Mandrake 9.1 that I ran and Slack 9.0, and Mepis..though, I am about to reinstall Slack...). In all, works for me....just feel like the "Lone Ranger" sometimes!! :D



G:cool:

[ehawk]

This is the only distribution that I can find in google searches that had a driver for my wireless card (proxim harmony) with a source rpm guaranteed to work for it. I have since seen that a tar.gz file exits for it which would require about the same amount of effort to install. Had I known this earlier, I would have stuck with either MEPIS or knoppix.

[soda_popstar]

There is no distro "to end all distros". If there were, the others would all be defunct. ;)

To be honest, I think that the best distro would be a binary-oriented Gentoo (with the option for source-compilation) with YaST2 and other automagic configuration tools.

[carrja99]

Why did I pick the distro I use?

Because I like it.

[MkIII_Supra]

I started with Mandrake 6.5 then 7.0 then 7.1 (I think this was it....) after that Mandrake started to remind me of Windows in that it was just as un-reliable. So enter Libranet, I used it for a while but couldn't seem to get the system setup the way I wanted it. So I moved to SuSE 8.0 Personal, didn't like it so I went to SuSE 8.1 Pro, then to SuSE 9.0 Pro and now I have SuSE 9.1 Pro as well.

Why have I stayed with SuSE? Because all the software I need is there and works, very little doesn't. My hardware is supported and works, very well. The tools are easy to use. And out of all the RPM based systems it's the most stable. I have actually tried many of the distros, and always came back to SuSE.

I have a total of 6 systems that I own:

1 - Coyote Linux router / firewall
2 - SuSE 9.0 Pro desktop (The one that is posting this now...)
3 - SuSE 9.0 File / Print server.
4 - SuSE 9.1 Test system (using it to try and resolve a networking issue)
5 - Windows 2000 Pro (need this for the VPN at work, can't seem to get VPN to work with SuSE 9.0 or 9.1)
6 - SuSE 9.1 Pro on my dual boot Toshiba Satellite A15-S129 laptop.

[camorri]

I'm a Mandrake user, current version is 9.2. Why? About a year ago I was working at a small non proffit training company teaching hardware and software skills to people who had fallen through the cracks. Most were unemployed or under employed. We tried several distros on a wide variety of machines and hardware. Most of the equipment was older and donated. At the point in the course where we taught Linux, the students had installed an configured Win 98 and W2k.

We found in order not to scare the pants off them, Mandrake would install, give them some success and knowledge, and on we went.

It took me a while, about six months to get my current system running with all my hardware. That includes a flat bed scanner on a parallel port, a camera on USB, and printers. I have a home network, with a router. Mdk just works. Took some time to get Samba working with four other windoze machines, including network crippled XP home edition.

I will stick with what I have until there is some compelling reason to change.