Looking for my ultimate distro

[mengle]

Now that I've tried a few linux distros and been an avid linux user for over a year, I'm trying to find my ultimate distro. Here's what I'm looking for:

1) Easy to install. Nice simple gui installer that works well and detects hardware well
2) Easy to configure. I spent enough time screwing around with config files in gentoo and I've had enough of it. Nice gui for configs please.
3) Fairly cutting edge. No 2.4 kernels please.
4) Good package management. Most important for me is being able to have multiple versions of the same program or file installed. Gentoo does this. Are their other distros that have this? AFAIK this eliminates all debian- and rpm-based distros. However compilig from source code seemed to be fairly unnecessary.
5) Things just work. Tweaking things is fine but can get a little excessive. I'd like a distro that just works without too much hassle.

Less important:
6) Not too many packages installed with basic installation. Mandrake comes to mind here. How many web browsers do I need? 7? I don't think so?
7) Free. Although if a distro is good I always send in some $. If it's really good I'd be willing to pay upfront.

I'd love to hear that this distro-of-my-dreams exists but if it does I haven't heard of it.

Any ideas?

[moojuece]

slackware

1. can we count curses as gui? it sort of is

2. after i set it up i dont think i touched the configs, there is some functionallity for this in pkgtools

3. has the 2.6 kernel on disk 2

4. pkgtools has done everything for me that i have needed as far as package managment. have had multiple version of same app installed at once.

5. just works for me after install....has worked every time, never a problem

6. all you need is the one disk, if you want gnome or kde you will need the second, very little redundancy in applications

7. is freely downloadable, although you can but a 4 disk set with extras or get a subscrpition, or just d/l all 4 cds from any mirror

[seldomseen]

I've used the Redhat line -- broke in on 9.0, did most of my work on Fedora Core 1 -- and fiddled around with a handful of live CDs and other distros.

Right now my distro of choice is SimplyMepis, which I installed on the hard drive a few days ago. It just works, and I think it would answer most of your questions (except #4 on keeping different versions of a program -- Mepis is Debian-based). Comes with kernel 2.4 and 2.6, select the one you want from GRUB.

I find SimplyMepis a good solid middle-of-the-road distro, and about the only tweaking I've had to do to get things running was to go into the master boot record to add Windows 98 (I keep that around for experimental purposes and maybe boot it up once a month).

This won't be my be-all end-all distro, as I'm probably heading in a Slack direction. One live distro I've worked with and really enjoy using is Slax, which is based on you-know-what. Feel I have a bit to learn still before I make that quantum leap. But SimplyMepis is a good landing spot for now.

[mrBen]

Your dream distro does not exist, and I'll tell you why:

If you eliminate all Debian and RPM based distributions, you are pretty much left with Slackware and Gentoo. Neither of these provide graphical setup tools.


Slackware _is_ a reasonable choice - but you will have to deal with config files. And if you want to use their package management, then I think you will fail on point #4 again.

Alternatively, if you can bear the bind of package management, then you might want to look at the new wave of Debian-based distros, in particular Mepis and Ubuntu, both of which are 'cutting edge'. I've only used Ubuntu, and found it to be very up-to-date, with a simple install, and lots of graphical tools to keep you happy.

[leonpmu]

I know it is an RPM based distro but I would say SuSE is what you are looking for.

Although as stated before if you don't want an RPM based distro you are pretty much stuck....

[rbrimhall]

I second Ubuntu... and I think you can get around having more than one version of a package installed by learning about the different configuration options of apt (like pinning for instance). Ubuntu is very up-to-date as mr. Ben has said and I actually prefer it to Mepis b/c Ubuntu maintains it's own debian apt repos rather than using actual debian repos... Mepis didn't do this and I would often encounter problems when trying to install software not included with Mepis...

Slackware may be good for you as well and you can always install the gnome-system-tools to keep you happy with gui editing of config files (these tools are what Ubuntu uses)...

But I also believe that there is no perfect distro out there for anyone... all of them (that I have used) still have some minor annoyance or the other... it's a matter of finding a distro that has less annoyances than others you have tried;)

[mengle]

Thanks for the responses all.

For the record I currently I have been using MEPIS for about the last month and have really enjoyed how litttle tweaking I've had to do. However, the lack of being able to have multiple versinos of the same package installed has been driving me crazy and making me feel like I'm in RPM-hell again (No offense to you RPM users; just not my thing).

I've orderd some copies of Ubuntu to try out (thanks for the sugeestions).

I think MrBen told me what I wanted to hear though. That is, what I really want doesn't appear to exist.

However, I recently stumbld across VidaLinux. A gentoo-based distro with nice guis for config and installation. I'm not excited about compiling from source code again but I could live with it (I did for the last year).

Does anyone have any experience with VidaLinux 1.0? I've read reviews of the beta version which stated that there were a lot of bugs but no reviews of their first stable version.

Thanks all.

[mrBen]

Another 2 you might like to check out are Sorceror (http://sorcerer.wox.org/) Linux (although I don't know if it is still updated) and Arch (http://www.archlinux.org/) which is getting a bit of press at the moment.

Arch has its own package system, but I don't know how well it fits in with your other criteria.

Last, but not least, Yoper (http://www.yoper.com) may be worth a look - it (apparently) uses some of the Slackware package tools, but is supposed to be fast, and has graphical tools and the like.

[Loki3]

Maybe give vidalinux (http://desktop.vidalinux.com/) a try. Basicly a stage three gentoo install using anaconda(which is what Red Hat uses for handling installation).

[pickarooney]

I'd like speed and supportedness above all. Nothing worse than finding a distro that suits you which dies out after a few months I'd say.

As it is, I'm stuck in a vicious circle of

a) get a faster, compiled distro to get the most out of my config
b) update some hardware, so the heavier, easier distro will run smoother and the hardware itself will be properly supported
c) get a whole new system and install a fast, compiled, compatible distro

:)

[bosox79]

Originally posted by Loki3
Maybe give vidalinux (http://desktop.vidalinux.com/) a try. Basicly a stage three gentoo install using anaconda(which is what Red Hat uses for handling installation).

I would have to through my vote in here for vida also. I got my gentoo system up and going using one of the beta 2 ISO's. So I have not had a chance to play with the 1.0 release. but the Anaconda installer makes it a little less painful if you totally bork your system I can complete a basic install in about an hour. I had to reinstall a few times when I first started exploring and using gentoo.

HTH

[eskiled]

linux from scratch?

[fatTrav]

Originally posted by mengle
Now that I've tried a few linux distros and been an avid linux user for over a year, I'm trying to find my ultimate distro. Here's what I'm looking for:

1) Easy to install. Nice simple gui installer that works well and detects hardware well
2) Easy to configure. I spent enough time screwing around with config files in gentoo and I've had enough of it. Nice gui for configs please.
3) Fairly cutting edge. No 2.4 kernels please.
4) Good package management. Most important for me is being able to have multiple versions of the same program or file installed. Gentoo does this. Are their other distros that have this? AFAIK this eliminates all debian- and rpm-based distros. However compilig from source code seemed to be fairly unnecessary.
5) Things just work. Tweaking things is fine but can get a little excessive. I'd like a distro that just works without too much hassle.

Less important:
6) Not too many packages installed with basic installation. Mandrake comes to mind here. How many web browsers do I need? 7? I don't think so?
7) Free. Although if a distro is good I always send in some $. If it's really good I'd be willing to pay upfront.

I'd love to hear that this distro-of-my-dreams exists but if it does I haven't heard of it.

Any ideas?

You want Apple's OS X. You won't find a linux distro that meets everything you want, so hop over to http://www.apple.com/macosx/ and check out OS X.

[mengle]

OS X sounds intriuging but I just don't have the $ and I don't really like being forced into specific hardware (although I do own a Playstation 2 and I guess that's not really any different). I can't even afford to replace/upgrade my 4 year old PC. So maybe once I turn my dissertation in and start making decent money again I could certinaly think about it. Until then I continue my questions for the golden distro. ;)

[Loki3]

If you're currently a student look into Apple's student discount, I was able to get close to a 20% discount on my iBook G4. It was the deciding factor in choosing between PPC and x86 laptops, at least for me.

[fatTrav]

Originally posted by Loki3
If you're currently a student look into Apple's student discount, I was able to get clost to a 20% discount on my iBook G4. It was the deciding factor in choosing between PPC and x86 laptops.

agreed. their ADC program is GREAT. 20% off a one-time hardware purchase, tshirt, monthly upgrades, and os x upgrades while you are in the program. not a bad deal if you can afford it. only catch is that for the ADC program you must have at least 2 computer science classes taken.