Switching To Linux
OK, I have decided after months of complaining about it to myself to switch to linux. I am after other peopls opinions on it. And before I get told to google it I already have.
I just want other peoples experiences of the diffrent distributions, such as which one you use, why you like it, how easy and whatever, basically a review.
I have already tried ubuntu and mint, mint was easier to get running but seemed sluggish, while ubuntu was a little akward but fast when it got started, what do you think?
ok, another problem is wireless dongle compatability, I am using an internal belkin wireless card, not sure of the model, how can i find out if it will be compatable with linux?
EDIT: Ok sod it, windows has just crashed again, im installing ubuntu now and i dont care if my card is compatable
EDIT 2: Ok done it, and it is compatable, can anyone PM with a few tips on the finer points of this
I use Ubuntu (because I'm lazy). So if you don't want too much hassle, then Ubuntu or Debian are probably good choices. However, there are some other great distros out there: Fedora (community distro from Red Hat), Mandriva, Arch Linux etc.
I depends on what you require really. Lots of choice though.
ubuntu is a okay distro, great for welcoming beginners to linux. However when you start getting into more complicated stuff you sometimes want a distro that doesnt treat you like kid (feels that way to me, anyways). Unfortunately for me, the setup I have on my main system is ubuntu, and im reluctant to take it off because of the work it would take to get back to the nice setup its at right now :/
However, I have used other distros on my other machines. My opinion:
debian = good stability for servers, or if you like ubuntu but want a step up ubuntu = great for beginners, not so much for everyone else slackware = very unix like, however its out of date and package management system is terrible fedora = didnt have much experience with, got annoyed at poor resolution support, however the irc community was really supportive. DSL = great for usb sticks and such, would not recommend as a harddrive distro Feather linux = my first experience with linux, designed to be rescue CD, and thats about all its good for gentoo = great distro, however compiling takes forever, and speed bonus isnt all that much, but great community and package manager, not to mention all around support for almost every window manager and desktop environment
Of course theres gonna be people who differ on my opinion, so thats just my view of things :)
Before you make a full switch to any Linux distribution, I recommend that you download a few distributions and try them in virtual box(http://www.virtualbox.org/). This will give you some familiarity with the installation process and if you make a mistake it won't matter to much. This also gives you the ability to compare several distributions and other things(such as gnome vs KDE vs XFCE). The distribution that you choose will also vary depending on what you plan on doing, for example Fedora has a build for hardware and electronic development(http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/FedoraElectronicLab). Choosing a distribution is a choice that can only come from experimentation. http://distrowatch.com/ can help you find a distribution that fits what you are looking for however, that doesn't mean something else won't work better.
Download. Try. Repeat.
EDIT:damn smiles…
Ubuntu's a good distro.. Backtrack IS ubuntu 8.10 with KDE3(why not 4? idk, :p) Ubuntu's good and has a strong community willing to help you. Great wireless support etc. Fedora is also really good but i can't stand there package manager (key reason i switched to Arch). But both ubuntu and fedora have strong forums for help etc good start, then move on to something else…ev1 does.
usr_name wrote: [quote]p4plus2 wrote: Choosing a distribution is a choice that can only come from experimentation.
this is very true. well said
S1L3NTKn1GhT wrote: Backtrack IS ubuntu 8.10 with KDE3(why not 4? idk, :p)
isn't backtrack based on slackware?[/quote]
Not since the latest one, they switched to debian (according to wikipedia)
They did indeed switch BT4 to Ubuntu (from slax) because Ubuntu is more regularly updated and has much wider support.
As for what to start with, the idea of virtualizing it is great as it lets you play with it in a stable environment and you dont have to do anything to your harddrive. Another option is to use a LiveCD (which BT4 is.) In this case, you just burn the .iso to a disk, pop it in a computer and reboot. Any changes you make will disappear after you reboot.
If you do go with the virtual route, I would suggest using VMWare over virtual box.
Speaking of OS's would it be viable to run a server from a computer that i dont shut down often from a fedora virtualbox? Just curious.
As far as choosing one, i agree with getting the virtualbox thing. Get a couple, try , and if you don't like it, switch. If you like it, don't. Then you will find the right linux for you.
Running the server inside a vm is actually a great idea, assuming you have the horse power to back it up. My internal wiki runs like that (for other reasons.) If the service is compromised and they gain access to the box they'll have to break out of the vm to do any damage to the rest of that machine. While it's not un-doable, it is an extra layer. Defense In-Depth.
Tbh there isn't too much difference, do you like gnome or kde? not sure? get kde. it wont kill you to run any distro but if you're not happy change.
my advice? Make a partition and just install linux on it use it for a week try a ne wone, once you decide what you like split it into two, roughly 5-10gb ( for /) and the lions share for /home which you don't have to format each time you deice to reinstall ( this is happily semi perminate)
it's like carrying your my documents and settings folder on windows.
if your settings are getting messed up you can try making a new user when you install the new system it'll set up a default "skel" home dir, copy it's files in your /home (fixxing some settings appropriate to the system (make sure you keep what you want safe) then change id/gid of the files to your old one. otherwise you wont own your own files :) do that like so:
chown USERNAME:GROUP(USERNAME here too suauly) /home/USERNAME -R
like chown wolfmankurd:wolfmankurd /home/wolfmankurd -R
I recently switched to linux as well, i would say about a year now. Start off with one of the major distros, either Fedora, Ubuntu, or Debian. The install is really easy, it will take some time getting use to the different interface, coming from windows. One thing is always ask questions (or google) :-)
For the record, i run Mint now and LOVE IT
-HT
Compromise wrote: [quote]Hackthis59 wrote: For the record, i run Mint now and LOVE IT
I'd say Mint is more of a "starter" distribution than Debian (and to a lesser extent, Fedora). To each his own I guess.
So, why do you like Mint? Any specific reason(s) you LOVE IT?[/quote]
I guess it really is a starter one as well, but i like it because its easy to get around in an it runs smoothly on my lap top. As far as any technical reasons why i LOVE IT, nope dont have any ^^
And I think that fedora and Debian (maybe not so much Debain) are very good for starters.
Mandriva was my first distribution, but really more just because that's what i came across first. In the end, I don't think it's really going to matter between the ones listed in this thread. There isn't that much difference between them that picking the wrong one won't ruin you (and yes, I'm including Ubuntu in that.)
Rather than sitting around here asking for opinions, go pick one and put it in a vm. Try it out. If you find things you don't like, come back and post specific questions about those and we can either help you solve the problem or point you to a distribution more in tune with your needs.
~samurai
Compromise wrote: [quote]wolfmankurd wrote: what do you use xfce? It's getting more popular but something tells me not to reccomend it, cause I've never used it.
xfce is even worse than GNOME and KDE combined. I'm currently using fluxbox, but I'm going to switch to openbox for the interactive scripting in the menu's.[/quote]
Ah fluxbox! I was racking my memory for that one I couldn't remember for the life of me. I used to fluxbox back when I used fbsd, I'd reccomend it if you want a nice clean interface, but that was a quiet few years ago I'm not sure if the projects changed direction since.
I used to use Ubuntu for some time, until my old laptop got stolen, and now I dual-boot XP and Fedora Core 12 on my new Asus K50IJ (a pretty powerful laptop in the budget range, it chewed through Left 4 Dead like it was a bag of chips, I used XP since there was no OS supplied with the laptop)
The reason I use Fedora now is because I think I'm pretty used to Ubuntu already, and using Fedora, I'd say that it's more of a natural progression, and since it's lovely to boot as well, I'm sticking with it.
It is all dependent on what you are looking to use the system for.
or a starter OS when I was starting I used RedHat which is now Fedora to an extent. After that I used SuSE, which is now openSUSE to an extent. I also use Debian (for shell screen machines) and CentOS. I am a fan of all of these listed. I have also staggered into BSD Options. It is all dependent on what you are looking to get out of the machine. My suggestion, hit up DistroWatch, read up on the options and make your own choice.
Compromise wrote: DistroWatch sucks, seriously. While they do have a nice overview of many, many OS's, the admin team is retarded and stupid.
Since when did the administration team make a site suck? DistroWatch is good for the sheer fact that they have information on so many distributions, and they are all in one central location. This makes it easy to read up and see what you like and link to the ISOs to test with. If you do not like the administration team of the site, that is up to you, however, I have never had any problems to make me think they are retarded and stupid so I still stand by my suggestion :evil:
Compromise wrote: DistroWatch sucks, seriously. While they do have a nice overview of many, many OS's, the admin team is retarded and stupid.
I advise you to grab a few ISO's of some distributions you would like to check out and chuck em in the good ol' vmware (or virtualbox if you're new to VMs).
If your going to insult distrowatch, at least give a reasonable alternative. Telling him "Don't go to a site that posts easy to understand reviews so you can get a good idea of the distro you want in a few minutes, but instead download all these distros and waste the cd's on the ones you might not like just to try them out for a much longer time to get a decent review personally." isn't very convincing.
I use Gentoo, since I love the power of Portage (the package management) and enjoy the freedom of deciding what I want from the foundation of a barebones system. Also, their documentation and forums just plain kick ass. Many find the install process to be longer and more involved than most distros… and they're right. So, not ideal for you, but you asked what I use.
Thus, I generally recommend ArchLinux as a more friendly alternative. Arch takes a bit more Linux know-how than Ubuntu/Fedora to get it running, but it's not such a learning curve that it deters users. Put it in a VM and follow a beginner's tut (like one on getting KDEmod up and running on Arch) on getting the system up and running. That's the only way to know, really.
Orillian wrote: I have decided to switch to linux. I seek other people's opinions on different distributions, such as: which one you use, why you like it, how easy, etc. Here's the paraphrased original post, in case anyone has trouble staying on-topic.
@ mosh and others
heres a nice site to check every now and then. Their search helps a lot.
My new setup (finally ditched ubuntu) is:
Main System: Gentoo Server: Debian Laptop: Arch linux
I enjoy arch linux on my laptop because it requires less maintence than gentoo, and I rarely use that laptop so I like things to just work, but still be rather advanced user oriented. Gentoo is a great distro, once you actually get it figured out (had a few problems at the start). Last buy not least: Debian is, of course, the obvious choice for a server.
A good a place as any I guess. Though Sorta off topic. I was installing Arch on an old laptop lately, but gave up after failing to sync with any of the mirrors that I tried (About 6 of them). I had my wlan0 up and running no problem but would error out of the installer at the select package stage. Then viewing the logs didnt really help me at all, just either couldnt sync, or unresovled. Needless to say that pissed me off.
(Ive had Arch installed on a machine prior so I know how to do it, just wasn't working last time I tried.)
wolfmankurd wrote: [quote]deviant-route wrote: I would suggest Gentoo, but since your just switching to Linux i would recommend giving Mandriva a try.
+1 for mandriva if I haven't already posted my opinion[/quote]
Something about Mandriva, you should get the "Power Pack." I like mandriva because everything for general use is right there. But, if you don't have the power pack you have to install/ configure some things, and it's not terribly fun. Instant-on might also be worth a try.
You can find the power pack on quite a few torrent sites, or pay $10-15 to the Mandriva main site.