Other Distro's you'd recommend?

[arochester]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

I would recommend #! Crunchbang Linux - http://crunchbanglinux.org/

CrunchBang Linux is an Ubuntu based distribution featuring the lightweight Openbox window manager and GTK+ applications. The distribution is developed from a minimal Ubuntu install and has been designed to offer a good balance of speed and functionality.

There is a reasonable review here - http://linux-hardcore.com/index.php?....10_by_Borgio3

I have used it on an older, much rebuilt, somewhat underpowered computer and it works very well indeed. It is not as easy as Gnome or KDE. I'm not sure of the System Requirements and how it stands against Xubuntu, Fluxbuntu or Icebuntu, but it is great!

The only thing I don't care for is the colour scheme, but I have changed it a bit...

[Qqmike]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

@M-R, thanks for the feedback on Knoppix.

Looks like there's plenty of interest here in messing with distros, all across the spectrum, from Mepis to Debian (=> toad, of course )! dibl got me tweaked on sidux, then when I saw toad in it, I decided to try it for sure. Jury is still out on it, but I've only been 2 days in w/sidux.

Puppy is designed for Live stick, no question, and it is truly attractive for general purpose, rescue, portability (seen the new desktops? -- Dedo did a thing on it @ his site).

Aside from that, I'm beginning to question the efficacy of live flash drive OSs (if you saw my notes w/herman under Building a Live Kubuntu Flash Drive). Live flash drive--issues of up-to-dateness, issues of what runs reliably on it. What I'm looking at are candidates for a FULL, regular install to flash drive, but lightweight yet nice features (like Debian-based, KDE 3.5+). That's what got me into sidux (lite, 32-byte, 500MB, KDE). Something that would go on a 4GB stick, with some room for /home (that might have to be 8 GB?). Not CD, not DVD. I like Kubuntu all around, and wish I could get a glitch-free version of that on flash drive (either a functioning live-persistent or a lightweight but full, regular install). Hmmm, writing out loud here.

btw, imo, @aged hippy, not off topic, all these posts, as choosing a distro is a function of uses, apps, comparisons, assessment of trade-offs, etc. How's that for rationalization?

[toad]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

Sidux rocks, dibl is creating a right little fan base here I'd heard of it before but hadn't installed it. At the mo it is still my secondary distro on my laptop (Arch being #1).

Anyway, I am still blowing Arch's trumpet. Bang up to date, no releases and flying! Perhaps the install is a bit daunting but really quite simple due to excellent documentation. Pretty please somebody try it

[Qqmike]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

There were reviews on the full sidux and Archlinux at the site arochester ref'd:
http://linux-hardcore.com/index.php?....10_by_Borgio3
(both GOOD reviews) I'd try Arch, toad, but am a bit flooded (=> stuck!) here with all this other nonsense I've given myself to try/do/break/change/&etc.

[toad]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

I'll let you off

[aged hippy]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

btw, imo, @aged hippy, not off topic, all these posts, as choosing a distro is a function of uses, apps, comparisons, assessment of trade-offs, etc. How's that for rationalization?

Are you by any chance a polititian in your spare time Qq?

@ toad - "Pretty please somebody try it" -- NO. :P


.... well, maybe some time.

Edited to add:
I'm still settling into Mepis. It's hard to tell the difference between it and Kubuntu, to be honest.

If i install anything else i just may be tempted to put Mepis where Kubuntu is at the moment, and Sidux where Mepis is..... so i'll leave well enough alone.

[Qqmike]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

SimplyMEPIS -- back to aged hippy's post ...

Not too bad, kinda good.

Negative: I had to KEEP setting my display size (every time I restarted X), or the Desktop was off to the left. Guess what? That's the same problem I had 2 years ago with MEPIS! With a standard Intel D915GAVL board and NEC Accusync CRT monitor.

Negative: I couldn't find where to access my 15 other partitions (I have two HDDs and so have another17 to go).
Positive: Found it! Desktop > My Computer icon!
Negative: That is the only place I could find My Computer or any other facility for accessing other partitions (including not-so in Konqueror as root). Other than manually mounting at Konsole.
Question: Where else is it!? What if you mess up your Desktop and delete that icon. I could not quickly find where the "real" facility is.
Negative: Look and feel. But there is facility for customizing everything, down to your own fonts; just takes some work.

Many positives:
Installation was quick, clear, graphical, installing GRUB choices were clear, separate /home is easy.
It is ready for YouTube and KMPlayer, windows formats.
Very nice Admin Assistant functions from the K-Menu: recover space (clear logs, etc.), reinstall GRUB, test/repair partitions, install to USB key.
Why is gparted always so dated? (3.8.-) I know the answer, which is why I'm looking at sidux.

On and on -- you guys know the drill upon checking out a new distro.

It's OK, not better than Kubuntu imo, glad to be back here, maybe MEPIS is a little too dummied-down (like the My Computer thing), I'm not sure how to call that one. And the Display issue.

WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE right here in Kubuntu is a little more Admin-Assistant facility, and, frankly, it can be done at Konsole--no issue there--BUT I sure as hell like Disk & Filesystems in 8.04 and would like to always have access to such, and for it to work perfectly. In past two days, checking out sidux and MEPIS, that's about the only twinge of envy I got -- how they provide such easy/ready facility for accessing/managing partitions. I've had some show-stopping problems in 8.10 wrt this issue; not so in 8.04 for me, though (YMMV).

Scale of 1-10, I'd give MEPIS between 6-8, say a 7, subjective--all in all, a good review (at a minimum, it's not a bad review).



btw, Who asked me?

[aged hippy]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

SimplyMEPIS -- back to aged hippy's post ...

Not too bad, kinda good.

"Negative: I had to KEEP setting my display size (every time I restarted X), or the Desktop was off to the left. Guess what? That's the same problem I had 2 years ago with MEPIS! With a standard Intel D915GAVL board and NEC Accusync CRT monitor." - i had the same problem until i re-sized the display. 8)

"Negative: I couldn't find where to access my 15 other partitions (I have two HDDs and so have another17 to go).
Positive: Found it! Desktop > My Computer icon!" - the My Computer icon worried me a little.... until i re-named it "Computer".

"Negative: That is the only place I could find My Computer or any other facility for accessing other partitions (including not-so in Konqueror as root). Other than manually mounting at Konsole." - change the position of them in etc/fstab to before # Dynamic entries below or use ->System ->File System ->View Disk Usage (KDiskfree).
Add a System Menu (which includes Media) to the Panel.

"Negative: Look and feel. But there is facility for customizing everything, down to your own fonts; just takes some work." - this install looks and behaves just like the Kubuntu one. :P

"Installation was quick, clear, graphical, installing GRUB choices were clear, separate /home is easy." - an excellent installer, i was a little apprehensive when it told me that it would incorporate the XP installation into the boot-loader -- but not any Linux ones.... but it was lying.

"btw, Who asked me?" - if one waits to be asked, one's keyboard is likely to rust solid.


The reason i'm considering moving to Mepis is that i like the KDE 3.5 desktop, but Hardy isn't an LTS whereas Mepis 8.0 is.

[dibl]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

The reason i'm considering moving to Mepis is that i like the KDE 3.5 desktop

You realize, of course, that KDE 3.5 is "walking dead", right? 100% of KDE development is already going into KDE 4. I've no doubt that there will be one distro or another clinging to KDE 3.5 for some time (slax?), but actively developed Debian distributions will be unable to continue with it for very long.

[Qqmike]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

"Negative: That is the only place I could find My Computer or any other facility for accessing other partitions (including not-so in Konqueror as root). Other than manually mounting at Konsole." - change the position of them in etc/fstab to before # Dynamic entries below or use ->System ->File System ->View Disk Usage (KDiskfree).
Add a System Menu (which includes Media) to the Panel. Smiley

=> I tried that, but guess what: nothing -- 0 files, 0 folders -- under both /mnt and /media folders. E.g., sda1 was listed as an open folder, but it was empty. Ditto for all other partitions! Even with Konqueror open as root. Ditto for View Disk Usage.
Blew me away at first -- I thought the installer reformatted all my partitions!!!!

[MoonRise]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

Believe it or not I have Sidux cd. Just never have booted it up. Might give it a gander.

[Qqmike]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

@M-R, Looks pretty good to me. Others here seem to like it. The site is excellent for information/explanations. The Lite is very light, like 450 MB. Looks like some multimedia packages need to be installed, but that's fairly expected. I'd be interested to hear others' impressions about it.

[aged hippy]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

The reason i'm considering moving to Mepis is that i like the KDE 3.5 desktop

You realize, of course, that KDE 3.5 is "walking dead", right? 100% of KDE development is already going into KDE 4. I've no doubt that there will be one distro or another clinging to KDE 3.5 for some time (slax?), but actively developed Debian distributions will be unable to continue with it for very long.

"walking dead"

The matter is quite simple, i want this computer to:
1. Fetch any emails i receive.
2. Browse the internet.
3. Play the occasional video/film.
4. Play music.

KDE 3.5 does all these things flawlessly. :P

KDE 4 is nice, and has lots of eye-candy -- which i don't actually need -- but it doesn't actually do anything other than what KDE 3.5 does.... or am i missing something?

"[...] but actively developed Debian distributions will be unable to continue with it for very long." - in that case, i will continue to use it, and as i don't seem to need all the latest bells, whistles, and gew-gaws - it probably has quite a long life-time ahead -- at least on this machine.

[Monster_user]

Re: Other Distro's you'd recommend?

You realize, of course, that KDE 3.5 is "walking dead", right? 100% of KDE development is already going into KDE 4. I've no doubt that there will be one distro or another clinging to KDE 3.5 for some time (slax?), but actively developed Debian distributions will be unable to continue with it for very long.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. KDE 3.5.x works quite well. I've got a KDE 3.3 distribution installed on my drive, and use it daily. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles (no compositing), but it works well.

It will be a couple of versions before KDE 4 is able to meet the standards of KDE 3.5.x. There are still several KDE 3.5 apps running under KDE 4. Such as the network manager.