# Which Distro is Right For Me ?



## MetalheadGautham (Jun 7, 2008)

The title sounds familiar ? Ofcourse it does. Its the most common question asked by the average newbie who wants to try out linux, or sometimes even for the user who wants to migrate from one distro to another.

This thread is made so that all such questions can be asked here itself, and so that the forum won't be messy.

*Here are a few online tests to determine the right distro:*

*www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php
*polishlinux.org/choose/quiz/
*www.tuxs.org/chooser/

Warning: All of them recommend OpenSuSE, Ubuntu and Fedora for everything, without reason. Whatever you choose, you are likely to end up with those three in the list, even if you specifically ask the script for something thats light on resources. So beware. 

*Now here is how you ask that question here:*

1. State the exact configuration of the system, including partition alloted for linux, right here.

2. State your main use for the distro.

3. State your experience level.

4. State how you understand an ideal distro to be. How do you want the interface to be ?

5. State how entusiastic you are about learning stuff. Are you intrested to spend time learning your way into the new distro ? If so, how long ?

6. Finally, state WHY you need to be suggested a new distro. Are you not happy with windows ? If so, why ? Do you expect some special feature from the linux distribution you are going to try out that was not there in the previous OS ? Are you one of those people who outgrew their previous distro, and hence want something leaner and/or with better performance ?


*Best of Luck and Happy Distroing.*​


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## hullap (Aug 15, 2008)

sorry if bumping, really need a change
you may be knowing that ive used ubuntu, Fedora and quite a few more distros
so here it goes

1. i have an intel c2d 1.86GHz, 160GB for the linux partition. nvidia 7100gs, 1gig ram, 17" monitor(dont think itll matter), i can easily use compiz fusion with all effects enabled

2. Main use is home use. sometimes hosting a webserver or UrT server etc, so needs to be stable

3. beginner to intermidiate. i can find my way across problems. and im patient enough to read the man pages 

4. The ideal  distro IMO will be the one which has large no. of softys in the repos. downloading and compiling the source code just aint me. Binary ftw.
i dont care about the interface, but still it needs to be easy to understand and use.

5. i Really Really wanna learn. i can spend time learning a new distro. even about a month to six months max 

6. Im fed up of being spoon fed with $**t

Please help this poor chap out


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## Faun (Aug 15, 2008)

So did u take the test ?


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## hullap (Aug 15, 2008)

^ yea,
but i got what gautham warned


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## Faun (Aug 15, 2008)

From my experience go for debian based distros, the repository and deb files are awesome.

Probably you can try Debian but be warned you may be getting older but stable versions of softwares and no new released softwares. but yeah debian is buid from scratch things, so you get what you want. Else rest your case to Ubuntu.

IMO try Mint !

On a second note, OpenSuSe can also be an alternative. But its not a deb based distro. ,RPM.

now choose the one which suits you. maybe Metaaaaaal will tell you more, he's been experimenting with this thing. Praka can also guide you, head over to his site and see what he suggest you for your needs.


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## hullap (Aug 15, 2008)

'debian stable' has VERYY old softys
from what ive heard, it got gaim(pidgin's former name => no new features)
i already said that i dont need ubuntu or mint,
i dont wanna be spoonfed
openSuse is another spoon feeder
ive already use fedora and ubuntu, dont want the former coz i hate RPM depediancy hell and the latter is not that stable and i dont think i can learn about anything in it
nor im keen on arch coz i have a 256k connection and itll take days to download xorg, xfce, OOo and all


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## Faun (Aug 15, 2008)

^^If you want to learn then Arch is the way. Yes I too have 256k but its only a night's download to get it all.

And yeah currently am enjoying Arch, software repository is fresh. Dunno when will I login to Ubuntu again ?

Xorg is some 50MB stuff, xfce is withing 100 MB and OOo is about 200MB. Its will not take days but one night only.


NOTE: probably Mehul will exhort you to try Gentoo. But seriously I will have to try OpenBSD.


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## hullap (Aug 15, 2008)

kalpik keeps suggesting arch to me
anyways, my parents will restrict my computer usage once the next week starts,
my mother doesnt allow me to download at night(which is strange ) either ill have to download them all piece by piece or ill get xorg + fluxbox(like it way more then all other wms) + light weight office progs like abiword etc
im thinking of downloading the arch core cd, but lets w8 till tomorrow


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## SunnyChahal (Aug 15, 2008)

I also wanna try some distro like arch.Just coz it's fast,stable,got KDEmod 4.1,makes good use of the hardware.Ubuntu 8.04 is buggy.Vista is better.OpenSuse 11......RPM just doesn't work for me.Fedora...tried but couldn't find it any better than Ubuntu.


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## Faun (Aug 16, 2008)

^^yes, vista is better


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## RCuber (Aug 16, 2008)

I wonder why many people dont recomend Sabayon in here.. Its one of the best distro I have come accros with everything available out of the box ( well almost  ). Sabayon was recomended to me by mehul almost a year ago and im in love with it since then..


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## mehulved (Aug 16, 2008)

hullap said:


> kalpik keeps suggesting arch to me
> anyways, my parents will restrict my computer usage once the next week starts,
> my mother doesnt allow me to download at night(which is strange ) either ill have to download them all piece by piece or ill get xorg + fluxbox(like it way more then all other wms) + light weight office progs like abiword etc
> im thinking of downloading the arch core cd, but lets w8 till tomorrow


Arre if you download arch CD, you will have xorg and stuff in there. Install fluxbox on that. KDEmod is quite big - ~440MB so you will have to figure out some way for it. like begging your mom to allow you to keep PC on for 1 night


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## nach (Aug 16, 2008)

Sunny1211993 said:


> I also wanna try some distro like arch.Just coz it's fast,stable,got KDEmod 4.1,makes good use of the hardware.Ubuntu 8.04 is buggy.Vista is better.OpenSuse 11......RPM just doesn't work for me.Fedora...tried but couldn't find it any better than Ubuntu.



Vista is better 0_o ...I didnt know that.
If you find prob with Ubuntu, Opensuse ,Fedora distros better you use Vista only.

Here most of the people prefer Ubuntu,Opensuse,Arch etc..I dont find any prob with Fedora.Are we all idiot to use such distros.


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## SunnyChahal (Aug 16, 2008)

nach said:


> Vista is better 0_o ...I didnt know that.
> If you find prob with Ubuntu, Opensuse ,Fedora distros better you use Vista only.
> 
> Here most of the people prefer Ubuntu,Opensuse,Arch etc..I dont find any prob with Fedora.Are we all idiot to use such distros.



Whatever,RPM distris aren't for me.I've always preferred Debian based distros but Ubuntu 8.04 is just too buggy.Sucks to the core.Now,for haven's sake don't tell me that I haven't used it.Sir,I have used it for more than a month before going back to windows.
As for that idiot thing,well,I really don't know.


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## Faun (Aug 16, 2008)

^^yes, Vista rocks when you install all kind of magicwares for even tiniest bit and bare protection *s269.photobucket.com/albums/jj44/visio159/Unismilies/70.png
I did a mistake by switching to open source and using free products.


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## nach (Aug 16, 2008)

are yar their are many choices 
try to being familiar
Though rpm based distro sucks I am using it for learning purpose
dont compare Gnu/Linux with Windows

There is Debian etch, Knoppix ,Arch ,and many more.
checkout *en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions

are 1 mahinme kya hota hai bhai.

Btw its all up to you.


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## SunnyChahal (Aug 16, 2008)

^^
Debian is too tough to install.
@T159,care to assist this poor lad?


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## mehulved (Aug 16, 2008)

Sunny1211993 said:


> Whatever,RPM distris aren't for me.


What's wrong with rpm?



Sunny1211993 said:


> ^^
> Debian is too tough to install.


Hahaha, if debian is too tough then stick with ubuntu.


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## SunnyChahal (Aug 16, 2008)

^^
I never tried installing Debian.Do we need to install a graphical desktop environment after completing the OS installation?


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## nach (Aug 16, 2008)

How can you judge its tough to install without trying !!
Anyways while installation u can select graphical environment of your choice.


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## hullap (Aug 16, 2008)

ok, im on links now in arch
installed irssi too
but i cant get x to start
tried xorgconfig
im at the irc channel getting help


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## shady_inc (Aug 16, 2008)

hullap said:


> ok, im on links now in arch
> installed irssi too
> but i cant get x to start
> tried xorgconfig
> im at the irc channel getting help


For arch newbies, it's best to follow the Beginner's Guide religiously.Most of the stuff you need to configure is in there.

BTW, I would like a distro suggestion too.My config is:
Intel Celeron 2.4 Ghz
1 Gb RAM
Intel 845 chipset
Enough hard drive space for a distro.

Main aim is to have something totally different from my current distros i.e Arch and Mandriva [my family members won't touch Arch with a yardstick..So I have to keep this one]. No, I don't need newbie oriented distros like OpenSUSe, Ubuntu, Fedora and stuff.

Slackware looked like a cool option until I learned that pkgtool doesn't have dependency check.Don't wanna go around hunting dependencies myself whenever I install a package .


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## Faun (Aug 16, 2008)

hullap said:


> ok, im on links now in arch
> installed irssi too
> but i cant get x to start
> tried xorgconfig
> im at the irc channel getting help


always remember to save a fav xorg.conf file from your other installations and copy it to any new install.

install gdm,xdm or kdm.


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## hullap (Aug 16, 2008)

shady_inc said:


> For arch newbies, it's best to follow the Beginner's Guide religiously.Most of the stuff you need to configure is in there.



i never read it 
im on xfce with opera
everything seems to work


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## Faun (Aug 16, 2008)

^^congrats, so Arch can be installed by kids too. 
While some others ran away after seeing CLI at boot...lolz


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## hullap (Aug 16, 2008)

^ lol
installing yaourt now


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## shady_inc (Aug 16, 2008)

hullap said:


> i never read it
> im on xfce with opera
> everything seems to work


Good for you then


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## Psychosocial (Aug 16, 2008)

I have used Ubuntu 8.04 and liked it. Suggest me a good distro.

Use - eXplore Linux.
PC Conf. - E4500 + MSI945 + 2GB RAM + 8800GT 512MB + 19" LCD

I know basics of Linux. I prefer a GNOME or KDE desktop (dunno if there are more).


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## Garbage (Aug 16, 2008)

hullap said:


> ^ lol
> installing yaourt now


My pacman cache is 1.7 GB now...

I just copied packages from DVD (sent me by Filled-Void). That DVD is having many libraries, gnome, OO and other stuff...

If you want, then I can send u my pacman cache... I've installed x86_64


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## hullap (Aug 16, 2008)

nah, 
i dont even have space to spare


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## Garbage (Aug 16, 2008)

hullap said:


> nah,
> i dont even have space to spare


Then delete some of ur p0rno... I'm sure, u will get lots of GBs to spare..


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## hullap (Aug 16, 2008)

Garbage said:


> Then delete some of ur p0rno... I'm sure, u will get lots of GBs to spare..


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## MetalheadGautham (Aug 16, 2008)

OK, I never saw your thread since I haven't been online for long.

Since you have 256KBPS UL Internet, and since you hate being spoon fed and at the same time you have brains, and since you want binaries for everything, there is no distro as perfect as Debian for you. By debian, I mean debian <<<unstable>>>. Use a variant of it called Sidux. It removes the unstability from debian, but at the same time, you DO get huge updates. Since you have UL internet it shouldn't be a problem. Getting 100mb updates every other day shouldn't be an issue at all IMO.

And yeah, Debian+IceWM on your rig would give INSANE FPS in Urban Terror. I MEAN it. Its so damn light.


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## hullap (Aug 16, 2008)

im using
arch + ratpoison now
its light as hell


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## MetalheadGautham (Aug 16, 2008)

hullap said:


> im using
> arch + ratpoison now
> its light as hell


So you _did_ go to arch... enjoying the uber insane frame rates ? 
Yeah, Arch+RP would be the best, but I thought you were not at that level yet. But I guess I was wrong. Well then, congratulations on your arch install. Enjoy yourself.


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## hullap (Aug 16, 2008)

thanks dude
im getting probs with gdm though
removed it
thinking of installing xdm


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## Faun (Aug 16, 2008)

hullap said:


>


so you have tentacle rap h3ntai *s269.photobucket.com/albums/jj44/visio159/Unismilies/109.png


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## hullap (Aug 16, 2008)

id be banned if i comment any further


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## mehulved (Aug 16, 2008)

woohoo. /me added atleast 2 more ratpoison users.


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## Faun (Aug 16, 2008)

^^me wants to die, any howto to take ratpoison


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## mehulved (Aug 16, 2008)

T159 said:


> ^^me wants to die, any howto to take ratpoison


Depends on your distro.


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## Faun (Aug 16, 2008)

^^arch only


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## Garbage (Aug 17, 2008)

mehulved said:


> woohoo. /me added atleast 2 more ratpoison users.


/me also installed ratpoison on his Arch... Reading manuals now...


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## mehulved (Aug 17, 2008)

T159 said:


> ^^arch only


pacman -S ratpoison 



Garbage said:


> /me also installed ratpoison on his Arch... Reading manuals now...


Quite easy to learn
ctrl + t + ? - help(will list all commands)
ctrl + t + c - create new terminal
ctrl + t + n - next window
ctrl + t + p - previous window
ctrl + t + ! - execute a command(used to start applications)
ctrl + t + k - close the window
ctrl + t + b - open url with your browser
ctrl + t + a - view date and time and calander
ctrl + t + ctrl + a - view time and date

Well check the ~/.ratpoisonrc file for more details and to customise a lot of stuff. Like, I have changed ctrl + t to ctrl + s since I am used to ctrl + a within screen and there's a lot of similarity between ratpoison and screen (ratpoison is GUI version of screen mainly).


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## QwertyManiac (Aug 17, 2008)

And if you got a half-decent sized display:

C-t (s|S) - Splits the screen vertically/horizontally into two
C-t (R) - Removes a frame (each split's a frame)

C-t (t) - Acts as C-t for the application under focus (Useful for opening tabs in a browser, for instance.)


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## hullap (Aug 17, 2008)

mehulved said:


> woohoo. /me added atleast 2 more ratpoison users.


whats the whole list?


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## MetalheadGautham (Aug 17, 2008)

hullap said:


> thanks dude
> im getting probs with gdm though
> removed it
> thinking of installing xdm


You use RatPoison with a DM ? Shame on you. DMs are for n00bs. Use startx, startxfce4 and similar commands after login in text mode. Its so damn simple to use. 


mehulved said:


> woohoo. /me added atleast 2 more ratpoison users.


make it three. not me, but one of my friends who is a regular (non-member) reader on this forum installed it being inspired by you.

me ? I installed ratpoison, but I am still waiting for StumpWM


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## mehulved (Aug 17, 2008)

MetalheadGautham said:


> You use RatPoison with a DM ? Shame on you. DMs are for n00bs. Use startx, startxfce4 and similar commands after login in text mode. Its so damn simple to use.


ratpoison is WM, not DM. And startx is more insecure, use more secure solutions *gentoo-wiki.com/TIP_Fix_The_Login_Security_Hole



MetalheadGautham said:


> make it three. not me, but one of my friends who is a regular (non-member) reader on this forum installed it being inspired by you.
> 
> me ? I installed ratpoison, but I am still waiting for StumpWM


Looks like lot more people than I expected are taking fancy for ratpoison.


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## MetalheadGautham (Aug 17, 2008)

mehulved said:


> ratpoison is WM, not DM. And startx is more insecure, use more secure solutions *gentoo-wiki.com/TIP_Fix_The_Login_Security_Hole
> 
> make it three. not me, but one of my friends who is a regular (non-member) reader on this forum installed it being inspired by you.
> 
> me ? I installed ratpoison, but I am still waiting for StumpWM


[/quote]
DM = Display Manager.
Like GDM, KDM, XDM, etc.


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## hullap (Aug 17, 2008)

MetalheadGautham said:


> You use RatPoison with a DM ? Shame on you. DMs are for n00bs. Use startx, startxfce4 and similar commands after login in text mode. Its so damn simple to use.


afaik ratpoison is a wm
and i need to install and configure dm for my family


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## SunnyChahal (Aug 17, 2008)

Installed Sidux.I'm not in the sudoers list .HELP!How to install graphics drivers?I posted this while having lunch so ..........


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## MetalheadGautham (Aug 17, 2008)

Sunny1211993 said:


> Installed Sidux.I'm not in the sudoers list .HELP!How to install graphics drivers?I posted this while having lunch so ..........




```
gpasswd -a sunny1211993 wheel
```
that adds you to group WHEEL, which is the sudoers group.

Then, edit sudoers file.


```
nano /etc/sudoers
```
here, uncomment the option to enable sudo access to users in group wheel.

note that you need to be root to do the above.

Installing graphics drivers is simple as ever. Go to nVidia website, download the drivers and then use the built in installer.

Edit: and yes, you might want to get rid of KDE3.5.9 if you installed the Sidux DVD version. Install KDE4.1 instead. Thats why I had told you initially to get the slim ~400MB XFCE CD instead, because you won't waste time downloading KDE and then ditching it.


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## SunnyChahal (Aug 17, 2008)

wheel is an unknown group.WTF!And the file /etc/sudoers is blank!

EDIT:Sudo prob solved.There is no fuggin sudo in sidux.LOL!
And installed nvidia drivers isong sgfxi commands.

Now I need some eye-candy,KDE4.1!And where are the desktop effects in KDE3.5.9??


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## MetalheadGautham (Aug 17, 2008)

Sunny1211993 said:


> wheel is an unknown group.WTF!And the file /etc/sudoers is blank!
> 
> EDIT:Sudo prob solved.There is no fuggin sudo in sidux.LOL!
> And installed nvidia drivers isong sgfxi commands.
> ...


no sudo ? then do apt-get install sudo 
and yes, KDE has this thing called terminal sessions menu which has root terminal. very useful.
kde 3.5.9 has no built in compositor. so get kde 4.1 instead.


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## SunnyChahal (Aug 17, 2008)

^^
How?
Please come on IRC!


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## mehulved (Aug 17, 2008)

sudo sh!t is just followed by ubuntu. I love sux.


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## shady_inc (Aug 17, 2008)

Sunny1211993 said:


> ^^
> How?
> Please come on IRC!


Install the package sudo.
Then execute command visudo root user.
This opens up the file /etc/sudoers in a special session of vi editor[Don't try opening the file with nano or any other editor.]
Find line that says "ROOT ALL=(ALL) ALL"
Just below this line add "_username_ ALL=(ALL) ALL"
You're done.

BTW, I do hope you know how to use vi editor.!


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## SunnyChahal (Aug 17, 2008)

^^
I asked how to install KDE4.1


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## MetalheadGautham (Aug 18, 2008)

mehulved said:


> sudo sh!t is just followed by ubuntu. I love sux.


who needs X for administration ?


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## mehulved (Aug 18, 2008)

I do sometimes.


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## MetalheadGautham (Aug 18, 2008)

mehulved said:


> I do sometimes.


You mean to use file manager in super user mode ? Well, sunny and other ubuntu era linux users use gksu for that, though I personally prefer sux.

But honestly, In arch, I NEVER EVER need to use anything other than *sudo, cd, dir, nano, less, cp, mv, rm, mkdir, rmdir, pacman, yaourt, pkgbuild, make,* and last, but not the least, *man* when I am trying to administer the system. The last four are very rare, and navigation tools with nano is what I need most of the time.

But CentOS 5.2 is MUCH MUCH different. I N.E.E.D. to use GUI for simple administration tasks too. And debian is half way between the two worlds.


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## mehulved (Aug 18, 2008)

duh. who uses a file manager? I haven't used a file manager in years. And I don't like installing gnome-libs or kdelibs for gksu, gksudo or kdesu.
But, there are times when I do need to run some GUI app as root to test out or something. Like I am not so well versed with tcp packets and all, so I prefer wireshark to tcpdump.


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## MetalheadGautham (Aug 18, 2008)

Isn't there a ncurses based gui for iptables ? (or was it for SELinux ?)


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## mehulved (Aug 18, 2008)

Duh. scripting FTW! when it comes to firewalls. Why do you need ncurses for firewalls? iptables is easy enough to script unless you want something too advanced. I love pf when it comes to all this.


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## Faun (Aug 18, 2008)

MetalheadGautham said:


> Isn't there a ncurses based gui for iptables ? (or was it for SELinux ?)


no one thinks bloatware in linux


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## MetalheadGautham (Aug 19, 2008)

mehulved said:


> Duh. scripting FTW! when it comes to firewalls. Why do you need ncurses for firewalls? iptables is easy enough to script unless you want something too advanced. I love pf when it comes to all this.


Its just that I remember using an nCurses based terminal program for port forwarding about half an year back on ubuntu.


T159 said:


> no one thinks bloatware in linux


ncurses is NOT bloatware .
Its one of the BEST things in linux world.
A simple text and terminal based GUI which can be programmed via C++.
Its simply too beautiful.


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## gary4gar (Aug 19, 2008)

I took the Linux Distro chooser test for fun, and was presented with following options

1. Gentoo Linux
2. Slackware Linux
3. Debian GNU/Linux
4. FreeBSD
5. Archlinux

I think the distro chooser is quite accurate


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