Linux for home use - Debian or Slackware?

[TheStoat]

Morning all!

OK, so I'm a tight git and my usual Mandrake source has become a subscription OS called Mandriva [/arse!]

Having looked at the numerous distributions I've come to the conclusion that for my PC either Debian or Slackware will do. I don't need a "hardened" version, just a sensible GUI like KDE and the ability to run OpenOffice etc.

Any opinions or advice on which one to go for? Seems like both have been around for a while and are stable...

Cheers,

Andy

[spokey]

My first experience with Linux was Slackware and it was brilliant then. Bit blunt (like me!) but then we're talking about more than a decade ago.

I'm still blunt, though.

[GHW]

Ubuntu. 'tis Debian, but usable.

[CommanderJameson]

Ubuntu. They'll send you free media, too.

Go to https://shipit.ubuntu.com

[qube_TA]

Personally I'd use Fedora or OpenSUSE (prefer the latter) as they're both far easier to install for a Linux n00b as they have graphical installers like MS.

Ubuntu is nice but I find it more of a hassle to set up.

Debian is the Linux that time forgot, leave well alone.

You can download the ISO's for most distros, they're all free, you only pay if you need tech support or fancy a manual n printed CD's.

I've been using Linux almost exclusively for nearly 10 years, have 1000's of machines running it. Once you've learned the differences you'll wonder why you ever put up with Windows.

Matthew

[skinnyboy]

whats a good resource for a complete Linux noob to swot up on it? I want to run an old Celeron with it.

[TheStoat]

Cool, cheers for the responses guys!

Looking at Ubuntu now but does anyone have any comments on how up-to-date Slackware is? As already commented I too used it last about 10 years ago

Andy

[rebelstar]

Ubuntu is probably what you want.

I've been running Slackware for >10 years now. If you install the 2.6 kernel (it defaults to the rather ancient 2.4) and Dropline Gnome then you get something modern and nice. It's not difficult but if this is your first foray into Linux, I doubt it's for you.

I manually compiled/installed Beryl the other day - now that's one swish user experience!

[qube_TA]

Slackware is a little more hardcore, I wouldn't touch it unless you know what you're doing.

I'd stay away from Debian & Gentoo as well.

openSUSE, Fedora and Ubuntu are all friendly for novices and make great desktop machines.

Matthew

[hornet]

Am I right in thinking Slackware is pretty much a one man project? I've used a few Slackware based live CDs (Slax and Vector), but ended up running Ubuntu in the end. Easy enough to install and set up, and seems to have a big developer and user base, so any questions get answered very quickly. Got my PC dual booting XP, but I rarely use it these days.

[ThePassenger]

So far in my Linux experience I've used RedHat 5, Suse 8, Suse 9, Mandrake, Fedora Core 3, Gentoo, Debian, Ubuntu.

All of them are slightly different and spread over a number of years. Personally, I'd say go with Ubuntu if it's your first foray in to the world of Linux, it does a lot of things for you and seems to register most of the hardware on my XPS1710 (actually, all of it, except the sub, but that's ALSA's fault).

I still use Gentoo on all my headless machines and will probably deploy it on the MythTV system I'm planning as it's very easy to work with and push out, but not very user friendly

[steil]

Both Ubuntu & <forgets but one mentioned above> was on a cover DVD disk of a current Linux mag - self installs as a bootable DVD, & then v easy to install fully. Worthwhile option if you're new to Linux, otherwise potentially pricey at £5.50 or £6 for the mag.

[onomatopoeia]

I like debian. apt is the best thing since sliced bread and being able to install from 2 floppies (plus an ethernet connection) is jolly nice.

Just wish they'd update the packages a bit faster .

[CommanderJameson]

onomatopoeia said:

I like debian. apt is the best thing since sliced bread and being able to install from 2 floppies (plus an ethernet connection) is jolly nice.

Just wish they'd update the packages a bit faster .

Then you'll love Ubuntu. Built on Debian, with all the apt goodness you like, but all new and shiny with stable releases every six months.

[fredf]

onomatopoeia said:

Just wish they'd update the packages a bit faster .

They do, just upgrade to testing/unstable, they are still fairly solid but with up to date packages. They don't update stable very much because that's not the point of it.

I'd recommend Ubuntu for a desktop machine/intro to Linux - it's got all the good points of Debian in a prettier, easier to setup package

[nickfrp]

im a linux NOOB and for the first time last month i found an old machine and chucked on ubuntu and must say im well impressed. although im still trying to figure out how to install anything on it lol

[Bodo]

Another vote for Ubuntu here. I use Suse for six years now, but if I'd start again, my choice would be Ubuntu. If you prefer KDE rather than the Gnome desktop, you could always use Kubuntu, the KDE version of Ubuntu

[ThePassenger]

Bodo said:

Another vote for Ubuntu here. I use Suse for six years now, but if I'd start again, my choice would be Ubuntu. If you prefer KDE rather than the Gnome desktop, you could always use Kubuntu, the KDE version of Ubuntu

General consesus is that Kubuntu itself is utter pants and missing quite a lot of stuff (or was mid-last year). Best plan is to get Ubuntu, install it... see if you like Gnome... then in the package manager install Kubuntu/KDE.

Did this. Seems ok at the moment.

[ThePassenger]

nickfrp said:

im a linux NOOB and for the first time last month i found an old machine and chucked on ubuntu and must say im well impressed. although im still trying to figure out how to install anything on it lol

What are you after? I'm no ubuntu expert but if it's a common enough thing I might be able to point you in the right direction (i.e. wpasupplicant for WPA WiFi connections).

[nickfrp]

well in the past 2 hours i have ed 2 ubuntu installs. i was trying to Join it to the domain. (messed wiht the kerberos settings and couldnt log in lol) and the other the screen saver froze and i couldnt gain access to anything. restarted and it got as far as starting the bios but Grub didnt load (the linux loader) and a message saying the NTLDR was missing....

NTLDR.. thats for a windows machine.. i wasnt dual booting either. this was a clean install.