I'm a CS major and I just realized something tragic: I know nothing about Linux. So, I've decided that during this summer, I shall reformat my hard drive and install a dual-boot of Linux and Windows XP (emoticon edition. Not to be confused with Windows XD). Anyhow, I need to decide what to install. I know some people who have had good luck with Debian, and I know a guy who has gotten insane errors with Gentoo that he claims nobody on the Gentoo message boards had ever seen before. However, Gentoo looks all pretty and shiny, but I'm pretty sure that I've read that Debian has a stable version out.
Anyhow, keeping all this in mind, I want to know what sort of Linux you of the 4chan programming board would advise me to get. I imagine that this thread will probably dissolve into a flame war about ephemeral characteristics about each version that make it "better" such as "Only noobs use Gentoo!" or "Redhat sucks!" or perhaps "Real men use Debian!" But! In the moment between the first posting of this and the eruption of a flame war, I imagine that information might be able to be gleaned upon the subject by me. So, thanks ahead of time.
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-08 19:51 (sage)
If you really want to learn the guts of it, maybe Linux from Scratch.
If not, there's always Slackware or Debian. Slackware in particular requires you to have a clue. Debian is good too, but you'll have to keep in mind while using it that it has a bad case of the NIV syndrome - a lot of things are unique to it alone.
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-08 21:34
I use Debian on my laptop and Ubuntu on my desktop computer, I do not like one more then the other.
If youre going with Debian, do a sarge (testing) installation, the current stable version, woody is very outdated. I'd suggest you get Ubuntu thou, it's based on Debian so you won't notice much difference. It's got a good installation and you'll have a complete gnome desktop within the hour -- if you want KDE instead, the packages "kunbuntu kubuntu-default-settings" will provide you with that.
Now, on the other hand, if you want to spend a few days getting up a simple desktop, >>2's suggestion, LFS or gentoo installation will provide you with allot of frustration, but eventually good understandig of how a GNU/linux is built up.
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-09 0:25
FreeBSD. There's only one distribution, it's consistent and stable and doesn't randomly break shit between minor releases like Linux.
Name:
Christy McJesus!DcbLlAZi7U2005-05-09 4:13
I went for Gentoo. You get to feel pretty macho for setting up all your shit without an installer, especially if it's your first Linux. The documentation is frankly awesome. Be prepared to leave your computer on overnight while everything compiles though.
There's only one distribution [..]
Do you really think it's a positive argument that noone else wants to run the FreeBSD kernel? Oh, and you're wrong too, for example there is a Debian release that runs the FreeBSD kernel, google it.
[..] Doesn't randomly break shit between minor releases like Linux.
What Linux distro? I can think of sevral im my experience that don't "break shit" between mintor releases.
Obviously you don't know what you're talking about, I doubt you even run FreeBSD desktop yourself.
Name:
Christy McJesus!DcbLlAZi7U2005-05-10 5:31
>>6
Did Debian ever get their HURD based release out?
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-10 6:44
An OS that took forever packaged by a distro that takes forever...
For some things Debian is difficult to beat though. Servers, for example.
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-10 8:01
>>6
But you do remember several that does break shit between minor releases.
I do anyway.
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-10 14:43
>>6
he was probably referring to the kernel, not a distro. the 2.6.x branch is pretty much the main development area with "shit breaking" all the time.
Name:
j/\xdidwtc!EAuPFPGBDY2005-05-10 16:24
>>7
HURD isos are released once every six months, roughly. Google it if you really care (I won't since I doubt you do).
I am not going to bother refuting an idiot who cannot even master the English language. I hope you have a nice life serving burgers at McDonalds.
Name:
Edward2005-05-11 14:38 (sage)
>>12
A) You're being childish.
B) >> 6 made three typoes. Oh no!
C) Funny story. You actually made a bigger mistake than him. You don't refute someone, you refute an argument.
At this point in my reply I'd absolutely love to drop something like "I'll have a big mac please", but I absolutely despise McDonalds food.
Name:
Christy McJesus!DcbLlAZi7U2005-05-11 15:09
lol mac is big
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-12 11:06
Gentoo is nice: good community, fast, simple, easy administration. things do break sometimes but generally its not hard to fix and the process is educational.
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-12 21:42 (sage)
>>12
Mastering perfect English spelling is not a requirement for a good job everywhere in the world. Also, burger flipping is quite well paid here. I'd gladly accept such job offer during breaks between semesters.
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-13 1:24
"good community"
Gentoo's "community" is a major embarrassment. There are a few good people, and an ocean of l33t kiddiez. If you see an idiot on a forum loudly extolling the virtues of linux, you can be ~90% certain it's a gentoo weenie.
"fast"
Uh, huh. Ha, ha. Compared to what?
"simple, easy administration"
I rest my case.
Name:
Christy McJesus!DcbLlAZi7U2005-05-13 8:33
>>17
Interesting though how it's not the Gentoo weenies who are trying to start a holy war when the guy only wants advice as to which Linux to try.
Gentoo has some things going for it, including being a good way to learn the guts of the system. Yes, it's not all bad; it's just another distro, warts and all. But telling some poor sod false information isn't going to help him decide.
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-13 12:18
slackware
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-14 2:34
If you want a distro with a lot of packages, I would suggest Gentoo or Mandrake (Mandriva). The latter is known as being the most user-friendly. Mandrake has a not-so-well-known feature -- urpmi -- which can be fully setup to include packages not found on the installation medium by using the website EasyURPMI. Gentoo's portage also has an insane number of applications you can easily 'emerge'.
The main downside to Gentoo is that it does take a while to install and you may run into some installation problems which will require you to restart a good portion (or all) of the installation. But it does pay off in the end. Gentoo is faster than other distros such as Mandrake (although that's not that hard) -- while still maintaining the package selection. I have been told that Debian does come with a lot of packages.
I would suggest you simply try an easy distro such as Mandrake. Get a Linux+ (or related) book and study it. Then afterwards, try out a distro such as Gentoo.
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-22 22:35
>>19
you don't necessarily learn the guts of the system or anything with gentoo. there are a lot of configuration files and programs to help.
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-23 20:46
>>22
Uh, not if you build it from Stage 1. In the week that it took me to fully customize and perfect the system (Pentium IIs SUCK ASS with low RAM for compiling), I think I learned more about computers and operating systems than I could ever get in a class.
Name:
Christy McJesus!DcbLlAZi7U2005-05-24 4:06
>>23
See I only did a stage 3 because I didn't have a useable internet connection at the time. I'm gonna do a stage 1 install when I get around to collecting the hardware for my new server.
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-24 4:14
There seems to be a lot of posts going towards Gentoo. Which is simular to Debian in a lot of aspects. How ever as an initial distribution I would recommend an RPM based distro. How ever when using an RPM based distro I would strongly recommend against trying to install anything that does not come with the box, mainly because RPM based distributions break easy. Probably Mandriva is the best. Then once you are familiar with a lot of the programs avaliable to you. That is when you move on to a more hardcore distribution.
Ubuntu is a nice distribution to install in an office or a machine that you are going to be doing simple levels of work, and is expecially nice for people who don't care about computer operating systems and just want to write documents, print, browse and use an instant messanger. How ever if you feal the need to use shockwave, Java or applications that aren't in the initial repository, perhaps it isn't a distribution to settle on.
Debian and Gentoo, use once you know the differences between KDE and Gnome, know what a shell is and know what a "ReiserFS" is.
Linux From Scratch, Gentoo, and that bunch.. Only if you have time.
Personally I would recommend installing a distribution every week or so, until you find something you _really_ like.. Plus if you really want to get the hand at linux, remove Windows (or keep it but only for games) and try complete all your tasks in Linux. It could take a fair bit of googling how ever. :P
Name:
Christy McJesus!DcbLlAZi7U2005-05-25 9:07
>>25
I hope they're going to put mplayer in the Ubuntu repository at some stage. It's not that I'm afraid of downloading it myself and compiling it, but come on, it's mplayer fer cryin out loud!
Name:
CCFreak2K2005-05-25 13:42
My two cents: Slackware. It's a good distro to learn on even if you've only heard of Linux, yet it does not impede you should you decide to start tinkering with your system.
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-25 18:49
>>26
mplayer installs just fine on ubuntu hoary throu apt-get.
OK, I'm using Hoary. I just get a bunch of borked dependencies. I tried to follow them up using packages from the Debian repository, but eventually I got to libc, and you don't wanna replace that. I tried anyway and it ripped out ubuntu-base and a bunch of other important packages. Needs more portage amirite :(
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-26 8:49
>>30
Only for people who shouldn't go anywhere near a command prompt.
This is a useful guide:
a) Am I a server admin or (perhaps) poweruser?
- Yes: go to b)
- No: go to e)
b) Is my time valuable?
- Yes: go to c)
- No: gentoo
c) Must I use a specific distro (ie, like with Oracle DB)?
- Yes: redhat
- No: go to d)
d) Do I need something that just works without reinventing the wheel?
- Yes: slackware
- No: debian (<- holy fuck do they ever reinvent the wheel)
e) Do I have any clue at all?
- Yes: go to f)
- No: Mandrake
f) Am I European?
- Yes: SuSE
- No: Ubuntu
Minor tweaks may apply, some distos may be missing, mileage may vary, product may not appear as advertised, batteries not included.
Ouch, I'm guessing you had to do a reinstall when you removed libc, yes? I also removed libc once, was not fun :/
I installed mplayer when I read >>26, so the problem might have been fixed since you last tried. Eather that or you might have forgotten to add needed repository. I believe multiverse is not a part of a default ubuntu installation (and it did grab dependencies from there), this is from my sources.list:
>>33
Well this was a couple of days ago, and I've got tons of repositories in my list, including that one.
Actually I was lucky, I didn't have to reinstall, I just removed the offending libc and reinstalled the packages that got removed. No one would have known anything had happened except for my going "ohshitohshitohshit!" for a couple of minutes :)
Name:
Anonymous2005-05-30 11:07
SuSE is pretty nice for me
Name:
Anonymous2005-06-03 22:45
>>2
Slackware is very stable. Its not as pretty as the other ones but it will hold up under just about anything.
Name:
Anonymous2005-06-10 0:13
>>4 *BSD FTW
BSD is good simply because it's a minimal system (like Debian)and it is very well documented internally (much better than Linux, in fact).
（￣へ￣） Hello. I am "Mr. Likes To Sage Threads". I do believe this is a thread in need of Sage, so I would like to sage it. That is why my name is "Mr. Likes To Sage Threads".
Name:
Anonymous2011-02-01 13:06
Hello. I am "Mr. Likes To Bump Threads". I do believe this is a thread in need of a Bump, so I would like to bump it. That is why my name is "Mr. Likes to Bump Threads".
（￣へ￣）Hello. I am "Mr. Likes To Hax Anii". I do believe this is an anus in need of Hax, so I would like to hax it. That is why my name is "Mr. Likes To Hax Anii".
What I suggest is to get a large flash drive to store all your files, and try any OS. Don't like it/ it crashes, put in a live disk, get files onto flash drive, wipe install, try again.
>>53
When I install a Linux distribution, I don't want eight extra GIGABYTES of worthless graphical IDEs and package management facilities! I just want a KERNEL!! Not a "Slackware". Not a "Ubuntu". Those don't even make SENSE!!!! LFS! LFS! LFS IS THE STANDARD!!!
I'M KOREAN
SON OF A BITCH LINUX
LINUX IS PIG
DO YOU WANT NO DRIVERS?
DO YOU WANT NO GAMES?
LINUX IS PIG DISGUSTING
RICHARD MATTHEW STALLMAN IS A MURDERER
FUCKING FREEBSD
>>65
yes i agree, but in practice i tend to go for biuo for some reason...
i think the reason is that as i hit the "i" key with my index finger, my natural inclination is to roll to hit the "o" with my middle finger and so that's how it comes out
This must be a FAQ but I don’t see a FAQ button so I’ll ask here: what are the precise selection criteria for a “Linux distribution”? I’m asking since I am considering Mac OSX very much a particular Linux: a branch of debian, with a commercial shell on top. The moment you open an xterm and type “uname -a” you know that you are using a Linux here. However as far as I can tell, it is not in your collection, so I’m guessing it doesn’t meet some kind of criteria for inclusion (which is a pity, since I consider it one of the better put-together distros out there
Name:
Anonymous2011-02-12 21:41
>>50
Wow you're an asshole for assuming he died after only 6 years.
i started on slackware, discovered ubuntu, and slacked off on learning for 5 years.
then i found LFS (linux from scratch) and gained a new appreciation for open source.
grats on pulling such an old thread out of the garbage.
debian 6 is out. i heard it's cool.