The Big Linux Distro Thread

General Discussions
#1

Hopefully a magnet for such discussions, focusing on clientside distros suitable for development on modern PCs.

The story so far: every time I try Linux, I discover that it is in some way shit, for example, the various sound drivers available (“so now the user can choose in what way his audio is broken”), graphics drivers (some sort of ideological bullshit about open source vs. closed drivers), and ultimately, shitty, ugly desktops that almost make me retch to gaze upon (Unity, I despise you only slightly more than all of the others).

Lately I’ve tried Mint, after a ghastly experience trying to use Ubuntu. I found Mint to feel almost bearable and yet it managed to blow up and leave me with a broken system in short order. This will not do.

Cas :slight_smile:

#2

Release The Kraken!

#3

OpenSUSE is my favourite distro, pretty much just works (once the appropriate repo’s have been added). Also probably the best distro for KDE users which IMO is current the best linux desktop environment.

#4

I remember how Linux community fixed that screen resolution problem when GUI just doesn’t work and you have to edit xorg.conf manually writing mode-lines.
They were just releasing distrs saying that “NOW THIS TIME IT WORKS” until some day all CRT monitors just went extinct and were replaced by LCD-screens.

#5

Are there any distros that don’t insist on managing the entire software suite available for them? I much prefer the Windows / Mac way of installing distribution-agnostic software as standalone units without all that dependency crap (which is where, inevitably, it always explodes and leaves me with a fuxx0red system)

Cas :slight_smile:

#6

I’ve only tried knoppix, ubuntu, mint and raspbian wheezy for the raspberry pi ( debian cut down version i think), and debian on VMPlayer to run SWGEmu. So far mint is my prefered distro. I just wanted an easy route to linux as I’ve mostly only used windows for many years. I started with a zx81, BBCs and acorn electron and used to using dos, so the terminal isn’t to alien, but I still prefer to point and click and mint lets me use it the way I’m used to most of the time. Installing video drivers can be tricky but there is usually someone who has done it before and written a guide.

#7

For experimenting…grab virtualbox images…no install hassel just the download time and off you go. Actually I’m thinking about trying out virutalbox only. I stopped that at one point because 3D support was iffy…might be better now.

#8

Its pretty much how most modern distro’s work and for the better IMO. Package managers are a lot easier to use these days then to manually down and install apps (or worse manually compile).

You just add new repo’s if the current ones don’t have the app you need. For games you can just install Steam on Linux, which again pretty much works in the same way.

#9

VirtualBox sadly still doesn’t cut it :frowning: 3D stuff barely runs at all properly. Otherwise I’d be using it a lot.

Cas :slight_smile:

#10

Lol. Everything the OP said is why I hate but love Linux, I am currently dual booting Windows 8 and Linux.

I use the crunchbang distro, it pretty much has nothing that you mentioned. Well I had a complete horrid time trying to get my optimus to work.

However it comes with almost zero software, only stuff required to run, it has NO DESKTOP. Everything is run by shortcuts or a menu you summon with the Windows key, everything is ridiculously customizable, literally everything,

Also it’s only 700mb, so it fits on 1 dollah usb drives that you can fire into random computers to gain access to shit and you can just ditch the USB when shit hits the fan…college is fun :stuck_out_tongue:

#11

Ubuntu has been great and reliable for me (but I use it with Gnome, which I prefer over Unity. If you hate Unity, you could try UbuntuGNOME or install Gnome yourself on a ‘standard’ Ubuntu install).
No big problems with drivers or whatever, unlike on my Windows machines I have to say.

Never had stability issues with ubuntu’s software repository either, although I do have to admit I always hold my breath with that dependency stuff because I tend to expect it to blow up in my face for some reason. Knock on wood, but it never did.
You can always manually install software, just like on win/mac (which I often do, especially when it comes to IDEs).

I dunno, I always have the feeling that Windows (every single one after XP) is working against me, instead of for me. It just seems so… I dunno… stiff, unfriendly, and increasingly imposing.
Ubuntu otoh, while not perfect, has pretty much always been smooth sailing for me. I hated it when they switched to Unity though, because I hate changes like that. But Gnome is nice.

#12

Tested recently on recent versions?? (Please tell me no…'cause it’d really make my life easier).

#13

Only a few months ago :frowning: Varying degrees of hassle. Might try it again - they tweak it frequently.

Something that particularly makes me cross is what passes for the “File Manager” in Linux. Astoundingly it is actually worse than Windows Explorer in almost every way. Though possibly a bit better than the inexplicably travesty that Mac users have to live with. It’s possibly not so much of a burden for people who resort to commandline wankery all the time or who just treat their computers like buckets of shit (“oh noes my computer’s brain is full! I will have to buy a new one!”) but I use Windows Explorer a lot.

I suppose all that’s really important to me is:
-Some decent SFTP GUI
-Java
-Eclipse
-OpenGL
-Steam
-File manager that is not awful
-Chrome
-7Zip
-Dropbox
-Skype
-Some equivalent of WinAmp that is not utterly despicably bad
-Photoshop (hmm)

Cas :slight_smile:

#14

Can’t speak for Gnome, but KDE’s Dolphin file manager is fantastic, can even be made to look and function like Windows Explorer.

Filezilla seems to work well as a GUI ftp/sftp program on linux (has a windows version too).

Eclipse, OpenGL, Steam, Chrome, Dropbox and Skype are available on linux and work like their windows counterparts.

As for an alternative to WinAMP and 7Zip there are quiet a few choices but can’t really recommend a single best.

Photoshop is a difficult one to replace, you could maybe run it using Wine or try one of the apps like Gimp, Krita or Inkscape to fill its place.

#15

Dolphin’s a perfect example of what I hate about it :frowning: Seems that the UI is deliberately all over the place and wastes space wherever possible. Anyone remember Directory Opus on the Amiga? Sigh.

Cas :slight_smile:

#16

Granted I’m not using file managers often - except midnight commander, but I find dolphin to be rather clean: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1615755/dolphin.png - certainly a long way from Directory Opus (heh, old times…). Dolphin can speak sftp too - good enough for simple operations.

Dropbox for linux is ok, but I believe the OS integration is better under win and osx.

If you go the KDE way, amarok is really nice. Quite different from how I remember winamp though. I also believe Ark (KDE’s zip/unzipper) handles most formats, although gzip and bzip are more common in linux land.

Edit: KDE is butt-ugly in its default configuration, but can be made to look really nice. Also much less mouse-centric than the other window managers etc.

#17

Yup agreed, Dolphin is totally configurable and can be made to look however you like (including toolbar size and how much space they take up). Customisability is one of the fundamental areas where Gnome and KDE differ in philosophy.

#18

I personally like Dolphin because of the built-in terminal. It’s nice to run commands without havig to type ls every now and then because you forgot what the directory looked like.

I’ve found Firefox to run better than Chromium, but maybe that’s just me.

Ark is a pretty neat tool for archives.

#19

[30-page rant intestifies]

  • Jev
#20

Three reasons Linux is perfect for developers:

  • The shell. A great shell is central for developers and science/engineering types. Windows cmd.exe is absolutely horrible. Microsoft tried to one-up the UNIX shell people with PowerShell, but it sucks and only appeals to the ultra-Microsoft types. Most of the Java ecosystem is designed for shell use. You should be using the shell for your primary build with a tool like Gradle or SBT (Maven is the dominant tool but it is not as good). You should be using the shell for git. You should use the shell for browsing files. Also Matlab/Octave/R/Python/Ruby work all are designed to be run in shells. Macs do have the same high quality shells that Linux does, but Windows is terrible for shell use.
  • Repos: A large base of software is available through the repo system which just makes installation much simpler. None of the headaches associated with Mac/Windows installers.
  • Clean and hyper customizable: None of the crap that Apple/Microsoft and various peripheral vendors want to put on your system. Linux is ideal if you like a lean, clean, elegant system. The GUI is minimal and that’s great.

I’m not sure what you mean by “ugly desktops”? Do you mean the background wallpaper image when you hide everything else you are doing? Usually you should be using a web browser, text editor, IDE, or a shell window, and all those look great. The point-and-click widget type apps are terrible on desktop Linux.

If you need to resize an image or convert from one format to another, a Windows user would use a point-and-click app. A Linux user would just use a command line utility, which is far simpler and batchable if you can think that way.

BTW, I’m a fan of Canonical’s Unity as it minimizes the point-and-click GUI elements, which are probably the worst part of desktop Linux. I want to use a shell window, IDE, or web browser, and I want the rest of the computer to disappear.