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#1 2004-11-01 00:24:58

GuyonAsm
Member
Registered: 2004-05-25
Posts: 49

What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

I've been using arch for a while now. I want to get a friend of mine interested in Linux, but he's not that fast of a learner, and I know he wouldn't want to do everything manually. So what other distro has features similar to Archlinux(mainly pacman), and is relatively easy to work with?

In time, I want to work him over to arch, but I know he's not ready for it yet.

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#2 2004-11-01 00:44:11

dp
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From: Zürich, Switzerland
Registered: 2003-05-27
Posts: 3,378
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Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

the only system i would recommend, that is comparable, is apt-get from debian

an "easy" linux is mandrake, but it has some other negative aspects, that i would not suggest a newbie to linux to confront to (it's easier to learn alittle and then really use linux the "linux-way" instead of spending hours on switching distros that are more MSwindows-like)


The impossible missions are the only ones which succeed.

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#3 2004-11-01 00:46:50

GuyonAsm
Member
Registered: 2004-05-25
Posts: 49

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

Hmm, I guess I'll have a look at Debian then. Thanks for the information. big_smile

*edit edit*

From what I just read about it, I think it'll be viable. I'm hoping the transition from that to Arch later on won't be too hard on him.

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#4 2004-11-01 00:57:48

dp
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From: Zürich, Switzerland
Registered: 2003-05-27
Posts: 3,378
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Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

GuyonAsm wrote:

Hmm, I guess I'll have a look at Debian then. Thanks for the information. big_smile

*edit edit*

From what I just read about it, I think it'll be viable. I'm hoping the transition from that to Arch later on won't be too hard on him.

using both is _very_ similar ... installing them is a little bit different and configuring them also alittle different, but the idea is the same


The impossible missions are the only ones which succeed.

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#5 2004-11-01 00:59:39

cactus
Taco Eater
From: t͈̫̹ͨa͖͕͎̱͈ͨ͆ć̥̖̝o̫̫̼s͈̭̱̞͍̃!̰
Registered: 2004-05-25
Posts: 4,622
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Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

distrowatch.com is a good resources as well. They have some descriptions of some of the more "mainstream" distributions.

[edit]
just checked the distrowatch website, and ARCH is headline news! w00t!


"Be conservative in what you send; be liberal in what you accept." -- Postel's Law
"tacos" -- Cactus' Law
"t̥͍͎̪̪͗a̴̻̩͈͚ͨc̠o̩̙͈ͫͅs͙͎̙͊ ͔͇̫̜t͎̳̀a̜̞̗ͩc̗͍͚o̲̯̿s̖̣̤̙͌ ̖̜̈ț̰̫͓ạ̪͖̳c̲͎͕̰̯̃̈o͉ͅs̪ͪ ̜̻̖̜͕" -- -̖͚̫̙̓-̺̠͇ͤ̃ ̜̪̜ͯZ͔̗̭̞ͪA̝͈̙͖̩L͉̠̺͓G̙̞̦͖O̳̗͍

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#6 2004-11-01 01:00:48

Xentac
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From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2003-01-17
Posts: 1,797
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Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

Fedora has auto updating and installing too... as does SuSE...


I have discovered that all of mans unhappiness derives from only one source, not being able to sit quietly in a room
- Blaise Pascal

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#7 2004-11-01 01:10:16

dp
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From: Zürich, Switzerland
Registered: 2003-05-27
Posts: 3,378
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Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

Xentac wrote:

Fedora has auto updating and installing too... as does SuSE...

yes, but i used debian for long and never had conflicts that broke system ... fedora broke it in the 3rd update i run  :evil: // suse i quit with version 7.1 and will never use it again (it's too expensive)


The impossible missions are the only ones which succeed.

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#8 2004-11-01 01:16:04

Xentac
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From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2003-01-17
Posts: 1,797
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Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

Using testing/frozen and unstable I ran into package conflicts in Debian.  I got very good at fixing things the Debian way.

I had a friend who wanted to learn Linux start out with Debian.  He really hated it.  More recently, he's been using Red Hat (and now Fedora) and has actually learned how to use Linux (and I don't mean as a user... he's learned the process to learn in Linux).


I have discovered that all of mans unhappiness derives from only one source, not being able to sit quietly in a room
- Blaise Pascal

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#9 2004-11-01 01:55:35

colnago
Member
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2004-03-25
Posts: 438

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

Check out frugalware, it actually uses pacman.

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#10 2004-11-01 02:15:53

punkass
Member
Registered: 2004-03-25
Posts: 23

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

Check out Ubuntu.

Based on Debian with Gnome 2.8, easy setup/HW dectection etc.

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#11 2004-11-01 04:27:06

aCoder
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From: Medina, OH
Registered: 2004-03-07
Posts: 359
Website

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

Ubuntu is alright, but I strongly recommend against Debian.  It is evil.


If you develop an ear for sounds that are musical it is like developing an ego. You begin to refuse sounds that are not musical and that way cut yourself off from a good deal of experience.
  - John Cage

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#12 2004-11-01 04:56:46

afu
Member
From: Tuscalooser, Alabummer
Registered: 2004-02-19
Posts: 155

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

Help him install Arch. Really, after the install, Arch is simple, nothing to learn. Fedora would be good too. Mandrake is my vote for a first distro, or at least it use to be. I haven't used it since ver 7 days.

If you want to learn, Slackware is the one.

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#13 2004-11-01 06:26:46

hyp0luxa
Member
From: Miami, FL
Registered: 2004-07-10
Posts: 70

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

afu wrote:

Help him install Arch.

You'd be doing him a favor.  Debian is not all that noob-friendly anyway, in my opinion.

You could always turn him on to Gentoo!  :twisted:

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#14 2004-11-01 11:57:05

soniX
Member
From: Oslo, Norway
Registered: 2004-01-23
Posts: 161

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

Suse, Mandrake and Fedora are all gentle introductions to the world of linux.

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#15 2004-11-01 11:59:54

onami
Member
From: Romania
Registered: 2004-05-05
Posts: 197

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

xandros may be an alternative.
good hw detection, based on debian winshit like kde


Forever newbie !!!

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#16 2004-11-01 12:19:20

Dreameen
Member
From: Poland
Registered: 2004-09-06
Posts: 252

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

I think Mandrake is one of the best noob-friendly distros out there. It also has 'urpmi' which is kind of similar to pacman.

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#17 2004-11-01 12:24:52

z4ziggy
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2004-03-29
Posts: 573
Website

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

i think im gonna install Fefora on one of my partitions, just to check out... i wanna see their install process (gui, ea? tongue) and see how far they have come with the rpm packaging stuff... i have only bad memories from the RedHat days wink

mainly, i want to compare performance issues - see if my conclusions about Arch being so damn-fast are accurate tongue

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#18 2004-11-01 17:22:37

onami
Member
From: Romania
Registered: 2004-05-05
Posts: 197

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

fedora is very low
it does not have a esd daemon, so place:
esd & in /etc/rc.local.
disable the unwanted daemons, there are a few.
and install apt-get.

after this you will have a user friendly fedora
environment.

http://home.gagme.com/greg/linux/fc2-tips.php
this can help


Forever newbie !!!

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#19 2004-11-01 17:30:28

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

z4ziggy wrote:

i think im gonna install Fefora on one of my partitions, just to check out... i wanna see their install process (gui, ea? tongue) and see how far they have come with the rpm packaging stuff... i have only bad memories from the RedHat days wink

mainly, i want to compare performance issues - see if my conclusions about Arch being so damn-fast are accurate tongue

i think the fedora GUI installeris 100% python IIRC - which is awesome

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#20 2004-11-01 17:55:09

Moo-Crumpus
Member
From: Hessen / Germany
Registered: 2003-12-01
Posts: 1,487

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

No one, in the end. debian and debian based ones have problems as their base is out dated, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. I will never again use any rpm based distro, and gentoo means compile your cpu to death.

Maybe linux from scratch, to get rid of my beloved rc.conf.


Frumpus addict
[mu'.krum.pus], [frum.pus]

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#21 2004-11-01 18:09:11

dp
Member
From: Zürich, Switzerland
Registered: 2003-05-27
Posts: 3,378
Website

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

what about giving this person a knoppix-cd to play around?


The impossible missions are the only ones which succeed.

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#22 2004-11-01 18:11:54

xerxes2
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From: Malmoe, Sweden
Registered: 2004-04-23
Posts: 1,249
Website

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

I thought miss Pink Chick liked ubuntu...


arch + gentoo + initng + python = enlisy

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#23 2004-11-01 18:33:38

GuyonAsm
Member
Registered: 2004-05-25
Posts: 49

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

Ah wow. I go to sleep, wake up, and then, there are so many replies. big_smile

I've had a look at Knoppix, and Feather Linux(which is a chopped down version of Knoppix). Downloaded both and tried them out. Seem to be very good for recovery perhaps, but to learn from is it suitable?

Can you save these to harddisk for actual normal day usage? If so I'll have a look into it.

I'd really consider setting it up for him(Arch that is), but I dont like doing work for other people, I feel everyone should learn how to do things as such on their own, when they are ready. If I do it for him, he gets the easy way out, but then is at a disadvantage, because he hasn't learned.

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#24 2004-11-01 18:34:04

Moo-Crumpus
Member
From: Hessen / Germany
Registered: 2003-12-01
Posts: 1,487

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

Oh, boy, he nailed me ... smile
ubuntu is the distro I would prefer ... if arch wasn't better. Never say goodbye, you named it!


Frumpus addict
[mu'.krum.pus], [frum.pus]

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#25 2004-11-01 18:55:44

ScottTFrazer
Member
Registered: 2004-10-20
Posts: 47

Re: What other Linux Distro would you recommend?

I'm running Ubuntu on my IBM ThinkPad.  Detected damn near everything out of the box, and the wireless setup is a breeze.

Some of the packages remain a bit out of date (firefox 0.9.3?) but I really like the "no root, use sudo" nature of the system.

I'm growing to like KDE better than gnome, though.  someone shoot me.

And after having used yum, synaptic, yast, pacman and emerge, I'll never use a system without some sort of package management again :-)

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