We cant tell you what distro + Distro hopping

The title may seem a bit mean to the newer Linux people, but its true.

Linux is a very dynamic system, you are not on Windows, where one glove has to fit all, Linux is a system that is ever changing, and changing at a rate Windows could never reach, and because of this, one glove will never fit your hand, you need to try them.

This is why I recommend a skill called "Distro Hopping" this gives you experience with systems, if you wish to learn with Linux you need this, and it will expose you to Linux in its true form.

Also Linux is just the kernel, so do not go for one which is the fastest, because the differences are minimal at the very best, we use the same kernel, you must edit it your self if it does not fit.

And this is where the distro thing comes into it.

I am an Arch boy, I love the system, but I hate Ubuntu and Mint, You maybe the other way around, or may love/hate both this reason alone we cannot tell you what you need, but we can advise you if you give the correct information to us, and we wont judge if you use a system that we don't like or feel is not the best fit, you are the ultimate decider.

You also need to remember this again, is not Windows so all your apps may not run on Linux, I personally do not use Linux on my desktop as I play games, so I must use Windows for most of them even with software like Wine.

When you come to pick a distro, take a long hard look first, What do you need it for? What do you need the system to give to you? Must you have a specific package manager? are the applications needed on that package manager? with this information, we can guide you and give you our experiences on what we have found best, take all them answers and then begin distro hopping on them suggestions and give them a try for a week.

We are here to support you, not to tell you what you want, We are not Steve Jobs or M$, you have freedom and we know that Linux is a very fragmented system, but with combined knowledge can in some way fine tune and point you to the system that maybe best.

Also, please do NOT say this system is the best, this forum has had many flame wars, they discourage new people and make us look like elitist jerks, which we are not, we are a passionate user base, treat it as one.

Hopefully this should help rule what you must ask so we can help you and support you.

(Re-written)

Distro Hopping.

So I talked about this briefly before, but this is where I will explain what it actually is.

So a lot of people ask "What is the best Linux distro" and above explains why we cant tell you, distro hopping comes in when your searching for that distro that works with you, like this for example

Question - I need a stable system for school work, but I also want to have latest technologies, What is the best distro? (This should be labeled at the end, what would you recommend from experience, not what is the best)

Answer - Well the first would be Debian, a very rock solid based distro based on the apt package manager, it is known for been used in servers for its stability, but has a very stale package base, you could try testing which is still very stable, We then have Ubuntu, based on Debian testing, it is the go to for Linux beginners because it is the best marketed distro around, this will provide a usable system out of the box without much tweaking, it is relatively stable and supports lots of hardware configurations out of the box.

Fedora is rather stable also, based on Yellowdog, updater, modified (YUM) and this uses Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) as a back-end, it is developed by Red Hat developers and is now split into 3 seperate systems, Workstation is the one you need, and is rather stable, offers good packages out of the box, but has less packages in the repo tree than debian, it is also considered bleeding edged, so software is rather new, but still stable, A more user friendly one is Korora, this is like what Ubuntu is to Debian, a pre-configured system on top of Fedora.

Arch Linux, more so Manjaro for the beginners, Manjaro is a more stable Arch Linux system, Arch Linux uses Pacman for packages and the Arch User Repo for building packages your self, it all works rather well and is a personal favorite of mine, although I prefer Arch Base, Manjaro will offer a bleeding edge system with stability and installs a lot of hard to get drivers out of the box using MWHD.

 

Okay so that is what a ideal question may look like, so with them answers, you go download some distros, say Ubuntu, Korora and Manjaro, use the Live CD, or if your willing, bare metal them (Install to hard drive) stay on them for a week, do not use Windows in this week unless you must, this may sound stupid but it is not, if you want to get the most from Linux, you need to stay in its ecosystem as much as possible when on the machine.

So say you try Manjaro for a few days but cant stand it, go try Korora, you may like it, so you try Ubuntu and like it a lot and it fits your needs, sit on that distro for a little while longer and see if it works, if it does chances are you have found a distro that fits you, remember you can always look online if you need help adding in kernels and tweaking the system, always remember that what you get on disc is not the final product it can always be changed.

Using these methods you will learn about Linux and find the distro you want, this was just a cut down example though, it can be a lot more complicated dependent on needs, but the community together has a lot of knowledge so don't be scared to ask us, just don't expect the best distro, its all opinionated and based on usage.

4 Likes

Finally. Someone gets it!!!

This post should at least be mentioned on other threads where they're looking for the "right" distribution. There needs to be a sticky about distro hopping for new users, unless Wendel mentions it in one of his upcoming videos. I feel like people looking to experience linux for the first time are intimidated by the number of different choices. They feel like they can only make one choice and approach the subject like buying a new proprietary OS.

ill write something about that soon :)

This should be stickied along with the GNU/Linux Links thread. The best we can do is provide an info-base on the general jist of each distro. Give them what they need to know about the most practical ones, and let them decide from there. For someone who knows NOTHING about Linux it is really really hard to make decisions on which distro you choose. Especially when it is sometimes hard to find info about each one.

For example I am limited in my choice of Debian based distros because of my network hardware being new. When I was first distro-hopping I was looking at distros like Lubuntu and Xubuntu and trying to find out which kernel they run on, but often times that info was quite obscure. Some Debian distros work, some don't. And since I have very limited bandwidth (barely 3Mb/s) I can't exactly waste my time pissing downstream width out the window downloading different distros all day.

While I agree with basically anything you said, I'd say you can still give general recommendations, especially for people trying GNU/Linux for the first time.

While I'm an Arch user myself, I'd probably not recommend it to someone who has never ever tinkered around with Linux before. Not because it's utterly hard or anything, but it might be somewhat discouraging if you do not find a good guide to set it up. I've installed Arch quite a few times, yet I still use guides and so on to make sure I have not forgotten something, and fix hardware specific problems (like the 480797 ones on my Vaio Pro 13).

Sure, if it's your first time knowingly touching Linux, and you manage to get your Arch running, it's a nice experience and somewhat of a success (Hell, I've been very happy when I finally got it running for the first time, eventhough I had been using Linux for a while before that).

But recommending an "utter noob" (no offense) something like Debian or even Ubuntu, just for it's simplicity of install / dual boot setup, to make them lick blood the first time and get into, might not be a bad idea aswell ^^

And well, about being "elitist", the Archforums are quite elitist and you get shut down pretty quick if your questions seems "too obvious" to them, even though you've checked the wiki, but you've been overwhelmed by the info thrown at you ;P 

I can agree that those on the Arch forums are weird. Just answer the damn question instead of throwing a fit.

Nice thread. I for one started with ubuntu, went through different desktop managers, and finally tried mint. I like mint xfce because it doesn't have as much problems as I had with ubuntu. For most it's the other way around. Laptops tend to have specific hardware problems like this.

You should have pointed out the need to partition properly. Having a /home separate will make it much easier to hop around distros.

Problem is a lot of new users do not understand partitioning, Windows does everything for you, a lot of new users will not understand how to to setup GPT and then setup / /home swap and /boot 

           ..."Problem is a lot of new users do not understand partitioning"


The same could be said about many experienced linux users who don't even know how to partition servers properly. It's funny - I see it a lot.

I wouldnt even know where to begin with servers, I can do a home desktop rather well, but most times I still prefer the built in one with stuff like debian, just because I am lazy lol

+1 Xdroid

+1 thirdmortal   (if you think the partitioning explanantion is rough - try explaning virtualbox to someone ...I stongly suggest you not have anything blunt or sharp laying around for the first hour of it. For both you and the users safety)

I think this post should be stickied to every nix forum on the net.

its good advice to cover just about any task. i tell clients who want to take the nix plunge that if you cant first figure out the answer to this question on your own, your distro tour of Linux probably wont last very long. If you arent brave enough to dive in somewhere, break stuff, fix stuff, search hours for solutions, all youre doing is creating work for the lifeguard. Ive watched a lot of forums just ignore the question entirely.

@XDroid - Awesome topic man

I'm shocked someone is not hear spouting the joys of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. 

XDroided626 thank you for this post.

 

Also, please do NOT say this system is the best, this forum has had many flame wars, they discourage new people and make us look like elitist jerks, which we are not, we are a passionate user base, treat it as one.

That is true. The best distro is the one that does work for you, has every package you need and desire and that makes you happy. I myself am using Gentoo last 5 years and before i have used Slackware from 2003 and Mandrake from 1998 to 2003.

@Lutherus

Even to this day - having cut my teeth on Slackware as well - still consider the Slackware brand holy. 

Could we add something here about creating a different partition for /home? For people trying out different distros being able to keep files around would be good, and for someone new might really help them out.

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Stopped reading there.

Then you missed the entire point

What point? Entering Linux doesn't require a huge introduction.

You pick some distros, pick a way to try them (VM, partition, etc.) then you play around with them. Don't know how to do something you want to? Google it and learn. Still want to learn more? Find IRC channels or places with experienced Linux users who will gladly answer questions.

Done, that's all you ever need to tell anyone when they want to get into Linux.