Favorite Linux OS? Put in your 2 cents.

disi

Could you explain, why :
Ubuntu install (x86) without X or anything: ~1000 packages
Gentoo install (x86) with kernel etc.: ~250 packages

ally_uk

Debian netinstall version for when I need to get a system up fast, I usually add a GUI when required.

Ubuntu Server is my fave distro to use for a full blown server, easy to setup and easy to use.

For Home Use and Media I use Linux Mint, Based on Ubuntu, Nice clean layout, Plenty of preconfigured packages to handle all your media needs and again easy to use.

I also have Mint running on my netbook did have Ubuntu Netbook remix but I just prefer Mint for some strange reason even though they are essentially the same thing lol

UnixGeek

disi wrote: »

Could you explain, why :
Ubuntu install (x86) without X or anything: ~1000 packages
Gentoo install (x86) with kernel etc.: ~250 packages

They're targeting different markets. Ubuntu is going after people who want a functional system out of the box without a lot of customization. Gentoo is targetting people who love customizing their systems.

MentholMoose

disi wrote: »

Could you explain, why :
Ubuntu install (x86) without X or anything: ~1000 packages
Gentoo install (x86) with kernel etc.: ~250 packages

The packages of Gentoo aren't directly comparable to those of other distributions, including Ubuntu. Gentoo has USE flags, so when you enable a USE flag to add a feature, it is included in the package when it is built. With Ubuntu and similar distributions, adding a feature means adding a package, so if those features are included by default, it will add to the package count.

A simple example is the program "Liferea", an RSS reader. On Fedora, you have the base package for it and an additional package that adds webkit support (via a single library file):
liferea.i386 : An RSS/RDF feed reader
liferea-WebKit.i386 : WebKit support for Liferea

With Gentoo, webkit support is specified via a USE flag on the package and the extra library will just be included:
[ebuild N ] net-news/liferea-1.4.28-r1 USE="dbus gnutls webkit xulrunner -debug -gtkhtml -libnotify -lua -networkmanager" 1,658 kB

I don't know exactly what is causing the huge different in package quantity, but I think a big contributor could be localization files. With Gentoo, you specify which languages you want (e.g. using LINGUAS), and they will often be included in the base package, whereas with other distributions you have additional packages for every language. I suspect Ubuntu may be installing a bunch of localization files by default.

abefroman

I have a desktop with Kubuntu
A Netbook with Eeebuntu
and for servers I swear by CentOS.

exampasser

I like Fedora 11, but like other distros it's a pain to install programs without an Internet connect (don't have an internet connection on that machine yet). I love getting the missing dependencies error . . .

disi

MentholMoose that is not totally correct...

Gentoo uses ebuilds and in those "installscripts" it checks if a certain feature is requested via USE flag. If it is, the package is ./configured with the support AND all needed dependencies are solved by installing the nessecary additional packages. Every dependency counts as a package.

Let say you install the system and don't want X, you can use -X as USE flag. From now on every ebuild will not install GUI dependencies (like an X server etc.).

It also uses predefined USE flags via profiles. lets say you want to set up a desktop, then you choose the current 10.0 desktop profile and have a lot of X depending USE flags. For a hardened server you get only totally stable and secure packages+USE flags and no X etc.

I agree in Unbuntu all those choices are done for you automatically, which is not a bad thing either for most users.

This ends up in distro wars, which is useless as mentioned before that it's the choice or need of the user/service that makes the decision.

My question was more why "installing Gentoo is a nice experience and then you switch to Ubuntu."?

//edit: little example:
networkmanager-0.8.0_pre20091105

those packages are at least needed for networkworkmanager to work:
>=sys-apps/dbus-1.2
>=dev-libs/dbus-glib-0.75
>=net-wireless/wireless-tools-28_pre9
>=sys-fs/udev-145[extras]
>=dev-libs/glib-2.16
>=sys-auth/polkit-0.92
>=dev-libs/libnl-1.1
>=net-misc/modemmanager-0.2
>=net-wireless/wpa_supplicant-0.5.10[dbus]
if you want bluetooth support, this package is needed:
bluetooth?
( net-wireless/bluez )

||
( sys-libs/e2fsprogs-libs <sys-fs/e2fsprogs-1.41.0 )
if you want avahi support this package is needed:
avahi?
( net-dns/avahi[autoipd] )

etc.

of course has the package "bluez" also an ebuild, which might require more packages to be installed...

//edit: and I found this one: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7574/1/
A benchmark for Gentoo with different optimization levels against Ubuntu. Technically you can use any Os, O2 or O3 and cannot be slower than Ubuntu. *sorry

MentholMoose

Enabling features with USE flags indeed will pull in extra dependencies. However, enabling features on other distributions will also pull in those dependencies, plus in many cases additional app-specific package(s), thus inflating the package count compared to Gentoo. So for Liferea, enabling webkit on Gentoo would only pull in some webkit libraries, whereas on Fedora it will pull in those libraries, plus the Liferea-specific webkit package.

I don't have a Ubuntu server install available, but I do happen to have an openSUSE server. There are some packages that are split like I suggested, e.g. six CUPS-related packages are installed whereas on my Gentoo desktop there is only one. Overall the effect isn't tremendous but does exist. There don't seem to be many localization-related packages, though.

One big contributor to the package count is actually the package manager yast... I have over 60 yast-related packages on my openSUSE install!! There are many other openSUSE-specific packages, too (20 packages with "suse" in the name). Gentoo has distribution-specific packages, too, but I think it's much less (portage, baselayout, a few eselect, gentoolkit if you want it, etc.).

There are also some packages that don't really need to be there, like bluetooth libraries and various audio-related packages. As you mention, with Gentoo these things (and many more) can be left out easily by setting USE flags and choosing the right profile, whereas they seem to be installed by default on openSUSE.

Regarding your question about why switch, I don't know, I use Gentoo.

EDIT: thanks for the benchmark link.

abefroman

exampasser wrote: »

I like Fedora 11, but like other distros it's a pain to install programs without an Internet connect (don't have an internet connection on that machine yet). I love getting the missing dependencies error . . .

Whats really fun is when you finally find the rpm for the dependency, and then that has dependancies it needs.

L0gicB0mb508

abefroman wrote: »

Whats really fun is when you finally find the rpm for the dependency, and then that has dependancies it needs.

RPM!? Isn't that something an engine does!? Install from source you panzy!
Yeah I'm just kidding. I couldn't help myself

exampasser

abefroman wrote: »

Whats really fun is when you finally find the rpm for the dependency, and then that has dependancies it needs.

That's happened to me.

exampasser

L0gicB0mb508 wrote: »

RPM!? Isn't that something an engine does!? Install from source you panzy!
Yeah I'm just kidding. I couldn't help myself

I tried installing from source but I need GCC so when I tried to install the GCC rpm I got more missing dependencies. . .

L0gicB0mb508

exampasser wrote: »

I tried installing from source but I need GCC so when I tried to install the GCC rpm I got more missing dependencies. . .

well you pwnd me

exampasser

Well I now have an internet connection for my linux machine and not the add/remove software in Fedora has as status of "waiting in queue" . . . when I try to update/install software via yum I sometimes get the error saying its being used by another process and have to reboot the machine. I assume this has something to do with the add/remove software not working.

marco71

exampasser wrote: »

Well I now have an internet connection for my linux machine and not the add/remove software in Fedora has as status of "waiting in queue" . . . when I try to update/install software via yum I sometimes get the error saying its being used by another process and have to reboot the machine. I assume this has something to do with the add/remove software not working.

linux does need a reboot only when add a new kernel or a new hardware ... it is not windoze

veritas_libertas

abefroman wrote: »

Whats really fun is when you finally find the rpm for the dependency, and then that has dependancies it needs.

That is why I can't stand Linux. Actually it's not so much that, I just don't have time to play with it right now... Down the line maybe...

veritas_libertas

120nm4n wrote: »

Ditto. A lot of people say that Ubuntu is getting a little bloated, but for what I need it for, it runs perfectly fast.

Having used the latest Ubuntu I wouldn't say it is bloated, especially since it is faster than the last release...

Anyone tried Ubuntu One yet?
https://one.ubuntu.com/

Mrock4

I prefer Ubuntu. I was a long-time Windows user, and switched to Ubuntu when I ran out of keys for my XP disk, and was too cheap to buy a fresh copy. I had already played with Ubuntu for a year or so on my laptop (secondary system), but it was still kind of a leap to switch from windows to linux as my full-time OS. So far, I'm happy. I don't see myself going back to windows, although I will probably purchase a laptop in the future and have it run windows for traveling purposes.

disi

Northbr1dge wrote: »

That's the first time I've seen the almighty "Unfakeable" Linux mentioned in the thread, even if it is just in reference. Is there a reason why Red Hat isn't more popular amongst you guys, instead of Fedora and CentOS? Besides cost, that is.

Back on track, I really want to like Fedora, I really do. I ALWAYS have issues installing simple things like swfdec / flash, to the point I get frustrated and reinstall Ubuntu. I attribute that mostly to *nix inexperience though

Well, the reason is probably that Redhat is not "really" free. You can access the software repository but not the OS itself (AFAIK). That's what CentOS does, if you configure yum to use the original RedHat sources you can build a complete copy. The OS itself is nice, but I only use default stuff. Like installing some server and then working on the configs rather than work on the system itself. I once read through the part, how to build a custom kernel and was fed up already (that looked quiet complicated to me to work around all those default things in the kernel).

UnixGeek

Northbr1dge wrote: »

Is there a reason why Red Hat isn't more popular amongst you guys, instead of Fedora and CentOS? Besides cost, that is.

Cost is the biggest factor. CentOS also lets you skip the RHN registration process. I have nothing against RedHat, and have recommended license purchases to customers who wanted the extra support that a RHEL subscription brings. They keep a lot of Linux developers on the payroll so buying a subscription is a way of giving back.

Plantwiz

Collect them all

The LiveCD List

Forsaken_GA

My favorite really depends on what I'm doing.

My laptop is a Mac, so I like MacOS X for it. When I'm running linux on a workstation, it's usually Ubuntu (I hate Fedora with a passion). Ubuntu is quick, easy and more or less brainless for me, it has almost everything I need out of the box, so I can spend more time doing the work I need the workstation to do, instead of working on making the workstation work (somewhere, my grammar teacher is having a conniption fit for that sentence...)

For a server, it again depends on what the role is. The majority of the time, it's going to be Debian. The rest of the time, it's going to be CentOS (usually when I need LDAP running.... Debian screwed the pooch on their OpenLDAP package when they started linking it against gnutls instead of openssl, made it a much bigger pain in the neck to deal with than it should have been).

Basically, my favorite Linux OS is the best one for the job I need Linux doing, and that's not distribution dependant

stephens316

I am running BackTrack 4 with VmWare Windows 7P image.

e24ohm

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

My favorite really depends on what I'm doing.

My laptop is a Mac, so I like MacOS X for it. When I'm running linux on a workstation, it's usually Ubuntu (I hate Fedora with a passion). Ubuntu is quick, easy and more or less brainless for me, it has almost everything I need out of the box, so I can spend more time doing the work I need the workstation to do, instead of working on making the workstation work (somewhere, my grammar teacher is having a conniption fit for that sentence...)

For a server, it again depends on what the role is. The majority of the time, it's going to be Debian. The rest of the time, it's going to be CentOS (usually when I need LDAP running.... Debian screwed the pooch on their OpenLDAP package when they started linking it against gnutls instead of openssl, made it a much bigger pain in the neck to deal with than it should have been).

Basically, my favorite Linux OS is the best one for the job I need Linux doing, and that's not distribution dependant

Just curious, but why do you hate Fedora so much?

e24ohm

Desktop - Ubuntu

Network Utilitiy machine - Fedora - just for: snort, kismet and wireshark "think i have nagios and cacti on it at my work"

Server - CentOS

morepowerr

Been running Ubuntu on my desktop (now netbook) for about 4 years. Well scents Edgy at lest. Before that used Slackware. I am looking in to maybe going to Backtrack 4 here soon.

I think it was the pre-made packages that made me switch. Got to lazy to compile every thing my self.

rage_hog

I use BT4 final.
EOF

marco71

I'm SuSE user since the distro was owned by SUSE GmbH, before Novell (I started with SuSE Pro 7.1, follwed by v8.1, v9.1, v9.2, v9.3 and OpenSUSE)...
also used Debian since version potato 2.2r7, followed by Woody (3.0), Etch (4.0), Lenny (5.0) ... and still using Debian -unstable (Sid) on two notebooks ... the third has OpenSUSE 11.2
... and used tons of other linux distros, more debian-like and slackware-like (the list is too long to be mentioned here), but my favorite distro remains Slackware, which replaced forever Windows on my desktop, ten yrs. ago :P
for servers, I prefer CentOS (branch 5, of course, also used branch 4 a lot), but also managed SLES v10 and RHEL v4 AS/v5 ES servers for customers

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Flickr: marco7l's Photostream

casperz4

I've used Mandriva, Backtrack, Fedora, Ubuntu, DSL, Redhat.
I liked Mandriva
I just finished a crash course in Linux. I found it hard to understand.
A lot to remember
It was suppose to prepare me for the cert... I think I better take it over again.

whutupper

I'm running fedora core aka red hat on a old PPC based Powermac G4.