After messing with Fedora 15, 16, Ubuntu 10.10 - 11.10, OpenSuse 11.(something), and Mint 10 -12. I personally think that Mint 12 is the winner. I say this because they handled to desktop environment change the best of them all. They took a very practical approach to how Gnome has changed along with including MATE which is basically the old version of Gnome (for those still attached to it).
Plus it still includes all the non-free software you need (audio-video codecs, Sun Java, etc)
I started with Ubuntu(By the way, it's pronounced "ooboontoo") 8.04, and I was dual-booting with Vista(Just don't... xD). I liked it, but alongside Vista it seemed really, really slow, so I got rid of it and stuck with Vista. When I finally got my new netbook with Windows 7, I installed Ubuntu 11.04 on my PC. Before deciding on Ubuntu, I tried Linux Mint 11 on a USB install, and it was abysmal... Linux Mint, in my opinion, is a buggy flavor of Linux for newbie's who can't let go of Windows... :)
I'm using Debian Testing which is pretty stable right now. Sure Debian has older packages but Debian has always been about stability and that's why SO many distros are based on it. Including Ubuntu. Debian also makes a great server operating system. I really love Debian :)
I'm thinking of switching to Debian . As you know Ubuntu is based on Debian, but what you may not know is Debian only uses stable versions of software , and Ubuntu use all new stuff even if it's buggy . They also have a software center just like Ubuntu , but the Debian Software Center is under Administration . The downside is they don't support the idea of paid software .
I started with Ubuntu & I still use it. Today though I set up a friend's computer with Zorin, cause it can be switched between a Gnome,Windows 7 or XP look, & it was for someone who is used to Windows menus etc. Personally I prefer the simplicity for Gnome 2 menus. Why have several clicks when you can have just 2? I hate complicated Windows/KDE/Unity menus.
The bootup time performance table, in the article, shows Debian as being the fastest not OpenSuse as it states below the table - strange!
A "distro" is a distribution. Linux is one version (or distribution) of Linux. Linux is free for anyone who wants to make something with it. In fact, the same principle applies with Mac OS X--it's built on BSD (a subsystem that's free).
You could say Ubuntu is Linux, but Linux is not Ubuntu.
There is this ecosystem of companies,freelancers and hobbists alike that are collaborating to create all kinds of free and opensource software to fullfill their respective needs.A distribution is a compilation of those free programs and system components to create one coherent operating system.Those of which that use the Linux kernel are commonly referred to as "Linux".Sometimes the term can also mean this whole ecosystem or mindset.
@SeltsamerAttraktor After the lesson, well. Still should be more friendly to anyone, I mean, the O.S. not the Kernel Itself... There is 1 billion of PC users, even using PC all the day, a first use for any random distribution seems to be complicated and confusing, I mean.. needs to use Terminal lines and so.
An "OS for Human beings" should be like the iOS on iPad, if you are not familiar, try it, that is definitly a "Simple use and Awesome experience" of doing anything on a PC or so...
@UnderlineVideos2 How your first experiences with any random distro turn out really depends on the particular distro you are trying out. Like there are different people, mindsets, tastes and solutions to a problem, there are different distros. Everyone is free to create their own OS with those components, so you cannot force these folks to do something in a particular way. Thats really the spirit of it, that there is no fixed spirit. eg. "for human beings" is Ubuntu's credo, but not Gentoo's.
@UnderlineVideos2 2 So please, don't try out, for example, Arch and claim that Linux in general ain't no good cause one has to use the terminal. That's the point of this particular distro.
If you got the patience and go distro-hopping for a while, I'm sure you could find something that suits your tastes quite well. Have you tried out Mint? They are on the same track as Ubuntu, but polish it where they feel they need to.
@UnderlineVideos2 3 The poin't im trying to get across is that you have to rethink. "Linux" ain't no single (commercial) entity you could demand to be in a certain way that pleases its customers.It has no customers.It has no face.It is a pool of software that is developed by its users for its users, hobbiest as well as enterprises (eg Android).The OS comes alive in form of distros,each one has its unique aim.If you find your place,you'll be fine.No stock market pushing sth onto you,just freedom.
@SeltsamerAttraktor Yeah, I am sorry for that... dont wanted to being mean. It is being just a little frustating for the last 10 months with some drivers issues here and power regressions on the kernel... long history.
@erobus The mint menu is and has always been gawdy and ugly in my opinion. Even set at a high resolution it takes up too much of the screen for my taste.
As far as my favorite distro I'm not too sure. Right now I'm using Ubuntu with unity on my new machine and mint kde on my old one. I gave Gnome 3 a try, liked it as well. You'd think with all the new UIs one would jump out as a clear winner, but each one has it's disadvantages too.
The Debian based distros such as ubuntu and mint seam to be the most (if not only) user friendly linux OS's out there, I mean, the others are more excising for people who like to tweak and customize a lot. Having all the tweaking and customizing done for you already is what 98 percent of all pc users prefer and want. I use LinuxMint 11 now but my favorite is Pinguy OS.
Everything works out of the box there. So if I had to introduce someone to Linux, I would show them PInguy os.
Sometimes I get bored with the Mint menu & add the normal Gnome menu by removing the Mint menu from the panel & add another menu.
I started off dabbling with Red Hat 6, then SUSE 8.1 (I actually bought it boxed!; left Linux for few a years, then bounced around between PCLinuxOS & a few flavours of Ubuntu: e.g. Xubuntu, Kubuntu. I then started using Linux Mint and that's the one I like best. I know Ubuntu and Mint are almost the same but Kazam doesn't work in Ubuntu, but works in Mint!
@dan1981football Probably mate, I tried it but there's way too much going on for me. But honestly the best distro is the one that works best for you so all these arguments about the "best" are on the whole very subjective.
There's no way Debian beats Arch in customization. Obviously the person who wrote the article isnt comfortable in the CLI, they didnt even include Gentoo, and as for the Mint menu, come on dude this is linux we're talking about here. You can have any type of menu you want if you install it.
debian and redhat are fantastic upstream linux distribution but not user-friendly at all .ubuntu lead and still leads a revolution in bringing linux to ordinary people .mint added some codecs that couldn't be legally included by ubuntu ,but this is history now actually mint reverted to the legal ubuntu approach in this.i dislike mint now because they are trying everything to make their distro look as if it is not based on ubuntu which i very irritating and ungrateful.livelong ubuntu
Isn't Debian (testing) a rolling distribution? So the concept of version number is relatively meaningless. I use Parsix at the moment which uses Debian stable, it's faster than Ubuntu but more cautious, suits me. Used to use Ubuntu, then Mint, but too buggy for me.
@jerrytaichi Debian Sid is the unstable rolling release. The stable version is v6. I was thinking aloud when I said its a low number of releases considering the time Debian has been around
@quidsup The fact that it has some of the better features of the windows 7 menu (such as the ability to search for stuff) doesn't make it worse, it makes it better... I swapped to Mint pretty early on after being introduced to Ubuntu, so it works a lot better for me. I can appreciate not liking it because its different (that's why we have choice in Linux) but saying it reminds you of the windows menu is a bad argument, especially when it is so feature rich compared to the standard GNOME menus...
ubuntu 10.04 is great but the ui changes in later changes drove me away. now i use linux mint 11
TheMsdos25 2 months ago
After messing with Fedora 15, 16, Ubuntu 10.10 - 11.10, OpenSuse 11.(something), and Mint 10 -12. I personally think that Mint 12 is the winner. I say this because they handled to desktop environment change the best of them all. They took a very practical approach to how Gnome has changed along with including MATE which is basically the old version of Gnome (for those still attached to it).
Plus it still includes all the non-free software you need (audio-video codecs, Sun Java, etc)
BigBobsh2o 2 months ago
I started with Ubuntu(By the way, it's pronounced "ooboontoo") 8.04, and I was dual-booting with Vista(Just don't... xD). I liked it, but alongside Vista it seemed really, really slow, so I got rid of it and stuck with Vista. When I finally got my new netbook with Windows 7, I installed Ubuntu 11.04 on my PC. Before deciding on Ubuntu, I tried Linux Mint 11 on a USB install, and it was abysmal... Linux Mint, in my opinion, is a buggy flavor of Linux for newbie's who can't let go of Windows... :)
mysteryloser24 2 months ago
Zorin os i LOVE. Also, for a fast os, I LOVE Watt os!
jordanlang2 3 months ago
i love the linux mint menu! very easy to access everything with it.
northwestbrett 4 months ago
I'm using Debian Testing which is pretty stable right now. Sure Debian has older packages but Debian has always been about stability and that's why SO many distros are based on it. Including Ubuntu. Debian also makes a great server operating system. I really love Debian :)
TheGeo913 5 months ago
Sorry but I don't get your case with the Mint Menu?? Once you select another theme, the menu changes from that Mint default one.
fatriff 6 months ago
I'm thinking of switching to Debian . As you know Ubuntu is based on Debian, but what you may not know is Debian only uses stable versions of software , and Ubuntu use all new stuff even if it's buggy . They also have a software center just like Ubuntu , but the Debian Software Center is under Administration . The downside is they don't support the idea of paid software .
maw88ify 6 months ago
@maw88ify Of course the don't support paid software, it's supposed to be open source. That's kind of the whole point of Linux... :s
mysteryloser24 2 months ago
@mysteryloser24 Open does not mean free as in price.
maw88ify 2 months ago
Comment removed
maw88ify 6 months ago
I'm still on Gentoo. For five years now, lol.
SeltsamerAttraktor 6 months ago
Debian FTW :)
BelaFleckFan 6 months ago
PinguyOS is the best distro for all of the above!
Ograws 6 months ago
I started with Ubuntu & I still use it. Today though I set up a friend's computer with Zorin, cause it can be switched between a Gnome,Windows 7 or XP look, & it was for someone who is used to Windows menus etc. Personally I prefer the simplicity for Gnome 2 menus. Why have several clicks when you can have just 2? I hate complicated Windows/KDE/Unity menus.
The bootup time performance table, in the article, shows Debian as being the fastest not OpenSuse as it states below the table - strange!
technoboi0 6 months ago
A "distro" is a distribution. Linux is one version (or distribution) of Linux. Linux is free for anyone who wants to make something with it. In fact, the same principle applies with Mac OS X--it's built on BSD (a subsystem that's free).
You could say Ubuntu is Linux, but Linux is not Ubuntu.
swan4163 6 months ago
Linux is divided and is confusing to new computer users. What the Hell is a Distro?
UnderlineVideos2 6 months ago
@UnderlineVideos2 "Linux" in itself is just the Linux Kernel.
There is this ecosystem of companies,freelancers and hobbists alike that are collaborating to create all kinds of free and opensource software to fullfill their respective needs.A distribution is a compilation of those free programs and system components to create one coherent operating system.Those of which that use the Linux kernel are commonly referred to as "Linux".Sometimes the term can also mean this whole ecosystem or mindset.
SeltsamerAttraktor 6 months ago
@SeltsamerAttraktor After the lesson, well. Still should be more friendly to anyone, I mean, the O.S. not the Kernel Itself... There is 1 billion of PC users, even using PC all the day, a first use for any random distribution seems to be complicated and confusing, I mean.. needs to use Terminal lines and so.
An "OS for Human beings" should be like the iOS on iPad, if you are not familiar, try it, that is definitly a "Simple use and Awesome experience" of doing anything on a PC or so...
Cheers.
UnderlineVideos2 6 months ago
@UnderlineVideos2 How your first experiences with any random distro turn out really depends on the particular distro you are trying out. Like there are different people, mindsets, tastes and solutions to a problem, there are different distros. Everyone is free to create their own OS with those components, so you cannot force these folks to do something in a particular way. Thats really the spirit of it, that there is no fixed spirit. eg. "for human beings" is Ubuntu's credo, but not Gentoo's.
SeltsamerAttraktor 6 months ago
@UnderlineVideos2 2 So please, don't try out, for example, Arch and claim that Linux in general ain't no good cause one has to use the terminal. That's the point of this particular distro.
If you got the patience and go distro-hopping for a while, I'm sure you could find something that suits your tastes quite well. Have you tried out Mint? They are on the same track as Ubuntu, but polish it where they feel they need to.
SeltsamerAttraktor 6 months ago
@UnderlineVideos2 3 The poin't im trying to get across is that you have to rethink. "Linux" ain't no single (commercial) entity you could demand to be in a certain way that pleases its customers.It has no customers.It has no face.It is a pool of software that is developed by its users for its users, hobbiest as well as enterprises (eg Android).The OS comes alive in form of distros,each one has its unique aim.If you find your place,you'll be fine.No stock market pushing sth onto you,just freedom.
SeltsamerAttraktor 6 months ago
@SeltsamerAttraktor Yeah, I am sorry for that... dont wanted to being mean. It is being just a little frustating for the last 10 months with some drivers issues here and power regressions on the kernel... long history.
UnderlineVideos2 6 months ago
@SeltsamerAttraktor Don't forget the server side of linux, Linux has around 70% of the server market and has done for at least 10 years.
fatriff 6 months ago
@fatriff Yeah and like 95% of the supercomputer market.
SeltsamerAttraktor 6 months ago
I used fedora but didn't find useful for me! Using Ubuntu for few months.. I give vote to Ubuntu. Can't say about OpenSuse.
sabbir2world 6 months ago
Arch is way ahead of any of those distros.
robvelor 6 months ago
@erobus The mint menu is and has always been gawdy and ugly in my opinion. Even set at a high resolution it takes up too much of the screen for my taste.
As far as my favorite distro I'm not too sure. Right now I'm using Ubuntu with unity on my new machine and mint kde on my old one. I gave Gnome 3 a try, liked it as well. You'd think with all the new UIs one would jump out as a clear winner, but each one has it's disadvantages too.
waynefoutz 6 months ago
im on kubuntu with kde 4.7 at the moment i like it (this week)
miasmablk 6 months ago
Debian is not bad. I will install it if my system requirements cannot handle the updates to gnome-3. Same shell rhetoric. Aptitude moo -v :)
rotaryboy 6 months ago
I don't think I would recommend Debian or Fedora for Windows folks.
tostoday 6 months ago
The Debian based distros such as ubuntu and mint seam to be the most (if not only) user friendly linux OS's out there, I mean, the others are more excising for people who like to tweak and customize a lot. Having all the tweaking and customizing done for you already is what 98 percent of all pc users prefer and want. I use LinuxMint 11 now but my favorite is Pinguy OS.
Everything works out of the box there. So if I had to introduce someone to Linux, I would show them PInguy os.
blackoutworm 6 months ago
I've been liking OpenSUSE with some KDE.
tdurb98 6 months ago
I love OpenSUSE KDE smexy lol
OfficialKohieArts 6 months ago
Sometimes I get bored with the Mint menu & add the normal Gnome menu by removing the Mint menu from the panel & add another menu.
I started off dabbling with Red Hat 6, then SUSE 8.1 (I actually bought it boxed!; left Linux for few a years, then bounced around between PCLinuxOS & a few flavours of Ubuntu: e.g. Xubuntu, Kubuntu. I then started using Linux Mint and that's the one I like best. I know Ubuntu and Mint are almost the same but Kazam doesn't work in Ubuntu, but works in Mint!
mousegeek 6 months ago
I use Gentoo... What more can I say?
MsHaydenHummmel 6 months ago
Am i the only one who loves PINGUY? : /
dan1981football 6 months ago
@dan1981football Probably mate, I tried it but there's way too much going on for me. But honestly the best distro is the one that works best for you so all these arguments about the "best" are on the whole very subjective.
jerrytaichi 6 months ago
There's no way Debian beats Arch in customization. Obviously the person who wrote the article isnt comfortable in the CLI, they didnt even include Gentoo, and as for the Mint menu, come on dude this is linux we're talking about here. You can have any type of menu you want if you install it.
dynetrax 6 months ago 2
@dynetrax Yeah good point it should be Arch beating Debian for customisation. Hmm they should rename it to "best Simplistic GUI Linux Distro of 2011"
Appreciate what you're saying about Mint, but I would end up making look like Ubuntu. So I might aswell stay with Ubuntu.
quidsup 6 months ago 4
@quidsup Yeah after all Mint is just Ubuntu with preconfigured Applications and Software sources.
dynetrax 6 months ago
@dynetrax The writer's target is the newbie. He/She wants the people who don't use linux to get interested in it. And not to think we are nerdy.
MiddleHander 5 months ago in playlist More videos from quidsup
@MiddleHander meh, over it
dynetrax 5 months ago
debian and redhat are fantastic upstream linux distribution but not user-friendly at all .ubuntu lead and still leads a revolution in bringing linux to ordinary people .mint added some codecs that couldn't be legally included by ubuntu ,but this is history now actually mint reverted to the legal ubuntu approach in this.i dislike mint now because they are trying everything to make their distro look as if it is not based on ubuntu which i very irritating and ungrateful.livelong ubuntu
mamado226 6 months ago
Did Debian actually beat Arch in terms of customization? I just don't see how that is possible...
Necroferno 6 months ago
Isn't Debian (testing) a rolling distribution? So the concept of version number is relatively meaningless. I use Parsix at the moment which uses Debian stable, it's faster than Ubuntu but more cautious, suits me. Used to use Ubuntu, then Mint, but too buggy for me.
jerrytaichi 6 months ago
@jerrytaichi Debian Sid is the unstable rolling release. The stable version is v6. I was thinking aloud when I said its a low number of releases considering the time Debian has been around
quidsup 6 months ago
I agree, nothing wrong with mint but not a fan of mint menu and I always come back to good old trusty Ubuntu.
TheTeldin 6 months ago
I oo agree with Debian being top, just because it's one of the very few distros that the thousands of others currently out there are built on.
experimental0000 6 months ago
what's wrong with mintmenu? I added it to my ubuntu, I use it sometimes, mainly because of how often I vary up the customization of my system
experimental0000 6 months ago
@experimental0000 It reminds me too much of windows so I don't really like it
quidsup 6 months ago
@quidsup The fact that it has some of the better features of the windows 7 menu (such as the ability to search for stuff) doesn't make it worse, it makes it better... I swapped to Mint pretty early on after being introduced to Ubuntu, so it works a lot better for me. I can appreciate not liking it because its different (that's why we have choice in Linux) but saying it reminds you of the windows menu is a bad argument, especially when it is so feature rich compared to the standard GNOME menus...
ErebosNetherDarkness 6 months ago
@quidsup fair enough :)
experimental0000 6 months ago