Computer Science Canada

Whats Your Favorite Linux Distro?

Author:  CyberGeek [ Fri Oct 06, 2006 7:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Whats Your Favorite Linux Distro?

Hey,

I was just wondering what everyone's favorite linux distro is... Mine is BackTrack. Whats yours?

Author:  Null [ Fri Oct 06, 2006 7:32 pm ]
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Such an obscure Linux distro surely earns you geek points.. Wink

I've used Suse, Fedora Core, and I've spent about 1/2 hours with Gentoo. In the end, Ubuntu works well and lets me play around with a CLI when I want to.

Author:  r.3volved [ Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:25 pm ]
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My favorite installation distro is Slackware (I just finished downloading the DVD install of 11.0 w00t)

I use a whole bunch of live distros on an almost regular basis for work and ...ummm fun Smile

Knoppix STD, Auditor, Backtrack and Ophcrack are my favs in the live category Smile

Author:  CyberGeek [ Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:51 pm ]
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Null wrote:
Such an obscure Linux distro surely earns you geek points.. Wink

I've used Suse, Fedora Core, and I've spent about 1/2 hours with Gentoo. In the end, Ubuntu works well and lets me play around with a CLI when I want to.


Well I am a G33K ... lol. Just kidding about the leet speak crap. Ya. I love BackTrack....

Author:  md [ Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Whats Your Favorite Linux Distro?

CyberGeek wrote:
Hey,

I was just wondering what everyone's favorite linux distro is... Mine is BackTrack. Whats yours?


Interesting choice, considering it's intended use Razz

I use gentoo on all my computers (workstation, server, laptop). I've tried ubuntu and hated the package management, tried freebsd (not technically linux) on the laptop and it worked great for hte most part; but I found ports to be lacking in some of the software I've come to expect from linux and ports isn't quite as nice as portage.

For a really interesting venture into the world of *nix systems work check out Minix. It's a micro-kernel based unix system V clone. It's got plenty of power; but is simple enough that it won't break your brain going over then entire kernel (yes... I have reaqd every single line in the minix 2.0 kernel... very enlightening).

Author:  timmytheturtle [ Sat Oct 07, 2006 12:59 pm ]
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My distro of choice is ArchLinux, it's really plain and not bloated with useless applications. Binary packages in the repositories, or you compile everything using the arch building system (abs). I also tried Ubuntu, Gentoo, Fedora Core 4, Knoppix, Debian. And out of all of them, I like ArchLinux the best.

Author:  apomb [ Sat Oct 07, 2006 4:40 pm ]
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Ubuntu for me, i like Fedora Core as well, but i havent been able to get it downloaded. i use that at school, and ive also used Red Hat and Knoppix.

Author:  rdrake [ Sat Oct 07, 2006 7:39 pm ]
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Used countless Linux distros... preferred I Debian out of them all. Though it was early when I first tried SuSE and Gentoo, so that's not really fair to them. I also recommend Ubuntu over Debian for a beginner, definitely.

My vote would have to go with FreeBSD, despite it not actually being a Linux distro.

Author:  Craige [ Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:02 pm ]
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I'm not great with linux, but I generally use Slackware.

--Edit--

Now after this talk of Linux, I went and reinstalled Slackware. Smile

Author:  Amailer [ Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:14 pm ]
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So far only used ArchLinux, used SuSE for .. a couple of hours Razz Anyhow, ArchLinux is cool, I like it Very Happy

Author:  bugzpodder [ Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:05 am ]
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Im tempted to say Microsoft Linux Laughing

Author:  Craige [ Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:34 pm ]
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bugzpodder wrote:
Im tempted to say Microsoft Linux Laughing


lol. You almost could if you ran Wine to emmulate allot of Adobe's programs.

Anyway, while were discussing Linux, lets talk desktop enviorments aswell. I really like XFCE, except it's default file manager (though I have gotten used to it because I don't want to install a new one), and a few other things

Author:  wtd [ Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:45 pm ]
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Ubuntu

Author:  Tony [ Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:13 pm ]
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Ubuntu

(although the prefered OS by far is OS X)

my mom hates both Laughing

Author:  md [ Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:36 pm ]
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Craige wrote:
bugzpodder wrote:
Im tempted to say Microsoft Linux Laughing


lol. You almost could if you ran Wine to emmulate allot of Adobe's programs.


Microsoft Linux is actually a spoof site Wink

Author:  apomb [ Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:41 pm ]
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Craige wrote:
You almost could if you ran Wine to emmulate allot of Adobe's programs.

and Wine Is Not an Emulator!! Razz

and what do you mean adobe's programs Thinking ... im sure its just mostly .exes

Author:  md [ Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:20 pm ]
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Yes... I'm also not sure how running adobe applications makes a machine a Microsoft product...

Author:  Craige [ Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:04 pm ]
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CompWiz333 wrote:
Craige wrote:
You almost could if you ran Wine to emmulate allot of Adobe's programs.

and Wine Is Not an Emulator!! Razz


lol, technically it is. It emulates the windows enviorment.

Quote:

and what do you mean adobe's programs Thinking ... im sure its just mostly .exes


Yeah, but that doesn't mean they'll run on Linux. For example, without emulating Windows, you won't get Photoshop running on Linux, no will you get flash running.

Author:  md [ Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:41 pm ]
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Craige wrote:
CompWiz333 wrote:
Craige wrote:
You almost could if you ran Wine to emmulate allot of Adobe's programs.

and Wine Is Not an Emulator!! Razz


lol, technically it is. It emulates the windows enviorment.


Technically it's not; it simply translates win32 API calls into their apropriate *nix/X API calls.

Author:  apomb [ Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:39 am ]
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Craige: Flash runs perfectly fine in *nix environment ... if you download the correct plugin.

Also, like md said: what does running Adobe programs have ANYTHING to do with having a windows system?

Author:  Craige [ Wed Nov 01, 2006 7:57 am ]
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CompWiz333 wrote:
Craige: Flash runs perfectly fine in *nix environment ... if you download the correct plugin.

Also, like md said: what does running Adobe programs have ANYTHING to do with having a windows system?


I was under the impression, that without emulating windows, you would not be able to run any of the adobe programs on your computer, as it was built for windows, and had compatibility issues with Linux.

Author:  md [ Wed Nov 01, 2006 8:42 am ]
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You're kinda right. Without providing an API layer that translates from win32 to POSIX/X API calls you cannot run win32 executables on *nix. WINE provides the API translation layer, it is not an emulator.

Adobe does make some programs for *nix too, Acrobat Reader for one, Flash as well, though not version 8. Being able to run applications from Adobe however does not make a computer a "Microsoft" computer. Running Microsoft software might however Razz

Back on topic, have you checked out XFCE 4.4 RC1? xffm has been replaced with a nice little app called Thunar; it's a hell of a lot nicer. There are also lots of other improvements.

Author:  Craige [ Wed Nov 01, 2006 10:34 pm ]
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md wrote:
You're kinda right. Without providing an API layer that translates from win32 to POSIX/X API calls you cannot run win32 executables on *nix. WINE provides the API translation layer, it is not an emulator.

Adobe does make some programs for *nix too, Acrobat Reader for one, Flash as well, though not version 8. Being able to run applications from Adobe however does not make a computer a "Microsoft" computer. Running Microsoft software might however Razz


Ah, cool. Didn't know that.

Quote:

Back on topic, have you checked out XFCE 4.4 RC1? xffm has been replaced with a nice little app called Thunar; it's a hell of a lot nicer. There are also lots of other improvements.


No, I havn't, but I just googled it. Looks like a nice file browser.

Author:  md [ Wed Nov 01, 2006 11:00 pm ]
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Thunar was great, more recently Trash functionality has been added; and it sucks for having multiple drives (also when I delete something I want it gone).

I'm finding that I use some xfce apps and some gnome apps. gedit and many of hte gnome tools (gnome-obex-server for bluetooth transfers for one) are just better then their xfce counterparts (if they even exist).

Author:  jack [ Mon Nov 06, 2006 5:18 pm ]
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So I know almost nothing about linux. Just wanted to know what kind of advantages it gives programers over windows or mac.

Author:  rdrake [ Mon Nov 06, 2006 5:59 pm ]
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jack wrote:
So I know almost nothing about linux. Just wanted to know what kind of advantages it gives programers over windows or mac.
Many development tools are created specifically for Linux. Also, its openness allows for easy development, the libraries and such are not hidden, like on Winders.

MacOSX has many of the tools found on *nix systems, mostly because its userspace comes from FreeBSD mainly, a *nix-like OS.

Oh, and I'm liking Ubuntu again. They've managed to idiot-proof everything in Edgy Eft. Sadly I can hardly find a console anymore Confused.

Author:  wtd [ Mon Nov 06, 2006 7:51 pm ]
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rdrake wrote:
jack wrote:
So I know almost nothing about linux. Just wanted to know what kind of advantages it gives programers over windows or mac.
Many development tools are created specifically for Linux. Also, its openness allows for easy development, the libraries and such are not hidden, like on Winders.

MacOSX has many of the tools found on *nix systems, mostly because its userspace comes from FreeBSD mainly, a *nix-like OS.

Oh, and I'm liking Ubuntu again. They've managed to idiot-proof everything in Edgy Eft. Sadly I can hardly find a console anymore Confused.


Ummm.... Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal

Oh, and Mac OS X has a lot of good stuff for developers that you won't find in other *nix OSes.

Author:  rdrake [ Mon Nov 06, 2006 8:00 pm ]
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wtd wrote:
rdrake wrote:
jack wrote:
So I know almost nothing about linux. Just wanted to know what kind of advantages it gives programers over windows or mac.
Many development tools are created specifically for Linux. Also, its openness allows for easy development, the libraries and such are not hidden, like on Winders.

MacOSX has many of the tools found on *nix systems, mostly because its userspace comes from FreeBSD mainly, a *nix-like OS.

Oh, and I'm liking Ubuntu again. They've managed to idiot-proof everything in Edgy Eft. Sadly I can hardly find a console anymore Confused.


Ummm.... Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
That's not what I meant.

It seems like pressing things like ALT+CRTL+F1 freezes it. Of course, that's the only way to see meaningful output while booting. Only way to diagnose problems is to go into rescue mode, which is a PITA.

The fact that there is no root password also sickens me. How safe is that?

Anyways Ubuntu is gone now and everything was lost. I love how this works.

Author:  apomb [ Mon Nov 06, 2006 10:44 pm ]
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I've been having some troubles with Edgy as well ... such as Video Drivers not installing properly, i have much experience dealing with video drivers, and i could NOT get a working 3d accel'd driver in edgy

Author:  Blade [ Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:45 pm ]
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CompWiz333 wrote:
I've been having some troubles with Edgy as well ... such as Video Drivers not installing properly, i have much experience dealing with video drivers, and i could NOT get a working 3d accel'd driver in edgy


i had that problem with Radeon in Slackware 9.1 back when it first came out.

Author:  Naveg [ Wed Nov 08, 2006 12:56 am ]
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i'm absolutely loving edgy...it sets up a windows network printer much more quickly and easily than a windows pc does Razz


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