Thread: Linux

I've been using Debian (and derivatives) for a while, and I like them. Since 2008, it's been Ubuntu.

I'm currently on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, but I don't see myself going further with Ubuntu and I'm likely to switch within a year. I don't like a number of things that mainstream Ubuntu is doing. I don't like Unity (though you can switch back to GNOME Panel if you want, or install any of many other Desktop Envs).

So currently I'm also in the market for a new Debian-based Distro.

It's dead simple to dl and burn a disc of a Live version of something you're interested in. Then you can boot from your DVD and test it out.

Linux Mint seems to get a lot of press as an alternative to Ubuntu. Anyone here ever used it?

Cheers,


AetheLove

Originally Posted by DJ Mr. White

I noticed it, too. Not exactly sure about how it would work though.

Well, for me it'd work if:

(a) it uses apt for package management. I've grown used to apt on the command line, and there are also nice GUIs for it. The Debian system works really well.

(b) it has large and frequently updated repositories. I like the Ubuntu ecosystem. It's large, and updates are frequent. That's the advantage of being popular. I like that it maintains repositories for non-free software.

(c) it has a default and/or easily configurable GUI environment that I'm already used to. I'm not against learning a new one, but I need to know that there is a huge upside before I abandon something I already know.

For me, this is critical. I am simply not interested in fucking around with a machine for hours or days before I can get shit done. That's my quirk.

Your quirk is that you have specific and relatively uncommon software you want to run, right? Like a high-energy physics simulator or some purpose-built numerical estimation library or whatnot. Your target is the software. I would figure out what software I needed, and then see how it's distributed. You want to avoid building it (compiling it) yourself. Hopefully, it's also made available as packages. If everything you need is available as .deb files in a repository, then you'll want to get a Linux that uses apt (Debian's package system). If people in your field tend to be RedHatters, and all the software you want comes as .rpm files, then you'll be happier with a Linux that uses rpms.

Next would be to see if the software you need requires something specific from your system. Like maybe you do something that wants OpenGL to render complex shit in 3D. You need to make sure that your system can make real use of your video card's rendering capabilities (otherwise it'll work, but you'll be rendering in software on your CPU, and that's slow). If you need the proprietary driver, make sure you go with a system that makes it easy to use.

So that's where I'd start.

Cheers,


AetheLove

Originally Posted by DJ Mr. White

Aeth, did you ever try Mint?

No. It's been one of those "oh, I should do that sometime" things for months.

Booting from a Live CD and playing around wouldn't tell me all I'd want to know, but that's just a lame excuse. The real thing that's going on is that I'd rather spend that hour doing something like exercise or playing games (or reading, or goofing around on a new project, or...). So my unconscious hope is that by the time I'm ready to replace my system (or build a new box) someone who I respect and has similar needs will have already done the work and written up a one-page that answers all my questions (or allays all my fears).

Originally Posted by Bunni

meh, its just a debian based distro.

Your choice of a distro should really be based of its package manager. If your new to linux or dislike manually building packages, go with a serious main stream distro (ubuntu, debian, red-hat, and maybe fedora) that will likely have packages for w/e your are looking for already built (especially ubuntu).

if you're not liking something from a distro (say ubuntu's lame gui candy) you can remove it (and usually very easy). Whole spiel behind linux is the boast of customization.


I used to be a gentoo guy and you know what they say about gentoo users: "If you have a linux problem, ask a gentoo user" (as it's very likely they've encountered your problem). But fuck, you go around to do some task A, and get 3 problems B,C,D just from trying to do A, so then you spend hours and hours building shit and fucking with dependencies takes soooooo damn long. Spending hours and hours trouble shooting some silly google resultless error, only to find that some twat uploaded the damn source to the DL site with window's line endings T_T (if i find you...)

With shit like ubuntu... fuck... two commands and that stupid unity crap is uninstalled and all of gnome's shell is installed and defaulted. mmmm. You silly folk take these things for granted...

I have similar advice.

I bootstrapped Gentoo on my overclocked P4 back-in-the-day. I learned Portage and how to use emerge. Gentoo was a very cool idea, and some amazing work got done, and it seemed like there was a huge upside to compiling everything locally to your own standard. But, in the end, the actual savings were minimal and the time commitment was huge.

The reason I went to Gentoo was that I was frustrated with Debian (stable). The repositories of the stable release lagged on versions. Using the (testing) version of Debian helped a little, but not enough. Everything I wanted was possible, but it was taking more and more time. So I move from Debian because of the overhead involved in bridging the gap between what the default was and what I wanted.

That same thing happened with Gentoo.

And SUSE (which I used for a very short time).

And now Ubuntu is going that way. I know I can get rid of Unity. I know I can rejigger the window manager, or use XFCE. But every time I do that I diverge from the direction of the distro, and things will get more complicated. Every time I put something in /opt/ I've committed myself to more sys-admin work on my own machine. So what it's starting to feel like is that I'm maintaining a personal fork of Ubuntu.

I know Mint is another Debian-based distro, but I hardly think that's "Meh."

If someone else puts together a Debian distro that has what I want by default, then that's what I want.

White: what you want is to be a part-time Linux user to accomplish your academic tasks. You might also want to use it for more general or casual things.

Bunni mentions it, and I've already mentioned it: Pick your distro to SOLVE your problem and MINIMIZE your headaches. You have specific software that you NEED to run. In order:

(1) Find out how the software you need is distributed. Pick a distro that handles that sort of package - because building it from source sucks.

(2) If you need an unusual and/or proprietary hardware driver, pick a distro that has proven, solid, support for it.

(3) Pick the distro that other people you know are having success with - because when you have problems you can ask them.

In some sense, you're in an easy situation. You need to run some very specific software. This software is only ever run by a very small set of people. That set is filled with very intelligent people. Finding a small set of helpful people with the exact knowledge and experience that you need should be easy.

Cheers,


AetheLove