1 Dec
2005
1 Dec
'05
5:59 p.m.
On Thu, 01 Dec 2005 15:40:09 +0000
Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
Cini, Richard wrote:
> I'm thinking of ditching Windows totally on my desktop
> at home
> as I build my next upgraded x86-bsed PC. So, I wanted to take a poll
> of the group for a recommendation on which Linux distro to use.
First and
foremost:
Linux (Unix) is no Windows surrogate.
Linux is an alternative.
Linux is an entirely different world.
If you install Linux in the hope to get a "Windows with less X / more Y"
you will be disappointed.
If you want a "just use" non-M$ desktop machine get a Mac and run OSX.
There is no best Linux distribution. There may be one that fits your
needs best out of the available choices.
If I have to use Linux (i.e. at work) I use Debian. It suffers a bit
from FSF/GNU ideology, but it is less brain dead then
e.g. Suse. It is
easy to update / maintain and as stable and consistent as Linux can
be.
Not used Unbuntu or Linspire so can't comment.
FreeBSD isn't Linux, so
can't really comment there either (although experience has been that
it's brilliant for server-side but you'll have your work cut out
configuring it to be a good desktop machine)
Seconded. I am a NetBSD person. NetBSD
is well usable as a desktop Unix.
Been there, done that for several years, got the tee-shirt. But you have
to work for it. The advantage is that you are forced to tailor the
system to exactely fit your needs. The benefit of this work is a system
thats build like _you_ need / want. One advantage of NetBSD (also Free-
and Open-) is the strict distinction between base OS and third party
software. If you mess up your KDE, GNOME, whatever installation
(somthing that likes to happen), you can just toss it and start over
with a fresh pkgsrc without touching the base OS. Base OS releases get
supported for several years.
NetBSD is the most sane implementation of the UNIX paradigm.
Personal observations about Linux over the years:
1) It's suffering from *serious* bloat,
Seconded. Seeing KDE and GNOME eating
several 100 MB of RAM and slowing
a 1 GHz CPU down to the feel of a 100 MHz machine is simply disgusting.
Fortunately Unix gives me the freedom of using somthing like fvwm2.
3) Systems still suffer from rot, just like Windows
does.
A system that gets used is "aging". That is the way live goes. It is
a
law of nature. There is no way to work around it beside not using the
system.
4) WINE is actually pretty darn good these days if you
want to run
Windows apps on your Linux box.
And there will be Windows inside of XEN in the
neare future...
--
tsch??,
Jochen
Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/