What Linux Distro do the Linux users of GH use?

[smknjoe]

I've gone through many distros over the last ~15 years and I keep coming back to Debian or Debian variants like Ubuntu.

- If you want something that's almost as good out of the box that requires a little more know-how and is the epitome of FOSS, Debian is the way to go.

How much steeper would the learning curve be if I chose Debian with KDE?

Somehow, Canonical has become distasteful to me, but I do not want to jump through hoops of aggravation for silly ideology.

*    *    *    *    *

edit - a huge plus is a good user forum.

My experience was that the Ubuntu forum was generally friendly and helpful while the openSUSE forum was mostly snotty and arrogant.

You'll run across arrogance in much of the Linux world unfortunately. Most people are pretty cool though. 

KDE shouldn't be any different other than KDE specific apps. I have only used KDE with Slackware in the last few years since I much prefer Gnome. It's "cool" to hate Canonical but it's hard to hate the contributions they have made to the Linux desktop. And the "evil" online search function is not even an option in Ubuntu Gnome. The Gnome distribution looks and feels just like Debian with better software compatibility for me. I'm still a big fan of Debian, but with the project I have going on right now I just needed to get something up and running quickly and easily and Ubuntu Gnome worked much better for me in this particular case than Debian did.

Unless you have some specific software you need to use, Debian should be just as easy as Ubuntu for the most part.

[smknjoe]

...and for the user forums...I haven't used them in a long time. Debian and Ubuntu are cross-compatible for the most part though. So, you could use either one or both.

[iri]

I use both interchangeably now, but when given the choice, I usually pick Ubuntu.  Keep in mind that I never use a GUI with Linux, so I just care about ease of use and package availability.

i always use GUI with linux. this is why i have cinnamon desktop installed on my work macbook. looks better than mac os .

[Ngt]

I use Ubuntu with Gnome3 at work and at home I use windows because the games I played are not available on Linux otherwise I'll always been on Linux.

[ttzhou]

I use Ubuntu with Gnome3 at work and at home I use windows because the games I played are not available on Linux otherwise I'll always been on Linux.

Get two hard drives. One has Linux the other Windows. You can use syslinux, which is a much cleaner and understandable boot manager, IMO, to be able to select which hard drive to boot. At least that way you can use the superior kernel at home as well.

[jerue]

While I normally hop around Windows and OS X, I did put Ubuntu on my work laptop (boots alongside Windows) and I have a netbook handling my networking setup (it acts as a bridge).

[fohat.digs]

So, my son and I are building a new/used computer for him. We have it together, 2 hard drives, 1 each for Windows (not yet installed) and Ubuntu 14.04. I went back to Ubuntu/Unity for the sake of simplicity and compatibility.

The installation went fine, and the icon shows a proper internet connection, but it is not really there. (PS - this is true with a real ethernet wire as well as a USB wireless dongle)

If you click on Firefox, it hangs and does nothing.

Type "apt-get" anything and you get nothing.

Is there a way to download and install Firefox on another computer and install it from a flash drive? I suspect that the problem is the browser software itself.

The Ubuntu forum's "networking" section is so loaded down with "wi-fi connects but no internet" questions that I do not expect a valid answer any time soon.

[smknjoe]

Yes you can download for Ubu/Deb 32 or 64bit and copy to a flash drive. It's most likely not a problem with the browser though. The network manager was a little buggy in Ubuntu 14/15 until recently. I would try just rebooting the machine first.

What do you get with "sudo ifconfig eth0" (for Ethernet)?
 
Edit: do you get a valid IP for your LAN setup? You don't have to post all of the output here if you don't want to.
 ...if you do have a valid IP can you ping stuff on your LAN and the Internet? ie. "ping -c 5 10.0.1.1"  or  "ping -c 5 8.8.8.8"

Edit #2: If you plan on using Win7 or higher I would install Windows first so you can use GRUB (or Lilo), the Linux bootloader, instead of the Windows bootloader. I've had problems with the Windows bootloader seeing Linux installations before.

[smknjoe]

Also, I just installed the new version of Debian 8 earlier today and it's pretty awesome. So far no trouble getting my hardware or software to run...

[jdcarpe]

fohat, if you have a working windows system, you can use Universal USB Installer with a downloaded ISO of your preferred distro to install it onto a USB stick. I use it all the time.

[Ngt]

I use Ubuntu with Gnome3 at work and at home I use windows because the games I played are not available on Linux otherwise I'll always been on Linux.

Get two hard drives. One has Linux the other Windows. You can use syslinux, which is a much cleaner and understandable boot manager, IMO, to be able to select which hard drive to boot. At least that way you can use the superior kernel at home as well.

Well I would have to reboot every time I want to play so it is not desirable IMO. I did have 2 partitions on the machine. One for Ubuntu and the other one for Windows but the result was that I never loaded Ubuntu pretty much.

[Air tree]

I've been using arch for a little while now, and I'm down to try  another Distro, any suggestions? I've tried Ubuntu, and mint.

[user 18]

I've been using arch for a little while now, and I'm down to try  another Distro, any suggestions? I've tried Ubuntu, and mint.

Debian Jessie is a lot of fun -- probably not as bleeding edge as you're used to with Arch. If you use the netinstall and choose to install as little as possible when prompted, you'll end up just installing the core distro, and you can build it up much like you would with Arch.

I can't think of another distro off the top of my head that I'd recommend for desktop use. If you're looking for something a little more special than base Debian, BunsenLabs is the spiritual successor to CrunchBang Linux, and it seems to be providing an excellent experience, although it's still in development and I've yet to try it out myself. Bunsen is essentially Debian Jessie with a few decisions already made for you, but it gets you closer to a functional system than a straight Jessie netinst.

[rowdy]

I've been using arch for a little while now, and I'm down to try  another Distro, any suggestions? I've tried Ubuntu, and mint.

Debian Jessie is a lot of fun -- probably not as bleeding edge as you're used to with Arch. If you use the netinstall and choose to install as little as possible when prompted, you'll end up just installing the core distro, and you can build it up much like you would with Arch.

I can't think of another distro off the top of my head that I'd recommend for desktop use. If you're looking for something a little more special than base Debian, BunsenLabs is the spiritual successor to CrunchBang Linux, and it seems to be providing an excellent experience, although it's still in development and I've yet to try it out myself. Bunsen is essentially Debian Jessie with a few decisions already made for you, but it gets you closer to a functional system than a straight Jessie netinst.

+1 for Debian Jessie (8.0) - working well for me on a desktop (in a VM, btw).

[Air tree]

Alright, I'm going to do a full wipe and give it a go a little later, I'll share my thoughts after using it for a little while.

[iri]

I've been using arch for a little while now, and I'm down to try  another Distro, any suggestions? I've tried Ubuntu, and mint.

out of the debian family! try gentoo.

[osi]

I've been using arch for a little while now, and I'm down to try  another Distro, any suggestions? I've tried Ubuntu, and mint.

out of the debian family! try gentoo.

slackware!

[iri]

yeah, or slackware.

[ttzhou]

If you're gonna try those distros mentioned above, also try Arch LFS (joking)!

[iri]

which he has been using for a while.

[ttzhou]

which he has been using for a while.

sorry didn't see the quote, was on phone 

[kaminbobby]

Arch linux

[Air tree]

Rocking Debian like everyone said to do, and after making it all pretty, it's really nice!

[davkol]

The upgrade to Kubuntu 15.04 seemed like a major ****-up at first, but it's okay after all… only the panel/systray is quite useless in Plasma 5.3, and I've had to get rid of (surprise-surprise) systemd.

[micr0n]

For home, I mostly use windows with cygwin.  All my VMs use ubuntu server for various software testing I do.  I can also still use linux software as well with good old x11.  The only real reason for windows is gaming and steam.

[Air tree]

For home, I mostly use windows with cygwin.  All my VMs use ubuntu server for various software testing I do.  I can also still use linux software as well with good old x11.  The only real reason for windows is gaming and steam.

I hope linux starts getting some real support and a large backing. I would love to use linux as my only OS. But I like to game and all that...

[rm-rf]

its been growing a lot the past few years.
went to this a few weeks back...

http://linuxfestnorthwest.org/2015
take a look at their schedule. 2 days of seminars and more

its always fun, and every year it gets bigger and bigger. people come from all over.
and there is always a huge after party, which is pretty damn fun.
great for networking.

although the first one i went to in 1999, it was just 5 guys in a room talking about BBS's...
not so interesting. but this year there was a massive turn out. i think there was 3,000 + people that showed up

looks like there may be something similar in Seattle WA, in October.
http://seagl.org/
their site seems a bit non informational.

and i've noticed lately on steam a lot more products being available for linux
but i usually don't play games when in linux, and if i do its just in a vm anyways

but my distro of choice would probably be gentoo...

[dimamantra]

For home, I mostly use windows with cygwin.  All my VMs use ubuntu server for various software testing I do.  I can also still use linux software as well with good old x11.  The only real reason for windows is gaming and steam.

I hope linux starts getting some real support and a large backing. I would love to use linux as my only OS. But I like to game and all that...

Slowly but surely my friend 

There are a lot of games running on Linux these days with more being added everyday.

[rm-rf]

i think with steam kicking off towards linux there should be more to come in time.

[user 18]

i think with steam kicking off towards linux there should be more to come in time.

Unfortunately, linux still only has less than 1% of Steam installs, and OSX only has around 3% (April Steam survey). It may come, but it's not coming quickly.

[Air tree]

i think with steam kicking off towards linux there should be more to come in time.

Unfortunately, linux still only has less than 1% of Steam installs, and OSX only has around 3% (April Steam survey). It may come, but it's not coming quickly.

We would probably see a lot more if tripple A games where on linux. I'm betting a lot of people would install a free OS that you can play GTA V on..

[user 18]

i think with steam kicking off towards linux there should be more to come in time.

Unfortunately, linux still only has less than 1% of Steam installs, and OSX only has around 3% (April Steam survey). It may come, but it's not coming quickly.

We would probably see a lot more if tripple A games where on linux. I'm betting a lot of people would install a free OS that you can play GTA V on..

Well we've got a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy here. Developers won't develop for platforms that have low market share, and gamers won't switch to a platform that doesn't have games.

Most Valve games, and a good number of indie games work on linux, although I've personally had a lot of trouble making them work as well as on Windows.

[Air tree]

i think with steam kicking off towards linux there should be more to come in time.

Unfortunately, linux still only has less than 1% of Steam installs, and OSX only has around 3% (April Steam survey). It may come, but it's not coming quickly.

We would probably see a lot more if tripple A games where on linux. I'm betting a lot of people would install a free OS that you can play GTA V on..

Well we've got a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy here. Developers won't develop for platforms that have low market share, and gamers won't switch to a platform that doesn't have games.

Most Valve games, and a good number of indie games work on linux, although I've personally had a lot of trouble making them work as well as on Windows.

I was hearing reports of people having much better performance on CS GO with linux than windows with Nvidia, but AMD seems to be lacking on their driver front even more so with linux.

I'm glad Nvidia has stepped up to the plate for drivers for Linux.

[Ngt]

For home, I mostly use windows with cygwin.  All my VMs use ubuntu server for various software testing I do.  I can also still use linux software as well with good old x11.  The only real reason for windows is gaming and steam.

I hope linux starts getting some real support and a large backing. I would love to use linux as my only OS. But I like to game and all that...

Same situation here ^^.

[rm-rf]

i think i need to install nix now.
thanks. haha

[dimamantra]

I was hearing reports of people having much better performance on CS GO with linux than windows with Nvidia, but AMD seems to be lacking on their driver front even more so with linux.

I'm glad Nvidia has stepped up to the plate for drivers for Linux.

I used to be all about AMD...until Nvidia came along and crushed them.

Warms my heart to see a company pushing the Linux market forward.

[henz]

stop windowsing, ie stop gaming

[ttzhou]

stop windowsing, ie stop gaming

dual hard drive boot master race.

well, except for windows stupid pesky UTC clock correction.

[rm-rf]

dual boot is crap!
it interrupts workflow having to reboot.
i've decided that i just need one computer dedicated to games, and one for crunching.

[ttzhou]

dual boot is crap!
it interrupts workflow having to reboot.
i've decided that i just need one computer dedicated to games, and one for crunching.

i do my crunching on my laptop. i just can't stand using windows as an OS. but it doesn't make sense to buy ANOTHER machine just for that.

[dimamantra]

dual boot is crap!
it interrupts workflow having to reboot.
i've decided that i just need one computer dedicated to games, and one for crunching.

i do my crunching on my laptop. i just can't stand using windows as an OS. but it doesn't make sense to buy ANOTHER machine just for that.

> doesn't make sense to buy ANOTHER machine just for that

You can never have enough computers.

[swill]

For home, I mostly use windows with cygwin.  All my VMs use ubuntu server for various software testing I do.  I can also still use linux software as well with good old x11.  The only real reason for windows is gaming and steam.

I hope linux starts getting some real support and a large backing. I would love to use linux as my only OS. But I like to game and all that...

Use winex for gaming. I got 2x the performance on Linux playing WoW instead of windows on the same hardware.   There is no reason to not use Linux for gaming.

[micr0n]

dual boot is crap!
it interrupts workflow having to reboot.
i've decided that i just need one computer dedicated to games, and one for crunching.

I do agree that it does interrupt the workflow as well.  Hence the use of a mini VMware data center and cygwin.   I can use both environments at once without stopping a beat.  The dual boot method was just to inefficient for me.

[Ngt]

For home, I mostly use windows with cygwin.  All my VMs use ubuntu server for various software testing I do.  I can also still use linux software as well with good old x11.  The only real reason for windows is gaming and steam.

I hope linux starts getting some real support and a large backing. I would love to use linux as my only OS. But I like to game and all that...

Use winex for gaming. I got 2x the performance on Linux playing WoW instead of windows on the same hardware.   There is no reason to not use Linux for gaming.

Are you running it on wine?

[rowdy]

dual boot is crap!
it interrupts workflow having to reboot.
i've decided that i just need one computer dedicated to games, and one for crunching.

This - been there, done that several times.  Just doesn't work.

Now I have 2 or 3 computers, each dedicated to a single operating system.

[dimamantra]

dual boot is crap!
it interrupts workflow having to reboot.
i've decided that i just need one computer dedicated to games, and one for crunching.

This - been there, done that several times.  Just doesn't work.

Now I have 2 or 3 computers, each dedicated to a single operating system.

It is also reasonably cheap to build computers for certain tasks (gaming, general, media, storage, etc.) You can always find decent components to build something at a price tag that doesn't make you cry.

[rowdy]

dual boot is crap!
it interrupts workflow having to reboot.
i've decided that i just need one computer dedicated to games, and one for crunching.

This - been there, done that several times.  Just doesn't work.

Now I have 2 or 3 computers, each dedicated to a single operating system.

It is also reasonably cheap to build computers for certain tasks (gaming, general, media, storage, etc.) You can always find decent components to build something at a price tag that doesn't make you cry.

My biggest problem is now multiple monitors and keyboards on a moderately sized desk.

[Air tree]

I'm just going to cave in and get windows 10 once I build my PC.

I was going to install linux, but Candy Crush sold the power of the new operating system. 

[iri]

For home, I mostly use windows with cygwin.  All my VMs use ubuntu server for various software testing I do.  I can also still use linux software as well with good old x11.  The only real reason for windows is gaming and steam.

I hope linux starts getting some real support and a large backing. I would love to use linux as my only OS. But I like to game and all that...

Use winex for gaming. I got 2x the performance on Linux playing WoW instead of windows on the same hardware.   There is no reason to not use Linux for gaming.

amen.

[nova779]

I really miss crunchbang so I started using crunchbang++ and really enjoy it