I’ve tried the all of the latest distributions.
Ubuntu
Mandriva
Debian
Fedora
Suse
With my 64bit, ar5212 Wireless, Nvidia 6600, Tyan Tiger K8W system,
I find that Suse provides the best logical help; ease of installation and speed.
Thank you all very much!
Peter
THANK YOU!
Use Opensuse , Mandriva, Fedora installing all 3 are easy , including keeping the system to update
It is just the outlook that differs.
Ok you have to get use to a OS.
dobby9
Here at Opensuse we try harder, because we are the other guys!
any tried Arch linux…gnome?
Arch Linux is not what I would call ease of installation… Very configurable and lots you can learn from it with a nice rolling update mechanism… but easy… that’s not the word on my mind. 
i totally agree that it is not easy to install. in fact, that is the ONLY reason i do not have it running on my computer. i have been told of a certain “auto-install” project that may be coming up…really looking forward to it. it would actually in my opinion move Arch linux many places up in the Distrowatch rankings (meaning to say, that more people will use it). if only there was an initial graphical base, and then it let the people just select whatever they wanted, however they wanted, it would go a long way in the distro’s favour.
viperskunk wrote:
> Magic31;1888725 Wrote:
>> Arch Linux is not what I would call ease of installation… Very
>> configurable and lots you can learn from it with a nice rolling update
>> mechanism… but easy… that’s not the word on my mind.
> i totally agree that it is not easy to install. in fact, that is the
> ONLY reason i do not have it running on my computer. i have been told of
> a certain “auto-install” project that may be coming up…really looking
> forward to it. it would actually in my opinion move Arch linux many
> places up in the Distrowatch rankings (meaning to say, that more people
> will use it). if only there was an initial graphical base, and then it
> let the people just select whatever they wanted, however they wanted, it
> would go a long way in the distro’s favour.
>
>
I disagree, I think the install is pretty plain and simple. Especially
if you follow the wiki article.
i disagree. so do a most of the users that do NOT use Arch. that is their primary complaint…that for a distro that claims to be the most up-to-date today, it’s installer i sort of prehistoric. and with regards to following the wiki…
how the hell am i supposed to do that?..like print out 90 pages and keep the book with me while installing? i was informed of a certain guide that has been included in the CD itself. it didn’t work. and as the arch forums will tell you, i wasn’t the only one with the trouble.
my point is: why does a distro want to intentionally keep newbies out of their user base? it says on their website also. fair enough. if one likes the arch way, let one go with it. but just make the installer a bit reflective of the modern times…
one of the first things that attracted me to Opensuse 11 was how much better Yast had become, and much easier the install had. when i am installing an OS, i am in the mood for installing an OS…not sit down reading a novel of command line codes…
viperskunk wrote:
> 69_rs_ss;1890708 Wrote:
>> I disagree, I think the install is pretty plain and simple. Especially
>> if you follow the wiki article.
>
> i disagree. so do a most of the users that do NOT use Arch. that is
> their primary complaint…that for a distro that claims to be the most
> up-to-date today, it’s installer i sort of prehistoric. and with regards
> to following the wiki…
>
The installer is exactly like the one used in Ubuntu up until a version
or 2 ago. It is a very straight forward installer I think, pretty close
to the any other installer without a special “pretty” gui.
> how the hell am i supposed to do that?..like print out 90 pages and
> keep the book with me while installing? i was informed of a certain
> guide that has been included in the CD itself. it didn’t work. and as
> the arch forums will tell you, i wasn’t the only one with the trouble.
>
Couldn’t you switch over to another console interface and use links to
read through the wiki? Or use another computer to read the article?
> my point is: why does a distro want to intentionally keep newbies out
> of their user base? it says on their website also. fair enough. if one
> likes the arch way, let one go with it. but just make the installer a
> bit reflective of the modern times…
>
>
Why does a distro have to cater to newbies if they don’t want to? And
what is “modern times” anyway? Many people use CLI over GUI and same
goes for installers. Hey, openSUSE itself even has a text mode
installer, does that mean it should be dropped?
I agree 100%. Let them run their distro how they want to. If they want to keep newbies out by having a higher barrier to entry then that’s their right. They can sink or swim by their choice.
Each distro has certain users in mind. We cannot expect them all to reach out to the same groups. This is how the overall Linux community can expand under its current fragmented state. Each part deals with a niche or two (or twenty) and since the advances are freely distributed (usually, ahem agfa-fonts[1]), then the whole ecosystem improves despite the rampant specialization going on.
[1] I’m aware that openSUSE is dropping the AGFA fonts in favour of the Liberation fonts. Although it makes one wonder why SUSE didn’t do the FOSS thing in the first place rather than license the fonts for themselves.
no i couldn’t switch to another console to read the wiki because my internet provider has a special login screen which only comes on with a graphical interface. i need to log in in order to use the internet.
and no i couldn’t use another computer to access it either, coz there is only one in my home.
and by all means continue to have the CLI…but as an option, but not a forced thing on the user. True, big distros like OpenSuSE also have a CLI install option. But I would certainly like to know what percentage of their massive user base actually use the CLI…i mean, all this fuss about a new improved YaST installer would have been rubbish then, right?
as for keeping mewbies out…by all means continue to do so. if you never really want to go above the 17th rank on (for example) Distrowatch, it is entirely the distro’s choice.
i mean i am not saying Arch is bad or anything…it is just not accessible to use for many users.
if one wants to remain content with a handful of enthusiasts using their distro, please suit oneself. all i am saying is, if one wanted to increase the number of people using it, then you need to rethink how easy/difficult you make a distro by choice.
that is precisely why projects like chakra project and borderless linux are coming up. they have a GUI installer too.
necessity is the mother here…
and as i also wrote before:
when i am installing an OS, i am in the mood for installing an OS…not sit down reading a novel of command line codes…
My first distro was suse 9.1 and as a newbie i found it very interesting.Then I used a whole range of distro’s,just for testing,and now i’m back with suse 11.0 and i’m staying with suse.You learn how to use different distro’s and when you want to make a final decision you take the distro that you are feel the most comfort with.
I was curious to try Yast. I hadn’t touched anything with the name suse on it since the late 90s.
i tried opensuse with only 10.2. but yes, after fiddling around with a few other distros, i kept coming back. the only two other distro i used for a consistenly long period of time (relatively…) were Ubuntu gutsy, and fedora 9. but opensuse still remains sort of home for me.
I use openSUSE, always was (from some early exceptions of fedora 1, forced use ubuntu 7 at work one time, a bit of Mandrake etc), but I learnt to appreciate difference of distros, because we have a different neeeds.
I didn’t realise that until appeared special need, one I thought I would never have. Installing OS on very very old laptop with 64 MB Ram…
I have chosen Gentoo minimal, went through hours of Wiki, compiling everything for days, but finally, I could see the results of customized system.
If everyone had the same needs, we would need Ubuntu only.
Fortunately, people are different with different needs and desires.
Has anyone tried eAR OS (Glorified Media-Center version of Ubuntu)? It has a decent interface, and dock works seamlessly with it (which is nice for being pre-installed), but I had a lot of trouble with their Media-Center in general. Hard time getting it to find any media, and trouble having it run a VLC plug-in to play media files.
It was nice (on the eyes), but really needs some polishing up.