Which distro?

Which distro?

[Peter Nabbefeld]

Hi all,

which linux distribution would You recommend?

I'm looking for something easy to maintain and up-to-date.

I've tried Xubuntu, but it seems to me not to be very reliable, as I'm 
getting some problems upgrading:
- It semms to do an upgrade, but obviously some files aren't upgraded. 
They're still shown as an "alarm", but cannot upgrade those. :(
- As I cannot get enough info about those updates, that might or might 
not be a security problem.

I know (and like) gentoo, but it's too complex for doing everyday-tasks.

There're numerous linux distros ou there, could somebody tell me about 
other well-maintained distros, please?

Kind regards
Peter

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Re: Which distro?

[Bradley D. Thornton]

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On 09/13/2013 06:23 AM, Peter Nabbefeld wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> which linux distribution would You recommend?




1.) Slackware Linux

You can download the iso image here:

http://taper.alienbase.nl/mirrors/slackware/slackware-current-iso/slackware-current-install-dvd.iso

It is very easy to maintain, known to be perhaps the most stable of all
Linux distros, and running current means it stays current always.

All you need to do to keep Slackware completely current, running the
most stable, tested, and vetted current versions of software available, is:

# slackpkg update
# slackpkg install-new
# slackpkg upgrade-all
# slackpkg clean-system




2.) Arch Linux: https://www.archlinux.org/download/

Arch Linux is designed, out of the box, as a rolling release, and is
always current. Not as easy as Slackware, but keeps you up to date with
the very latest of all software.

Arch is prolly the easiest to do a complete update on, w/FreeBSD being
arguably the second easiest. To do a complete update of Arch, and all of
your installed software, you simply enter:

# pacman -Syu




3.) LMDE: http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php

LMDE is another rolling release, always current, and although not as
easy to maintain as Slackware it should be quite familiar to you and
simple to keep up to date since you have used an ewboontew - but this
distro doesn't break like ewboontews and remains current so you don't
have to reinstall from scratch again again every few months.

Out of the box it is one of the most popular distros, and hardly anyone
has anything bad to say about LMDE.




4.) Debian: http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/weekly-builds/

Debian is also widely considered to be, along with Slackware, one of the
most stable and reliable Linux distros. Running Debian Testing means you
are using it as a rolling release, and although it's not quite as easy
as maintaining Slackware or LMDE, it is the core that LMDE is based on
and will serve you quite well for many years w/o ever having to perform
another installation.

Whether you choose LMDE (based on Debian Testing) or Debian Testing,
making sure your distro is current involves the simple use of the same tools

# apt-get -y update

aptitude and synaptic are also tools you can use.

The problem with Debian is that *current*, isn't always as current as
many people, including yourself, might like - This is by design, and
intended as such for the sake of stability (the very same reason all of
the ewboontew variants are so unstable).




5.) FreeBSD: http://www.freebsd.org/where.html

FreeBSD is considered to be as stable as Slackware and Debian stable.
You can perform an upgrade to all of the latest software and version
simply by issuing:

# freebsd-update fetch
# freebsd-update install

and if you let it go for a few years, you can always force a complete
upgrade through several versions with:

# freebsd-update upgrade -r 9.1-RELEASE # for example




5.) Gentoo: You've already used Gentoo - so you already know how good it
is, but yes, there's a bit of involvment on your part required ;)




6.) Sorcerer Linux: http://sorcerer.silverice.org/img.php

Sorcerer Linux *IS* the *Original* source based distro, predating even
that of Gentoo, and is designed to always be current. It is not,
however, for the neophyte, with most documentation existing within the
distro itself and support coming direct from the maintainer himself and
the rest of us in the community on the mailing list.

Once you get a Sorcerer box up and running, it automatically takes care
of updating, recompiling, and installing *Everything* from source,
whenever there are updates.

Performance wise, I can't say that anything really compares to Sorcerer,
but then again, you will be required to perform due dilligence in your
research on how to maintain Sorcerer, which is easy, once you get the
hang of it - until then, you'll be scratching your head.

Once you get everything setup, keeping current is as easy as:

# augur synch # yes, w/an 'h' ;)
# augur newer
# augur update

Because you're a Gentoo user, I think you might be interested in this
rather recent review:

http://www.osnews.com/story/4768/Sorcerer_Linux_Review/page3/

Sorcerer is probably the easiest distro I know of to maintain, except
for Slackware, but that might be because I've been using Slackware
continuously since 1993.

> 
> I'm looking for something easy to maintain and up-to-date.
> 
> I've tried Xubuntu, but it seems to me not to be very reliable, as I'm
> getting some problems upgrading:

It's not very reliable - it's crap. All ewboontew is crap.

> - It semms to do an upgrade, but obviously some files aren't upgraded.
> They're still shown as an "alarm", but cannot upgrade those. :(
> - As I cannot get enough info about those updates, that might or might
> not be a security problem.

That's because all ewboontew derivations are total crap.

> 
> I know (and like) gentoo, but it's too complex for doing everyday-tasks.

I have no response to that. A single emerge command usually takes care
of any updates, and everyday tasks are done in userland, right?

Anyway, we both know it is a fine distro, and you understand more than
anyone why you are looking elsewhere - but remember, frinds don't let
frinds run ewboontew - stay away from trash like that!

> 
> There're numerous linux distros ou there, could somebody tell me about
> other well-maintained distros, please?

Well Peter, I hope that I've been been helpful :)

Kindest regards,


- -- 
Bradley D. Thornton
Manager Network Services
NorthTech Computer
TEL: +1.310.388.9469  (US)
TEL: +44.203.318.2755 (UK)
TEL: +41.43.508.05.10 (CH)
http://NorthTech.US

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Re: Which distro?

[cr]

On Saturday 14 September 2013 02:54:11 Bradley D. Thornton wrote:
> On 09/13/2013 06:23 AM, Peter Nabbefeld wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > 
> > which linux distribution would You recommend?
> 

(snippage) 


> 4.) Debian: http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/weekly-builds/
> 
> Debian is also widely considered to be, along with Slackware, one of the
> most stable and reliable Linux distros. Running Debian Testing means you
> are using it as a rolling release, and although it's not quite as easy
> as maintaining Slackware or LMDE, it is the core that LMDE is based on
> and will serve you quite well for many years w/o ever having to perform
> another installation.
> 
> Whether you choose LMDE (based on Debian Testing) or Debian Testing,
> making sure your distro is current involves the simple use of the same
> tools
> 
> # apt-get -y update
> 
> aptitude and synaptic are also tools you can use.
> 
> The problem with Debian is that *current*, isn't always as current as
> many people, including yourself, might like - This is by design, and
> intended as such for the sake of stability (the very same reason all of
> the ewboontew variants are so unstable).

Depends whether Peter means 'up-to-date' or 'bleeding-edge'.   I've always run 
Debian Stable (currently Squeeze), and that's always very easy to install and 
update.   For a newbie, Stable may be a better starting point than Testing.

If I want a particular very new capability that Stable doesn't have I usually 
Google for it and see if I can download a package from a third-party site 
(like, say, deb-multimedia.org).   

One suggestion, which may make windowshopping a bit easier whichever distro he 
finally settles on - make several partitions, install a known reliable distro 
in one partition to use for daily work like emails etc, and install the 
'trial' distro in another partition.   (And keep all user data in yet another 
partition separate from the OS).   You can multi-boot into whichever one you 
want with Grub.   Then of course, if the 'trial' distro turns out to be 
satisfactory, just switch to using that one. 

cr

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Re: Which distro?

[Bradley D. Thornton]

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On 09/13/2013 06:13 PM, cr wrote:
> 
> One suggestion, which may make windowshopping a bit easier whichever distro he 
> finally settles on - make several partitions, install a known reliable distro 
> in one partition to use for daily work like emails etc, and install the 
> 'trial' distro in another partition.   

I do agree that simultaneously shopping live distros is probably the
most immediately gratifying way to help come to a personal conclusion as
to the distro[s] one might prefer.

That having been said, I just don't subscribe to the multi-boot method,
and haven't, for several years now - with the exception of RAM starved
machinery.

There's just no point, IMNSHO, to use (or waste) HDD space w/kruft by
creating several partitions, especially when their need is relatively
temporary in nature.

Instead, and with tools like VirtualBox and KVM, creating virtual
machines where HDD space can be immediately reclaimed when the OS is no
longer needed, along with the convenience of being able to evaluate live
operating systems in parallel at the same time, requiring someone to
reboot over and over to swap out the running OS just doesn't scale.

> (And keep all user data in yet another 
> partition separate from the OS).   

This is ideal, and especially when using virtual machines under say,
VirtualBox, that can each use the same /usr/local or /home, for example.

It is not without issues, however, such as the way some distros have a
single group in their schema for for all non-priv'd users, while others
incorporate a scenario where a single group for all users. i.e.,

joeuser:joeuser

or

joeuser:users


You can multi-boot into whichever one you
> want with Grub.   

You mean LILO :p

Then of course, if the 'trial' distro turns out to be
> satisfactory, just switch to using that one. 

Not *as* simple a process using the virtual machines method for
performing the eval, unless you take steps to incorporate LVM or
something similar in your plan; since, aside from the leftover kruft
partitions I mentioned above, the evaluator would have to move the
virtual machine's HDD partitions to the bare-metal machine, unless
he/she had planned from the start to just do a wipe and fresh install
from scratch once the eval was over.

Excellent suggestions, cr, to the OP's original question - things that
should definitely be weighed and considered before going forward and
engaging in the actual evaluation :)

Kindest regards,


- -- 
Bradley D. Thornton
Manager Network Services
NorthTech Computer
TEL: +1.310.388.9469  (US)
TEL: +44.203.318.2755 (UK)
TEL: +41.43.508.05.10 (CH)
http://NorthTech.US

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Re: Which distro?

[cr]

On Sunday 22 September 2013 01:49:56 Bradley D. Thornton wrote:

(huge snippage)
> 
> Excellent suggestions, cr, to the OP's original question - things that
> should definitely be weighed and considered before going forward and
> engaging in the actual evaluation :)
> 
> Kindest regards,

Thanks for the kind words, Bradley.

I should add that, until recently, I was on dial-up, which made updating via 
internet impractical, so I just used to update via the DVD install set when a 
major new release of the distro came out - this meant I had a use for the 
'abandoned' partition that the last-but-one OS was in.   In effect I used to 
alternate partitions, so it wasn't entirely a wasted partition.

But I hope, between your comments and mine, the OP can find something that 
suits his requirements.

Cheers

cr
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