Question about Linux distributions

[ioan]

I decided to give it a try so I searched the whole afternoon to see which one would be better suited and there are so many of them that I couldn't make up my mind.

It must be:
1. Free
2. Stable
3. User friendly
4. Provide support for a few years

The rest is not as important.

I got as far as selecting 3 of them: Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Mandriva, but these also have plenty of versions with lots of different support periods.

If anyone has a good idea please let me know.

[Daniel]

Can't say anything other than PM Ody :)

[odykas]

Linux distribution chooser: http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

What kind of support are you looking for, support contract or something like that?

Well, my opinion is that all distributions provide the same OS/Software in a different box. Except some not so conventional approaches (e.g. Gentoo)

[Mark]

It seems to be something that computer people are meant to know about, which distribution of Linux is 'best'. Smeh, they are all the same FFS :p

[ioan]

Linux distribution chooser: http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/


I did exactly that and got the 3 distributions I listed above.


What kind of support are you looking for, support contract or something like that?

It seems that some of these distributions are get updates and technical online support for a while but after that they are simply cut off (or maybe I got it wrong?!).
Because I don't want to change every few months I simply wanted to know if one of the distributors, in your opinion, has a better way to handle this.


Well, my opinion is that all distributions provide the same OS/Software in a different box. Except some not so conventional approaches (e.g. Gentoo)

And this is my problem too, how to chose one of those. Maybe I'll download all the live CD's from them and give it a try before deciding.

Thanks for the help.

[ioan]

It seems to be something that computer people are meant to know about, which distribution of Linux is 'best'. Smeh, they are all the same FFS :p


People or Linux dsitributions?!

[odykas]

I did exactly that and got the 3 distributions I listed above.

It seems that some of these distributions are get updates and technical online support for a while but after that they are simply cut off (or maybe I got it wrong?!).
Because I don't want to change every few months I simply wanted to know if one of the distributors, in your opinion, has a better way to handle this.


All of big distributions (including the ones you mentioned) have software do automated updated of installed packages, install/delete packages, etc. You can even upgrade to a newer version of the distribution or install from scratch over the network.



And this is my problem too, how to chose one of those. Maybe I'll download all the live CD's from them and give it a try before deciding.


If your connection is fast enough you can try to download and install in order to evaluate. But don't expect big differences apart from user interface.

[veeten]

People or Linux dsitributions?!

usually both... ;) :p

[ioan]

All of big distributions (including the ones you mentioned) have software do automated updated of installed packages, install/delete packages, etc. You can even upgrade to a newer version of the distribution or install from scratch over the network.

If your connection is fast enough you can try to download and install in order to evaluate. But don't expect big differences apart from user interface.

Thanks for the advices!
Now I need some more of them! :D

Yesterday I decided to try out the Kubuntu 6.10 and Ubuntu 6.10 distributions (Mandriva 2007 doesn't support the program I wanted to use with, at least not yet!).

So I downloaded the Ubuntu and Kubuntu live CD's and the Kubuntu DVD.

1) I tried first to run the CD's to see what they are like but to no avail. The CD starts and I chose "Start or install" after I introduce live at the "boot:" command line and I wait, well all I've got was some CD-rom activity followed by a line that said something like (not exactly sure about the last character):
"ubuntu@ubuntu$"
Any command I tried wasn't accepted!

What might be the problem?

2) Not being able to use the Live CDs I decided to install the Kubuntu 6.10 version.
I chose to install it on the first primary partition of my external HDD (not wanting to bust my WindowsXP).
Everything went OK, I installed the boot client (GRUB) also on the external HDD and than it said everything is done you need to reboot before using Kubuntu.

So I restarted the laptop, chose USB device from the boot sequence, GRUB kicked in and asked which one of the instaled OS' I wanted to boot.
I chose Kubuntu and the surprise was that it didn't work:

"Error 17 could not mount ..."(forgot the rest of it as I was to angry and rebooted in WindowsXP!)

Problem is that when I tried to format the Linux partition I can't access it from Windows (which is normal because it can't be active in the same time), but the Partition Magic believes that my external HDD is empty although WinXP sees all of the other partitions and data on it!

Again is there a chance to make it work or I should simply format the Linux partition (well the whole HDD in fact if the MBR is gone)?!

I am willing to give it a second chance as I am really interested in trying it out first hand.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[odykas]

1) I tried first to run the CD's to see what they are like but to no avail. The CD starts and I chose "Start or install" after I introduce live at the "boot:" command line and I wait, well all I've got was some CD-rom activity followed by a line that said something like (not exactly sure about the last character):
"ubuntu@ubuntu$"
Any command I tried wasn't accepted!


This is the system prompt. For a reason the graphical user interface did not start. Any logs or other info?



2) Not being able to use the Live CDs I decided to install the Kubuntu 6.10 version.
I chose to install it on the first primary partition of my external HDD (not wanting to bust my WindowsXP).
Everything went OK, I installed the boot client (GRUB) also on the external HDD and than it said everything is done you need to reboot before using Kubuntu.

So I restarted the laptop, chose USB device from the boot sequence, GRUB kicked in and asked which one of the instaled OS' I wanted to boot.
I chose Kubuntu and the surprise was that it didn't work:

"Error 17 could not mount ..."(forgot the rest of it as I was to angry and rebooted in WindowsXP!)



I can think of two reasons:
a) There are no linux partitions on the external drive or maybe something is wrong with the partition table.
b) Grub's numbering is different than installer. In this case you can try to edit boot options (hit 'e' in grub menu) and try to set "root (hd1,0)" to "root (hd0,1)" or vise versa.



Problem is that when I tried to format the Linux partition I can't access it from Windows (which is normal because it can't be active in the same time), but the Partition Magic believes that my external HDD is empty although WinXP sees all of the other partitions and data on it!

Again is there a chance to make it work or I should simply format the Linux partition (well the whole HDD in fact if the MBR is gone)?!


Partition Magic must be able to see the Linux partition and recognize ext2/ext3 filesystem! Something is broken here! You can try to create the linux partition with Partition Magic and just format it when installing linux. If you created the partition with the linux installer maybe something went wrong. Better try again (create primary partition) and if it does not work try to do with Partition Magic.