Cacarulo: Which is the best Linux distro and why?

[Cacarulo]

> I think you'll find little difference in the
> main stream distributions in terms of speed
> (with the possible exception of Gentoo which
> you can force to compile every piece of
> software on your system with compiler
> settings optimal for your CPU) or ability to
> optimally use limited RAM. They're all
> running the same software. The main
> differences in the distributions are ease of
> installation, ease of upgradability,
> security, compliance to standards, and
> version release schedules.

And specially compliance to standards.

> I use Debian which is ideal in all the above
> categories except for ease of initial
> installation (although it's not as bad as
> its reputation IMO). Fortunately, since it's
> so easy to upgrade, installation only needs
> to be done once in a lifetime. Running
> "apt-get update; apt-get upgrade"
> is all that's needed to keep your system in
> sync with the latest versions of all
> software packages.

For what I have read, Gentoo is also very easy to update and the installation needs to be done only once.

> Personally though, if you're happy with the
> distribution you're using now, I think you
> have little to gain by trying another
> distribution unless it's for the fun factor.

The problem is that I'm not happy with my actual distro so I think a will go with Gentoo.
Anyway, I appreciate your answer, thank you!

Sincerely,
Cac

[Parker]

> The problem is that I'm not happy with my
> actual distro so I think a will go with
> Gentoo.

Assuming that you do, please let me know how the installation goes. I spent most of a weekend screwing around with it before giving up in frustration. Of course, that was a couple of versions ago.

[Cacarulo]

> Assuming that you do, please let me know how
> the installation goes. I spent most of a
> weekend screwing around with it before
> giving up in frustration. Of course, that
> was a couple of versions ago.

Will do but if you take a look to www.gentoo.org you'll find that there are some new installation alternatives that don't need a full compilation.

Cac

[Parker]

> Will do but if you take a look to
> www.gentoo.org you'll find that there are
> some new installation alternatives that
> don't need a full compilation.

True. But the main reason for choosing Gentoo in the first place is so that you can build an OS customized for your particular system by compiling everything from source. If you're going to use the precompiled binaries, then it becomes just like any other system.

[Cacarulo]

> True. But the main reason for choosing
> Gentoo in the first place is so that you can
> build an OS customized for your particular
> system by compiling everything from source.
> If you're going to use the precompiled
> binaries, then it becomes just like any
> other system.

Yes, but if you choose the packages that correspond to your processor will be "almost" the same as doing all the compilation. The difference is that in stage1/2 you'll have to set the compiler' parameters yourself. If you accept the default parameters then there shouldn't be any differences.

Cac

[id]

link below.

-James

http://freebsd.org

[Cacarulo]

> If you like the idea of a source compiled
> system for speed, you may consider FreeBSD.
> It has pretty much everything Linux does,
> and is way easier to keep up to date than
> most Linux distros (and has better
> documentation for the most part).

> link below.

Will take a look. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Cac

[elmo]

FreeBSD is a great choise. Expecially if you plan to configure you system yourself.

Slackware is another if you like to compile every thing from the source code.

[^j^]

> FreeBSD is a great choise. Expecially if you
> plan to configure you system yourself.

> Slackware is another if you like to compile
> every thing from the source code.

Gentoo is extremely easy to update, emerge is fantastic. Actually Gentoo and FreeBSD share some concepts, but Gentoo is Linux, has much more applications and is extremely costumizable. I have tried nearly every distro, and for my desktop, Gentoo is just the best one, no comparison at all. And the installation was not so difficult, at least for me.

[Parker]

> Gentoo is extremely easy to update, emerge
> is fantastic. Actually Gentoo and FreeBSD
> share some concepts, but Gentoo is Linux,
> has much more applications and is extremely
> costumizable. I have tried nearly every
> distro, and for my desktop, Gentoo is just
> the best one, no comparison at all. And the
> installation was not so difficult, at least
> for me.

I'm glad it wasn't difficult for you. After studying the documentation and spending 8 hours compiling crap, I ended up with a system that would not #%&* boot. Screw that.

FreeBSD is supposed to be a tough install, but I had no problem with it. I like FreeBSD, but I haven't really found anything it can do that Linux can't do just as well, and as you mention, there are a lot more Linux apps (although most Linux apps can be made to run on FreeBSD).

As for updates, SuSE's YAST (Yet Another Setup Tool) does a fine job, as does Debian's apt-get.

[id]

> FreeBSD is supposed to be a tough install,
> but I had no problem with it. I like
> FreeBSD, but I haven't really found anything
> it can do that Linux can't do just as well,
> and as you mention, there are a lot more
> Linux apps (although most Linux apps can be
> made to run on FreeBSD).

If you stick to free software I don't know of any that won't run on FreeBSD, though they may not all be in the ports collection (which is up to 11,739 ports) . Also most commercial apps will run under the linux-base port.

The real advantage to FreeBSD is that it is a complete system including most userland stuff unlike Linux distros which use pieces from many different projects. And if you care there is also the philosophical difference between the BSD, GNU and Linux licenses.

There are other reasons as well! (see link)

Why BSD is better than Linux

[Parker]

The link was, ahem, not what I was expecting.

No argument here.

Thanks for providing my best laugh of the day. :-)