Poll: Choose your most favorite Linux distribution

[dreamisdead]

Gentoo.

I recently joined a local LUG and it seemed to be generally felt that Gentoo was dangerous and crazy. I honestly only occasionally have problems, and none that haven't I haven't found a solution for as of yet.

As ThatFunkyMunki said, USE flags are great, and compiling from source doesn't take that long.

Gentoo was the first linux distro I ever installed (I know, not the greatest idea I've ever had) and though I've tried a few others, I've ended up back with Gentoo. Portage FTW.

[PirateJoe]

Originally Posted by dreamisdead

Gentoo.

I recently joined a local LUG and it seemed to be generally felt that Gentoo was dangerous and crazy. I honestly only occasionally have problems, and none that haven't I haven't found a solution for as of yet.

As ThatFunkyMunki said, USE flags are great, and compiling from source doesn't take that long.

Gentoo was the first linux distro I ever installed (I know, not the greatest idea I've ever had) and though I've tried a few others, I've ended up back with Gentoo. Portage FTW.

Gentoo FTW.

Gentoo was also the first distro i got to work on my computer (i had tried debian, mandrake, and some others, but they gave me nothing but trouble). Gentoo is surprisingly user-friendly, yet you maintain control of everything.

[Gren]

Voted Debian. Why?

Here's how the distro jumping went for me:

Mandrake - Easy install, learned basics, apt-get started screwing things up (aptitude ftw), latest OS was looking like I'd have to pay for it so...

Ubuntu - Very user friendly, but I got sick of the African philosophy crap...

Debian - Used to the .deb packaging system by now. Relatively easy install. Loads of support... if you're willing to swallow your n00bishness and ask for help in irc.

Added Windows to dual boot... had to reinstall Debian, but the install disc did all the boot stuff for me.

All in all, it's damn good if you know what you're doing or have time to look it up.

[SkaterRaider]

I like Fedora. I started out with Ubuntu, but hated how the commands worked, so I switched over to Fedora and I really like it. For some reason, yum just makes more sense and it's easier to use.

I'm still a Linux n00b though, I've only been using it for a month.

[Pseud0nym]

I have Ubuntu in an old 64 Athlon, and it is good.

I have heard great things about Fedora and some good things about Debian but i haven't tried either of them my self so I went with knoppix, which I used to have and was very impressed with it, being at the time a complete Linux n00b. It was simple and worked well. It was also quite cheap so it doesn't lose any points to Ubuntu in that department.

[ThatFunkyMunki]

I'd just like to emphasize again, that gentoo kicks fucking ass. Seriously, all these people say Debian is the shit, from their posts it doesn't look like they ever tried Gentoo. I'm telling you, once you get used to being able to configure everything possible [even specific features of a program that are optional are by default not installed unless you enable them in your use flags, as opposed to debian and ubuntu which just install everything with every possible feature enabled] you'll never be able to go back.

[John_Mirra]

Slackware

Solely because it's what I started out on, and have gotten comfortable using. I can honestly say I like Debian quite a lot, but fscking loathe Ubuntu.

[logged]

My vote goes to Slackware.
BTW, BiOPSY and Zok are mean.

[cense]

Originally Posted by ThatFunkyMunki

I'd just like to emphasize again, that gentoo kicks fucking ass. Seriously, all these people say Debian is the shit, from their posts it doesn't look like they ever tried Gentoo. I'm telling you, once you get used to being able to configure everything possible [even specific features of a program that are optional are by default not installed unless you enable them in your use flags, as opposed to debian and ubuntu which just install everything with every possible feature enabled] you'll never be able to go back.

I've tried Gentoo quite a few times and the novelty of compiling all your own software with whatever options you want wore off quite quickly. I'd prefer to apt-get and have a binary installed in way less time than wait for a compile just so I can sneak a couple features out of the software that I don't explicitly need.

It's about what you want from a distro. I used to want ultimate configurability but these days I want a stable machine that's easy to manage and gets the job done without fuss. Gentoo is fine and dandy for enthusiasts. I like a lot of what they are doing. But trust me when I say this, for business and reliable machines "configurability" becomes way more of a drag than it's ever worth.

I went back.

[blinky04]

I think Sabayon is great.

Everything is already done for you, and it's very versatile (Eg. Choice of graphical interface (KDE, Gnome, Enlightenment, etc.))