What turned you to Linux and what distro?

[Nitestick]

i've been using linux for some years now. i'd always heard and read about it, particularly it's rise in the server market and why it made that rise. to me the positives sounded good so i gave it a try. the other thing that brought me to linux was dissatisfaction with proprietary products. i just got sick of paying for software from certain manufacturers who think they should control how you use that software. i believe in having freedom to do whatever you like with your computer and software.

i use ubuntu and debian for the most part. i've been a debian man through and through for a while. the package management system is brilliant. i moved onto ubuntu for ease of configuration. some people call it a noob distro, some go as far as calling it the linux equivelant of windows. i say they took a great distro (debian) and improved it, special care has been taken with a lot of packages to make them dead easy to install e.g. mythtv.

 

[jakec]

This is from a previous post made in December last year

I came across Linux in 2004 while I was attending TAFE (you call it community college in the states) I started with RH8/RH9/FC and Knoppix I didn't like it at all, tried typing "Linux" Into google Ubuntu came up tried it Loved it

Used Ubuntu for 6 months utill 5.10 came along then tried SUSE that Sucked then tried Mandriva I loved it, Although It was way to bloated so I googled Mandrvia + One CD install and PCLinuxOS came up and I've been using it ever since. I've also tried countless Live CDs (about 40 in fact)

Jake

 

[kpmwrestler]

have you tried SimplyMEPIS 7? it is amazing

 

[horndude]

Saw an ad on the net back in the 90's for redhat, ordered a set of discs and gave it a try, turned out I like the unix style, hate automated installs that fail due to bad hardware guesses, downloaded slackware via telephone modem not long after and found a distro that makes sense, actually to be more accurate I found a distro maintainer that makes sense...........probably one the the simplest and well maintained distro's ever made and the longest running oldest too. Seeing how the only support for linux is literally from its user base I found slackware impossible to beat other than just doing it yourself, and Ive done that too.

A distro's website tells the tale in most cases, it better include a list of the software used in each version, be simple to navigate, have an accurate changelog, and the maintainer(s) respond to bugs promptly and properly, and have a nice orderly succession of progression as far as new releases. Those simple requirements eliminate almost all of them as far as Im concerned. Ive watched a bunch of different distro's fail, get stagnated, become extinct, get taken over or bought out, attempts to make linux windows like, all sorts of BS. Much of it has not been very good for the linux world Im afraid, so much FUD and misinfo gets spread based on myths and lies its almost comical sometimes.

Too many folks trying to make linux windows instead of learning linux, pick a distro and take it apart, learn what makes linux what it is, then go looking for a distro to stick with permanently or just make your own, it isn't that difficult these days. Pre-compiled apps and package managers are all well and good, but often times a bad compromise, sometimes it better to set your own options and compiler switches

Sometimes its better to figure out what's wrong rather than switching distro's too, although going thru 800 different installs seems to be the rule around here, what a sad state of affairs that is.

peace, semi-rant off

 

[DawnOfDoom]

Is there a Linux Distro that can actually play youtube video's i mean cuz Ubuntu 7.10 never worked right for me. so does anyone know one that will work well?

Thx.

 

[Nitestick]

try manually installing flashplayer, it gives fairly decent instructions on how to do so on the download page.

 

[KSoD]

Yeah Ubuntu with Firefox and the nonfree flash player should work. I know i have gotten ti working.

Ubuntu:Gutsy -

Read in there how to install flash. It gives several methods.

 

[DawnOfDoom]

okay thanks im gettin a small 80 gig hard drive to put in my comp and dedicate it to linux only

 

[KSoD]

I use 20 GB and i still have over 15GB free. So 80GB will be plenty.

As to answer the question of the main topic.

What turned me onto Linux?

Not sure really. I have always wondered about it. I knew of ti a while back but never got into it cause i am hardcore Windows guy. But with the release of Ubuntu 7.10 and hearing all the stuff about it i decided to try it.

What distro?

I think just reading above you would know. Ubuntu.

 

[DawnOfDoom]

im curious to try ubuntu 8 but its still alpha so .... that might not be a good thing for a noob linux guy like me.