We all know the big Linux players: RHEL/Fedora, Mandrake, SuSE, Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, Ubuntu, Linspire, Xandros, Lycoris, YDL, TurboLinux etc. But what about these still-small but promising distros? Come in and vote for which one you think is the most promising of all.Note 1: You will need javascript to vote or view the poll.
Note 2: No LiveCDs or special-purpose distros (e.g. routers, firewalls) have a place on this poll. The question is about normal desktops/workstations.
Note 3: Please keep the poll fair.
Poll: Most Promising Generic Linux Distro?
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Mepis is just another messy live distro with a huge number of applications forced onto the CD just for the sake of it. The installation routine is very simple but there’s a major bug for some people, with it being unable to install grub if it doesn’t have the whole HD to itself.
I’m curious if Vidalinux somehow restricts you from installing the software from the purchase version?
No, the emerge repository is open for everyone.
>since our webmistress hates KDE
Given the way she’s been taken to task for her comments about Gnome over the last couple years I think you might have missed the mark with that one.
AFAIK this is built upon Fedora with stronger KDE support and some goodies like mp3 support. Nothing bad about that, but it definitely does not qualify as “small”.
Arch Linux all the way baby! It’s just awesome, I recommend that anybody who loves GNU/Linux should at least try it… I hope Arch will still be promoted at OSNews.com.
I think the whole concept of this poll is fundamentally flawed.
For the record, I voted CentOS since I *personally* am a (by profession) MS-leaning worker with a spanking new machine on order that I don’t want Windows to touch outside of a VM. So going back to Linux as a primary OS for the first time in 5 years, I figure that a RHEL-like build will bring my *nix skills back into commercial relevance. A decision made with the head, not the heart.
If I worked my day job in a Linux shop, I’d surely be more eager to spread my wings with my home install, locating a distro that was me all over. I feel each has a mission, each has a user base, and each has its evangelists.
Stepping away from the narrow Windows world back to a Linux install, one can be either over-awed by or thrilled with the plethora of options. Stacked against the choice of XP Home or Pro (adequate or good) I think it’s brilliant to have the chance to find something great.
It’s hard not to slip into cliché Americanisms of “We’re all winners here” and “Can’t we all just get along?” but I do wish that everyone could see the merits of each distro and the right-minded choices of every user.
For those who might not agree, please feel free to fill in the blanks…
________ ROCKS!!! And crappy ________ couldn’t even detect my soundcard.
PCLinuxOS definitely should be on the list. Add it, please.
The stock install is a well targeted base install: gnome, multimedia, P2P, nice green desktop, etc. Everything you need to get going.
Now, you can mirrorselect and update from a gentoo mirror, emerge (app name) and not have an issue, from what I understand.
According to this thread in their forums, everything the
paid version has you can get from either Gentoo or Vida, it just takes time.
http://forums.vidalinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=2679
Yet Another Happy Archer (Archlinux user that is)
what is meant by a “generic” distro listed in the poll.
i still don’t get it.
also there are a few very popular distros missing there
but substituted with lesser-known ones.
not that i care really
(but am curious about the “generic” definition being used)
[meanwhile /me gives VidaLinux a test-ride on a Samsung]
PCLinuxOS +1
oh dudes; ok, i see Sorcerer; i see Source Mage, BUT WHERE THE HELL IS LUNAR-LINUX? it is also fork of the sorcerer!
http://lunar-linux.org
My vote goes to PCLinuxOS. It’s like a good woman…everything works and it’s very pretty!
PcLinuxOs is an installable distro. Has an icon right on the desktop for starting the installation. Both distros are for testing before installation by running off the cd.
…what I still don’t get is what the heck does ‘promising’ mean. And why is it that 100+ people take it to mean ‘favourite’.
Albeit of the merger between between Conectiva and Mandrake Linux announced recently, we can’t forget the great contributions given by this important distribution to the Linux world.
First, I excel 2 works produced officially made by Conectiva: the RPM port of apt-get, the Apt-RPM. It brought to the world of RPM distros the ease to use of Debian apt-get. The other work is the new Smart Package Manager.
But more than those contributions, it gave to the Linux community great thinking heads, that revolutionized or through their works made the Linux what it is today: a tool of development, integration, solidariety and education.
Between those thinking heads are: Marcelo Tosatti (maintainer of the stable kernel of Linux); Everaldo Coelho (creator of the crystal theme for KDE, which is used as default between many distributions, including Mandrake _even much earlier that Mandrake thought that someday it would buy Conectiva) and Alfredo Kojima (creator of Window Maker, a very common choice of window manager for low power/old computers).
With Conectiva Linux, Latin America knew the first Linux distribution directed to it’s necessities. Actually, Conectiva was the first commercial distro in the area, and had a philosophy to help the development of our countries.
Because of Conectiva’s influence, the government made official the support to Linux, and consider the change of ALL the computers running other OS to an open source one.
So, because of all exposed above, I consider a complete lack of respect the inclusion of Conectiva in this pool.
I just wanted to comment that I’m kinda surprised that Mepis Linux is in this list… especially for a distro that has reached #1 on DistroWatch several times, and is currently #3 on the 6month list.
Oh well, hopefully people will be smart enough to realize that Mepis is far from a Small Distro.
je.saist
I voted other.
Kanotix is way better looking then mepis and the scripts are way better…..did I mention the hardware detection is better too?
Its all sid as well.
What can I say…it just works.
mepis is gaining in popularity as the distro of choice, its my vote because it does what it says it works
[quote]Mepis is just another messy live distro with a huge number of applications forced onto the CD just for the sake of it. The installation routine is very simple but there’s a major bug for some people, with it being unable to install grub if it doesn’t have the whole HD to itself. [/quote]
That’s not true. I dual booted for a long time time and it always installed grub sharing space with windows.
By no means is Mepis messy.
old debian packages or more work.
Damn Small Linux gets my vote. Because it’s the only distro I found that really is small, it works fine on older computers AND it’s useful! Maybe there are others which are better but I just haven’t tried all those linux’s…
This is how I’ve been working for the last year or so, and it
‘s worked out pretty well:
* ANY Debian-derivative (Knop/Morphix – including derivatives thereof [DSL, GNUSTEP, PHLAK, Knoppix STD] or Debian Sarge/Sid Business Card or Net install.
* Utilize the power of sources.list.
You get a simple base install, and can update with whatever packages you want from whatever repository. E17 builds are only available in one place, and it’s not included in *any* distro or LiveCD to my knowledge.
More or less standard base + custom packages = better than lumped-in-everything-and-the-kitchensink-and-then-some.rpm hell.
Wide support from so many camps – all supporting .deb as the common package format beats all I’ve tried so far. It works so well for me, I haven’t needed to look to portage.
Wow! I installed ARCH yesterday, and all of a sudden my computer started levitating in mid air. I guess I was used to other “heavy” distro packages weighing down my system. Some guy named Judd Vinet from Canada made it. He must be a part time “magician”…
ARCH hilights:
Simple/Powerful package management, friendly/intelligent user community, and a forum moderator named “Cactus” who’s avatar used to look like a pack of cigarettes…