From Fedora, through Ubuntu and Slackware, ...
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| tqk Aug 02, 2007 4:59 PM EDT |
Good gawd, man, what a confused account! This must be an example of the, "Linux? What's that?" followed by distrowatch.com bingeing. Some people have a lot of time on their hands. Please, if you're new to Linux/FLOSS, take some tips from me: Think! What is it you want? Toys? Bells, whistles, and/or eye candy? Do some research on distrowatch to determine which distros provide that stuff. Easy/simple/reliable/robust installs? Ditto. A cheap/inexpensive exit and alternative for Windows? Again ditto. DON'T mix up/conflate distro installs and software. Pick a distro, or a flavour of distro. Whatever software you eventually want to fiddle with is probably available and easily installed on any distro you may eventually decide to choose. No, you do not need the bleedingest edge version of it to test it out and play with it! GAWD, fiddling with multiple installs of various distro flavours, not understanding anything about the distros' packaging mechanisms and playing with software at the same time is a recipe for disaster, or disillusionment. Damn, that review was hard to read. It's *so* all over the map, it feels like trying to explain to a noob that, "No, Al Gore did not invent the Intarnets[sic], whatever gave you that ridiculous idea?!?" "BUT I WANT INSTANT GRATIFICATION NOW, DAMNIT, ON ALL MY POINTS!" Next universe buddy. We don't sell that shite here. Please, think, then post. |
| Steven_Rosenber Aug 02, 2007 5:13 PM EDT |
I didn't say I wasn't confused. And it's pretty much a brain dump, to be sure. Take it for what it's worth. If it's nothing, that's OK. The reason I keep doing this (burning discs, seeing what sticks) is that many of these installs don't perform as advertised. It's all subjective -- depends on your hardware, what you want to do, etc. That's what the rambling is about -- I'm trying to get it out of my system. Sorry if it sounds punishing (and self-inflicted at that). I've been doing this for about eight months. I see all these possible roads to take. How can you not drive down a bunch of them? I expect more than a few of us have been through this stage -- I'm just not keeping it to myself. |
| nikkels Aug 02, 2007 7:54 PM EDT |
I went through similar motions 5 years ago, when I decided to give Linux a try.
I got myself a copy of mandrake 8.x beta and had a hell of a time, but I learned.
I stuck with Mandriva as my main desktop for 3 years.
At the same time I was distro-hoping as well.
After a fall-out on the club, I switched to PCLOS.
That's where my distro-hopping came to an abrupt halt, as this distro gave me every thing I needed , just as in Mandriva, but with more easy ( = less problems ).
I still distro-hop every month, but more out of curiosity .
I intend to put Kubuntu on as well, because it is very popular ( but certainly not better than others ). So, stop hopping as mad, as it will get you absolute nowhere, as described in the first post. After all, once you know them, they are all the same. Just tools to get your work done, and the color on the box doesn't matter. |
| gus3 Aug 02, 2007 9:28 PM EDT |
Quoting:fiddling with multiple installs of various distro flavours, not understanding anything about the distros' packaging mechanisms and playing with software at the same time is a recipe for disaster, or disillusionment. Or it's the chance to look around, give it the taste test, and when you find that magic AHA! thing, latch on and dig deeper. That isn't what I did, and I'm glad I didn't, because the path I took was rewarding in ways far beyond the "user experience." I'm a hacker, not a J. Random User, and Slackware paid off for me hugely, with a steep learning curve and a very transferable skill set. It was almost like learning to drive by taking a basic engine maintenance course. However, that isn't what everyone wants. If you think distro-hopping may be rewarding, I suggest you define what the reward will be. Vague or concrete terms don't matter. Just decide what it is you want to get... and then once you get it, declare the journey finished. Once you do that, then you take the time to learn things like package management and more general system administration quirks. If the general experience of using the system isn't satisfying, you won't be motivated to dig deeper. After all, if two old cars each cost $5,000, but one of them backfires and misses and pours out smoke, which one are you going to buy? The one with the more satisfying "user experience," of course. And then you learn about the oil filter on the back of the engine instead of the side, and the radiator fan never shuts off, and the other quirks that car brings. But you'll tolerate them, learn to deal with them, because it's still the car you'd rather drive down the road. (OTOH, if you are taking an engine repair course, negotiate the clunker's price down to about $500, and you'll have yourself some good private study materials.) |
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