i have graduated to higher level linux

abf, I think you should just take the plunge and go with Gentoo. The only thing you need to do is spend some time reading through the installation handbook so you know whats going on before starting. With all the time you seemingly spend reinstalling different distros, you will probably be better off by going through the learning curve and ending up with such a conveninet system like Gentoo. I'm telling you, Portage is absolutely beautiful. Why go through 4 installation CDs when you will never use most of the stuff?

Mikhail

abf I have to agree with Mikhail, from what i have seen you post thus far I dont think you would have to much trouble with Gentoo(Yes I read about your previous exp. with gentoo), but it will take you some time. It is worth it though and you will learn so much about how a basic Linux system operates doing it, going from stage 1 anyways.

Seablade

just use VMware, so you can still use windows...

Man, give it up with Linux. It doesn't have a future as it is.

Just look at your post. Nine different distributions for god sake. And there are hundreds more. How is it possible to have an operating system a la carte????

An operating system must be standarized. Yes, that prevents newer and improved technologies to be implemented and that shit but hey, it must work first and work well second. The whole point behind an operating system is standarization and linux fails at it completelly.

Windows isn't fancy as Linux is and don't impress people as well but you turn on the computer and can do work with it. It no longer gives you blue screens frequently, you can download a program and run it. No need for damn missing libraries, packages, versioning, betas, alphas, release candidates or any shit. It works period.

If you think that is the case, then you obviously dont understand linux or why he is using it. he doesnt have to use those 9 distributions, he just wants to try them out FOR FUN! I personally have one partition with suse 10 installed that i use as my day to day work system. it works great, never crashes, all the hardware works 100% and it is so much easier to use and is more functional than windows. For example, my hp combo printer/scanner was supported out of the box, i didnt even have to install any drivers for it, just set it as the default in the control center. you cant do that with windows.

But you also cant do that with many other linux distributions. that is why i have another partition on my harddrive where i try out different distros and play around with them FOR FUN. right now i have a broken kubuntu half-breezy half-hoary installed on there, but its ok. i still have my suse partition that works great. i dont need to use windows. In a couple days i plan to try out the new SUPER iso on the current kubuntu partition.

Ive never really tried slack/gentoo/LFS before though because i really dont see a need for it. apt is a much faster package manager and distros like yoper, vector and SUPER give the majority of(if not more) the speed improvements of the DIY distros. SUPER promises boot times of about 37 seconds for a full KDE desktop and OOo launch in 3-5 seconds

Yes, mikemex, you were really off-topic with your comment. Please do not start another Windows vs Linux discussion here, there are appropriate threads for that subject.

mikemex troll go back to your windoblows world



abf : i think you need to settle to one distro and learn it .

Sorry, it's just that I couldn't stand it. I am pretty dissapointed with Linux in general.

The reason? Well, like many of you, I am a free software fan. Here on Windows I use Mozilla, GIMP, GCC, Apache, PHP, X-Chat, Miranda. All the good stuff you know.

In Linux however, the story is different. Just to set up the system it takes large and tedious hours if something doesn't work out of the box. You can't simply go and install the software you want. As an end user platform, Windows is simply better.

But why Linux doesn't grow up and finally become a real alternative? Because most people simply jerks with it. A lot of people talks about it, but very little people has actually tried to settle on it. I did and like a lot of the people who has tried, I find out that it is not worth it.

If instead of using the popular distro of the week, or one intended for "professionals" (yeah, everyone thinks easy to use distros are for n00bs right? let's use a distro wich gives us the same but it's more difficult to use just to show people we are more skilled) people focus on trying to build a usable, alternative platform, Linux could already be THE platform for personal systems.

Many distributions exist because people uses them. By refusing to run a fork we prevent a really important opportunity to slip from out hands.

Yeah but which one ? Each distro has good and bad points (hardware dependant). Need to try lots just to get a baseline then stick with it. Some that I like the best,are just too complicated to update, modify etc. without running the risk of breaking the install. Maybe if linux had a sys restore point. Well I think some distros do, but noobs like me need a "hit this button stupid" right in front of me. Until then I am forced to dual boot with the darkside.

Back on topic guys, ABF is taking his turn to ask for help. He's helped plenty of peolpe out in these forums. If anyone knows how/what to help him out do it. I've not ried slack for several years do I can't help you out bro.

Slack I can only help so much with, but Gentoo tell me where you get stuck on(Download or print the handbook out first so you have ti to install by) and I can give ya a shot.

If I started on the rest I would end up hijacking the thread so if someone starts a new thread on the merits of linux and trying it I will post in there.

Seablade

Absolutely, now that we pressured Gentoo on him, we'll be here to help

By the way, abf, to keep things organized, start a 'Gentoo on Uniwill [model]' thread, if one does not already exist.

Markin see the thread that says something to the effect of ABF needs to shut up...

Ok maybe I paraphrased a bit At least I didnt start the thread though

Seablade

Update on SUPER:

im posting from it right now and its pretty good. there was a major install problem(kdelibs/kdebase errored out during the install, but i had downloaded some kde 3.5 rpm's so i just upgraded everything to kde 3.5 using the terminal and it works fine now). i timed the boot at 45 seconds with my stopwatch which is pretty good. its a little higher than the numbers they posted, but it is still better than most other distros, and this is a very early build anyway, so i would expect the number to shrink further in the future. the system itself is very snappy. it is much faster than both suse 10 and kubuntu. its still far from perfect, but it shows a lot of promise. The next release will have an optimized kernel and i686 packages, which should give it a nice speed increase.

That said, probably the coolest feature of this distro is the ability to play dvd's and mp3's out of the box, which it does great with kaffeine and amarok. it doesnt include OOo though, so ill have to download that now.

Not that it helps at all, but I'm a Debian fan myself.... lol

I just wish they'd release a few more OS updates, or it was a little easeir to upgrade to the 2.6 kernel, lol