good/bad experiences with geek linux distros(debian, gentoo, tinfoil, router/firewall linuxes, and like)

[linuxfan66]

Has anyone got stories about good/bad experiences with geek linux distros(debian, gentoo, tinfoil, router/firewall linuxes, and like)(both useful and not-so-useful accepted)?

[Alessandro17]

Has anyone got stories about good/bad experiences with geek linux distros(debian, gentoo, tinfoil, router/firewall linuxes, and like)(both useful and not-so-useful accepted)?

 

Debian isn't such a geek distro as it used to be: compare Debian Etch to Debian Woody (released: 2002/07/19), for instance, and you'll see what I mean: till Woody you had to know all your hardware specs from memory.

Etch is quite intuitive to install (actually the installer is very similar to the Ubuntu one), it configures all your hardware automagically...

You have to install the proprietary plug-ins and ATI/Nvidia drivers yourself, but that isn't too difficult (IMO).

Once you learn Debian, you'll have one of the most powerful distros ever created: 20,000 packages across 11 architectures, the best package manager ever (APT), other tools (debconf...), the "Debian way" of doing things: install Nvidia with module-assistant, use a binary kernel or compile your own, choose from 3 branches (stable, testing, unstable) or mix them...

[Rubis]

Aside from recompiling my kernel for gentoo about 20 times trying to get it as light as possible, but still supporting all my hardware, I've been pretty happy with my gentoo, especially the lack of dependency problems and 4 second boot to login with another 2 seconds for KDE an a 2.2Ghz Core 2.

 

Took me literally about 20 tries to get it the way I wanted, eventually I gave up on 64 bit, media players were just too hard to get working right and I hate all that chroot stuff.

[minimono]

Basically all Linux distributions are great. You can do anything but if you dont develope something, then linux is just a waste of time.

[linuxfan66]

Basically all Linux distributions are great. You can do anything but if you dont develope something, then linux is just a waste of time.

 

 

I don't agree a bit.

[minimono]

Really?

It is annoying if you have to hack every time after install, its not user friendly. This is my opinion.

For example SUSE 10.2 (which i use often). After install in my computer i have to manually install ATI drivers etc, and those desktop themes just suck. Even if i install some beryl or compiz it looks uncompleted. I am very happy when i can change anything but it takes too long time. Thats why it is waste of time. Mabe linux community needs some leaders who can choose whats best and throw away uncompleted things. There is too many programs, too many standards.

But i love linux cause its hackable

[Embio]

what people fail to realise with the term 'user friendly' is that 'user' is the great variable. if you know what your doing, all the post-installation setup IS user friendly.

[linuxfan66]

If you used Ubuntu on a standard PC with nothing exotic, you might think again. One needs to manually install some drivers in Windows, too.

[Ragnarök]

what people fail to realise with the term 'user friendly' is that 'user' is the great variable. if you know what your doing, all the post-installation setup IS user friendly.

 

But there's still a difference between "unnecessary difficult" an "easy".