Alright i'm ready to move to another distribution having dealt with programs to make installation and configuration "easier" such as YaST. I've cut my teeth on SuSE and RedHat. I liked it enough to pretty much use linux full time and use a cygwin/msdev combo at work. I'm wanting suggestions on another distribution. Thins to keep in mind are I'm going to have to download ISO's as i'm on a modem at home and can only get it while at work. Right now i'm leaning towards debian but ISOs are so dated I'm wondering if I'm making a mistake. And becuase of my connection I won't me able to make major updates. Also, I'm not above buying CD's if thats my only option. Any suggestions? [edited by - null_vector on April 27, 2003 3:19:08 AM]

Slackware is quite good and it''s one iso only. The only problem is that the 9.0 vesion doesn''t include some packages that one would like to see included. Ofcourse you can download/compile/install them separately (that''s what I do), but not everybody likes to do that.
The good thing is that you are in control of everything: Information is not hidden behind wizards etc. Mostly you''ll have to configure things by hand. (which is good in my opinion: you learn how your sustem works and how to keep it working) If you don''t like to dig in config files, you probably won''t like it.
Another thing is size: Slackware tends to be less bloated than other popular distro''s. (with less bloated I mean less packages that you will never use) It''s handy if you don''t have loads of hdd space.
What I like to do, is installing the base packages, the development stuff, libraries, etc...: everything that''s needed to boot the system and configure basic stuff. Then I install all the other stuff like X, KDE, ... by hand. That way you know exacly what you have installed.
Anyway, there are plenty of other distro''s to try. Debian seems to be interesting too, mosly because of the package system. Gentoo is also something to try out. (I haven''t yet)

Click NOW!

sounds like exactly what i''m looking for.

Working with the other configuration/installatin tools more often than not forced me to work with the config files/source packages anyways.

Although, what i''ve heard about apt is very appealing but 7 isos seems a bit much.

How about Kurumin?

Kurumin is a new brazilian distro, and it''s one of those "live linux" distro; that is, you can run it from the CD. But you can install it.

The ISO is about 200MB, great for the ones who''s got a modem connection.

Kurumin is based on Knoppix, which is based on Debian, which is the best distro out there Erm, there''s only one thing that might not be good for you...: the default language is portuguese (don''t think it comes with other languages).

But then maybe you should try some other live linux distro (there are *plenty* out there), such as Knoppix, for example.

Victor.

c[_]~~

personally I think Slack is the best distro. it''s fast, configurable, and not too difficult to manage. be warned that debian stable will often have very old packages and an older kernel to maintain stability (woody comes with a 2.2.x kernel by default, gnome 1.4, kde 2.2, etc) so you might not get all the features you want, but it will be rock solid. if you want a great linux system tailored to you computer (but don''t want to mess with Linux from scratch) consider Gentoo. it has some great utilities that are comparable to apt. when you install it, it will download and build all the packages you want, and you can choose levels of optimization for your system. not the easiest distro to get going, but once you do, you''ll have a great system.

quote: Original post by null_vector
Right now i''m leaning towards debian but ISOs are so dated I''m wondering if I''m making a mistake. And becuase of my connection I won''t me able to make major updates.

I have installed Debian some weeks ago and I like it very much. Especially the debian package manager apt, where you can install only the things you really need afterwards. Ok, I have a fast connection, but I think with the ISO''s or the newest distro you are on a good way.

Redhat versions 8 & 9 are very easy to install.
They make the installer pretty with a little "slide show" to watch if you are watching the install bar inch from 0 to 100% =)

The fortune''s on the version 9 install are an odd way to get your attention =/

i installed slackware 9.0 last night.
very nice.

got my nvidia drivers and wolfenstein goin too.

only thing is....

I REALLY don''t like gnome 2. I was gonna try it on my last install but kept putting it off. Now I think I''m gonna have to switch over to KDE. :/