Adventures in Linuxland
Ξ January 24th, 2008 | → | ∇ General |
SIDE NOTE: According to a previous post I would not change from Ubuntu for anything . Apparently, I lied.
Today, we’ll recount the adventures of choosing a new Linux distro and a small review of the ones I tried.
Why was I looking for a new Linux?
Good question, Grasshopper.
I have been a very happy user of Ubuntu Linux, more specifically Kubuntu, for about the past 2 years.
Unfortunately, my system is vulnerable to the mysterious “freeze” bug which has appeared in the new kernel (or whatever). No-one seems to know exactly what is causing it and apparently the developers are not concerned about fixing it.
This has been my only main gripe with Ubuntu is that some bugs NEVER get fixed or even addressed properly and when no one knows how to fix something the answer seems to always be “upgrade”.
Well, I did.
I updated my Ubuntu Gutsy to the Ubuntu Hardy Alpha3, knowing full well that it was an alpha version and prepared for the consequences, but this seemed my only recourse as the “freeze” issue was making my system completely unusable.
And it worked. For a while.
Then, following a series of updates (which also broke other things, but that is a different issue), the freezes were back with a vengeance.
So, it is time to find a new Linux.
I had only a few requirements:
1. It must use a single Live CD for installation as I don’t have aDVD burner and was going to be recycling old cd+r/w for burning the new Live CD’s for testing.
2. Must be compatible with my Nvidia graphics card (i didn’t mind if I needed to do a driver installation so long as it didn’t require any anal probes and everything worked afterwards). The card is a GeForce 7200GS.
3. It needed to have the KDE desktop. This is just a personal preference as I am used to KDE and didn’t want to change.
4. I wanted to use a “standard” package system. By this, I mean I wanted either “rpm” or “deb”, not one of the “custom” package systems, but was open for options if everything else worked.
NOTE: For those not familiar with this, a “package system” is one way software is handled under Linux. Software can be stored in centralized locations (called “repositories” or “repos”) and installed via a “manager”. Thus, in most cases, you have access to software, which works, without having to do massive web searches and can be installed in only a few clicks. I think Ubuntu has around 21,000 packages available, and most other “main” Linux distros are in the same range.
5. Free to download. If there was a commercial version available, that was fine as I wouldn’t mind buying eventually if I like the free version.
6. Capable of running (almost) any server I decided to install. At the very least should be able to handle a local web server for development
7. I had to have one fast. I needed my system back up and running, like yesterday, so did not have a lot of time to invest in spending a month evaluating. I needed to get it installed, find the software I required, get things configured, and be back up in minimum time
So, armed with this list, I began my search. If you are looking for information on various Linux “flavors”, I highly recommend DistroWatch.com as a starting point.
Due to my Live CD requirement, I had to narrow the field because: A: a Live CD is about 670-690 megs per download (or about 30 minutes each on my system) and, B: I had a limited number of CDs available.
So after 2 days (yes, I ended up taking 2 days in order check out the websites for each distro I considered), I had narrowed my selections, for various reasons, to:
Debian (deb packages)
SimplyMEPIS (deb packages)
Mandriva (rpm)
Freespire (deb packages but used CNR, which I had never heard of until now)
openSUSE (rpm)
Anyone still on Windows (ALERT: You people need to escape the MS anal probing!) hates the idea of re-installing because saving your personal data is a nightmare.
One area in which Linux really shines is the option of using a completely separate partition to store all data and settings. Thus switching operating systems was (almost) completely independent of my actual data and was the only way I was able to easily pull this off because I have a LOT of data which has to be preserved.
SO…here was my plan: Install a system, setup my Nvidia card (which would probably also give me a look at the community support system, i.e. forums), and use it to download and burn the next. If I am lucky, I can listen to internet radio on Amarok while I work.
All of the following was performed over another 2 day period with about 4 hours out for sleep plus 4 hours for other “chores” for a total of 4 days downtime.
So, no, I did not give each system an in-depth evaluation. This was a “down-n-dirty” “sink-or-swim” kind of thing.
First try: Debian simply because that was the one I had heard the most about.
Well..crap.
I downloaded the wrong one. I got the Gnome version even though there was supposed to be a KDE version available. Guess that was my bad.
Oh well..I’ll give it a try even though Amarok is not a part of Gnome (I can always add it later..part of the beauty of Linux).
I hated it.
While I have absolutely NOTHING against the Gnome desktop, I have never encountered a “clunkier” system in my life as what I experienced with the Debian desktop.
I didn’t even bother trying to install the video card. I popped a beer during the next download.
Next up was SimplyMEPIS:
Can’t say much about this one as after spending the time to download it, it never would boot on my system.
I even re-downloaded and verified in case I got a bad image, still no go.
Oh well. At least I can salvage the CD.
Next came Mandriva:
First thing, I hated the huge questionnaire I had to fill out just to install the darn thing…strike 1.
I will say this: If you like eye candy and have a system that can handle it, Mandriva rocks in the visual department.
The included ComizFusion is awsome eye-candy and Mandriva picked up my Nvidia card with no issues and I had 3D from the start.
I almost stopped here. I mean, it was completely AWSOME.
Then I tried to change some settings because I noticed my system was running considerably slower AFTER installation than it was when I had running off of the Live CD.
No problem, I’ll just turn off the 3D desktop…err..turn off 3D…off..wtf?
I could NOT get rid of the 3D desktop no matter what I tried, which in turn led to several other annoyances I will not get into.
So..full reinstall with NO 3D desktop. Bleah. Pretty colors, though.
The last straw was using the package manager.
I will admit, I may have been a trifle peeved by now anyway plus I was fresh from using Synaptic under Ubuntu, but by now I already had the next candidate downloading, so I went and ate some pizza while it finished.
Next victim was Freespire.
I will give Freespire an “A+” in the speed department. Even when running from the Live CD, it ran like a bat out of…well, you get the idea.
I ran into a HUGE issue with trying to install.
It might have just been me not understanding things correctly, but I could not for the life of me get it to use a separate partition for my “home” directory during the installation.
It was almost like installing Windows where it wants the whole thing for itself.
That was a HUGE strike as I already had the partition scheme I wanted configured on my hard drives.
But, it was fast, so I did an single partition install just so I could check it out fully anyway.
Holy Greased Lightning!
It took 7 minutes to install from start to finish.
Yeah..no sh*t…7 minutes to install.
If anyone is just looking to surf the internet, instant message, and do some email, this is well worth checking out IF you are comfortable creating partitions on your own or have a second hard drive installed.
However, I was not entirely comfortable with the web based package management. This was the first time I had encountered “CNR” and i am not sure I like it as I do a lot of install/uninstall until I get things just the way I want them.
Also, after the installation, I had a mild issue determining which Nvidia driver to use as there were numerous options available in a drop down list and it was trial and error to find the right one.
The clincher for me was I could not find any concrete information about setting up a local server.
I will admit I did not do a whole lot of searching as it was getting close to 3 o’clock in the morning on day 2 of my installations by now but I did have some good tunes going.
Lastly was openSUSE.
I was really a bit skeptical on this one.
I am not a big Novell fan due to their relationship with M$ and the licensing of their products (if you read the license agreement during the openSUSE installation, it reads a LOT like the M$ license but without the fluff), but I will swallow some ethics in this particular case if it will get me up and running again.
I actually had to reinstall this one twice because nowhere that I could find in the documentation does it tell you that you need to manually set the built in firewall to allow OUTGOING traffic or your will not be able to access the internet after you reboot following install.
Once you know this little tidbit, it’s pretty much a breeze.
It took me a bit to figure out the package system in order to get the video card installed, but once I did, it was really nice as it links directly to Nvidia for driver support. This was a HUGE plus.
One additional bonus was the included docs for the operating system in the “Help” area. While not “all inclusive”, they do provide more information locally than just about any other Linux plus there was a desktop link to online help, which is something I had not seen anywhere else.
The package management, in my opinion, still leaves a LOT to be desired.
For someone coming from Ubuntu where almost all repos were available (even if deactivated) to openSUSE where almost everything must be manually added, this is a huge PITA.
In the end, I decided on openSUSE, but it wasn’t easy.
I flip flopped between Freespire and openSUSE and even reinstalled both several times before I finally decided Freespire didn’t feel “heavy” enough for what I wanted
Personally, I feel it would be perfect for someone just switching over from Windows who wants to pop in a CD and be surfing the web, chatting and emailing in no time. For all of Ubuntu’s “It just works”, I think Freespire has them beat on that count.
If someone wants bleeding-edge stuff, doesn’t mind a few glitches/bugs and is willing to roll up their sleeves a bit, Ubuntu is great. A lot of their stuff does “Just work”. Unfortunately, a lot of it :”Just doesn’t”.
I will,however, be checking it out again after Hardy is fully released.
I think Mandriva would be great for someone with a high end system who likes a lot of eye candy and has the time to figure out all of its quirks.
My experience with Debian had just left a really sour taste. Maybe I just had higher expectations for one of the “granddaddy” distros. It is probably a great base for someone who has the time/energy/knowledge to customize.
openSUSE still has it’s own problems, but all-in-all, for “My” needs, it “just works”….for now.
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