Any other distros to recommend?

[yuri21]

So now, I've realised that Daryna has inherited some issues from Gutsy meaning both will refuse to recognise my IDE hdd so these 2 distros are out of consideration.

Does anyone have a distro to recommend, that's similar to Mint but with no Kde? Yeah, Kde's fast but with the exception of a few, the general Kde apps are really annoying.

Gnome or Xfce are fine with me. ^^;; And yes, it has to be fast.

[900i]

Debian "etch" thats fast, been running it for a couple of weeks, very slick and stable, but no proprietry anything as default.

[67GTA]

SAM Linux. It is based on PCLinuxOS, uses XFCE and Synaptic. It is really slick.

[molom]

I don't have a clue, nearly all distros are based on ubuntu (Not all but there are so many). And without KDE, makes it even more of a thoughy. I guess if you have a fast computer OpenSuse with gnome would be the best or sam linux.

[civint]

nearly all distros are based on ubuntu

Not technically true. Ubuntu has shot forward people's perceptions linux, it's not just a geeky toy now (as debian, slackware and Gentoo are, as well as Redhat/Fedora, which are the 4 roots of all distros today, since ubuntu is debian based) and it doesnt have to be hard (especially in distros like PCLOS and Mint where proprietary everything is standard).

Distros to try? vector linux is nice (if not as polished as mint/ubuntu/fedora/PCLOS) it's slackware based and uses kde or xfce for it's wm (depending on the version you get), and has support for most, if not all proprietory media formats out of the box. Plus its quite a snappy distro. Also, try something gentoo based, or in fact gentoo, if only for a trial period. You learn a lot from that kind of distro (see my excursion into "simple" "bloat free" distros...A minor disaster, but I learned loads about the insides of a distro).

If you're feeling socialist give red flag linux a go. It now supports western characters!

[NoClue!]

Can't recognize an IDE hd???? Come on.............those things have been around for hundreds of years. Something is not hooked up right.

Is it recognized by the bios?
Are the jumpers on the hd set correctly? (either cable/select or master)
Is it plugged in to the last plug on the ribbon?
Is the ribbon plugged in to IDE 1 or primary on the motherboard?
Some older motherboards have a hard time with large hd's.

[deadguy]

Why not good ol Celena??

it runs quite fast on my 1.8Ghz p4.

but if you must go non mint I would say Debian etch.

[yuri21]

Can't recognize an IDE hd???? Come on.............those things have been around for hundreds of years. Something is not hooked up right.

Is it recognized by the bios?
Are the jumpers on the hd set correctly? (either cable/select or master)
Is it plugged in to the last plug on the ribbon?
Is the ribbon plugged in to IDE 1 or primary on the motherboard?
Some older motherboards have a hard time with large hd's.

This issue has been experienced by a handful of Gutsy users with WD IDE hdds, besides me.
Also, the hard disk works perfectly under WinXP and is recognised by an assortment of utilities like SpinRite, Testdisk, smartmontools(in WinXP), etc. and it shows up in Bios. I've already posted about this issue on this forum and after some investigation and queries, came to the conclusion that it's an o/s issue.

Oh well... looks like I won't be trying another distro anytime soon. I'm enjoying Beyond Divinity way too much.

[yuri21]

I will repeat what a few have said already and recommend Debian Etch..

I'm sure there is going to be a rather easy solution to the problem you are having with your HD; I just hope you find it sooner rather than later.

There's the jumper solution but my hdd is already set in Single mode so no, it doesn't work. The solution is probably for those whose motherboard can support more than 1 IDE device.

Okay, will give Deb Etch a shot when i've the time to. Btw, it's not rather hard to configure, is it?

[NoClue!]

Etch is good and you can put automatix on it.

What obscure setting could they have changed that would push a specie of ide hd to extinction?

[linuxviolin]

you can put automatix on it.

No! Never use automatix and Co! This often leads to big problems.

What obscure setting could they have changed that would push a specie of ide hd to extinction?

During versions of Ubuntu there are regressions, see here about Gutsy for example...

I sincerely hope that the release of "hardy" will pay much more attention NOT TO REGRESS on so many, and important, points (Geeez ! Daemons that don't start ! Partitions that don't mount ! Systems that don't even boot !) for my confidence in Ubuntu has been quite undermined by these recent experiences I had...

And from a comment:

I work for as a system administrator - on 3 desktops, and 15 laptops. Feisty worked great, but the upgrade to Gutsy was a disaster.(...) I'm also thinking about downgrading computers at work back to Feisty.

I wonder why I stay with Cassandra...

[bigbearomaha]

I have to echo the Debian Etch suggestion also. it's a knock out. And it's not hard at all to get newer apps by enabling Sid's repos. ( some say it is more "unstable" but that is relative to the older versions the Etch apps are ) it really is a solid and easy to use system and you can install any of the desktops/WM's on it.

have nothing against Daryna, but I have no need to move away from my Celena Xfdce. It does what I need it to and then some. very fast, very nice. ( can I shout mad props, yet again to Mint Xfce? Cuz I will!)

Big Bear

[Pikey]

DreamLinux is quite nice ! ... but I think they are building a new version at the mo ...

http://www.dreamlinux.com.br/english/index.html

[molom]

Arch.......plain and simple. I love Mint, but nothing will ever replace Arch for me.

Not even Mint

[linuxviolin]

If you want to try another distro I suggest to you: Frugalware

From the web:

"If you are looking for an alternative to Slackware, recompiled for 686 with a package manager (a pacman version) more powerful, this distribution is for you."
"Frugalware is a small distribution going up ..."
"Ultimately Frugalware here confirms its small catch of way and its stability. (...) A positive development and a IRC community still warm. In short, to advise if the distributions classics bothering you or if you are looking for an alternative more complete to Slackware."
"I am sure Frugalware will attract more and more masses as it is ineed another Best Linux Distribution for Home Users."
"Frugalware has a mission, and a really good mission. It works just great out of the box. (...) Frugalware is very well on track. It looks awesome, maybe a trend-setter in look-and-feel for linux. This is a distribution to look for in coming time."

The current stable version is 0.7, it is very stable and has few bugs.

The Frugalware developers state that their distribution is focused for intermediate users rather than newbies, so you should not be afraid of the command line in cas but it is really simple to use...

I use it in dual-boot with Mint. It's also a great distro.