What Your Choice of Linux Distro Says about You

iter8 writes "NewsForge has an article explaining what your choice of distro says about you. There's no comment on what using Windows or OS X does for your rep. I use Mandrake, so that makes me suave and sophisticated."

A distro doesn't say a damn thing about anyone

[phoxix]

There are plenty of hardcore code, library, kernel hackers running distros like fedora, suse, mandrake, etc

There are also plenty of totaly linux newbies using gentoo, archlinux, etc

I know that this article is a joke (not a funny one either), but these stereotypes need to come to an end.

Sunny Dubey

The article is a troll

[dancedance]

The entire point of the article is to piss off everyone using any of those distros.

Re:Slackware?

[Performaman]

Indeed. But it would probably be "Slackware users are no-nonsense, doctrinarial, and do most things "by the book." They take pride in theirs being the oldest Linux Distro, and shun all others as being "childish."

Re:Lisandro

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, yes. Pantera; the "NKOTB" of Metal.

This whole "news article" is just one fucked up way to incite a full on flame war. Great job, CowboyNeal.

Re:hear hear!

[itallushrt]

sofar i've tried ubuntu, gnoppix, knoppix, suse, morphix, knoppix, slax, elearnix, dynebolic, mepis, dsl, puppy, pc linuxos, gentoo (oh, and one or two of those bsd's as well).

The moment i find one that recognizes my onboard sound i'll take it, no matter which name it's got. Untill then i'm stuck on windoze for everything that involves sound (and i do like music).

uhhh, recompile the kernel and use whichever distro you choose.

Re:Some edits needed.

[Anonymous Coward]

Let the flame wars begin!

Gentoo: this user typically likes to brag about how they were able to install linux using only a bash prompt, yet they conveniently disregard the fact that they used a fully understandable documentation on how to install it that even a linux newbie could understand.

I agree that the documentation is easy to follow. But I dont understand why you make it sound like a bad thing. Its wonderfull they have such good documentation. How else are you going to learn to do it the 1st time? And after that, you dont really need the install docs anymore, because you understand the process going on.

Re:Slackware?

[Lumpy]

that is because most journalists are frightened by Slackware. It's the oldest existing Linux distro (Yggdrasil was the very first) and as far as I am concerned the single best distro for doing what linux is supposed to.

Slackware on a machine is usually 50% or more faster than the fedora,redhat,mandrake and it makes sense where things are and where config files are insteaad of the randomized placement found in other distros. (which is the single bigest problem with linux, I dont care who is right, let's pick one filesystem layout and EVERYONE use it.)

I have tried ALL linux distros and I keep coming back to slackware. It just works.

Re:hear hear!

[Chrax]

Either recompile the kernel or get an SB Live for $30. Either way beats using Windows.

A non-distro specific answer

[j0e_average]

Stereotypes aside, the fact that I've chosen a linux distro should say something loud and clear:

1. I HAVE A CHOICE.
2.I DO NOT HAVE TO CONFORM TO THE SCHEMES/STANDARDS/LICENSING SET BY REDMOND.
3. I GET TO USE MY COMPUTER IN THE MANNER I SEE FIT.

If these choices are important to you too, then consider becoming a member of the EFF and supporting your favorite distro by purchasing a copy once a year or so. There's lots of software projects that could use help as well!

Re:It works...?

[SparklingClearWit]

Gosh, that's really helpful!

RIGHT THERE is the reason that business, Mom and Dad, and Joe Sixpack won't adopt OSS. The elitist - no, actually - "prick-ish" attitude that so many Linux and Unix users display.

Until this attitude is GONE, we have no chance at becoming the proud bearers of an alternative operating system.

I run FreeBSD, RedHat, Debian, WinXPPro, and Win2KPro, so I'm just a slut, since I'll use anything.

Re:Slackware?

[Hatta]

Aren't libertarian (or even anarchist) and control freaks mutually exclusive?

Nope, anarchists want control over their own destiny, and aren't willing to give up any of their personal sovreignty to anyone. They're also intelligent enough to understand basic arguments of symmetry.

Slackware should have gentoo description..

[Man in Spandex]

and I'm talking about this part:
If John Wayne had been a Linux user, he would have used Gentoo. Gentoo users are pioneers, people who like to live close to the metal, and don't mind hurting themselves on sharp objects.

I'll bet my last dollar that a lot of gentoo users, if they used slackware, would hurt themself more than on gentoo. Some people use emerge without knowing wtf its doing and if you give them a real distro, they're gonna be lost and go back to gentoo or a distro with an easy package manager. I have nothing against package managers.

Slackware is the pure thing. You actually learn out of it. Of course when you're done learning and you are sick of it, then ok you can go to gentoo or something like debian sarge but nowadays, it's not true that every gentoo user knows how gentoo and/or portage works.

Debian comments are a touch off

[debrain]

The people I know who use Debian, myself included, have less patience for crap that doesn't work. Though harder to install, unlike the other distros, you only ever have to do it once.

Tongue in cheek or no, the myth that Debian is behind other distros has continually been dispelled. Debian/Unstable is consistently ahead of other distros. What other distros besides Debian, and maybe Gentoo, currently include Kernel 2.6.8, KDE 3.3.0, and Firefox RC1?

Debian users simply loathe frigging around with the basics of their system, an experience all too common with some other distros. We prefer to spend our time frigging around on Slashdot, et al. Or advocating free software.

Re:missing option

[Eudial]

More like

Slackware
* Slackware is the system for old, conservative and grumpy programmers. The average user has been running his slackware system since early 1993 and will not give it up 'til his computer (literally) falls apart and there is no compatible computer left in the universe, then he will commit suicide and request to have the picture of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs and some cynical remark about humanity's being unable to RTFM engraved on his tombstone.

Re:Debian comments are a touch off

[Teppich]

Speaking of crap: how come that both, woody and sarge, do not include a ssh-server per default, but both got an inetd running after installation?

Debian FUD

[wertarbyte]

Debian users take pride in the fact that their distribution is always several releases behind the latest version of the kernel, but makes up for that by being more difficult to install and use.

This is the usual FUD you encounter when discussing Debian. Neither is Debian several versions behind the kernel (yes, stable is somehow old right now, but there is Sarge or backports.org), nor is it difficult to install and use. Debian (I'm talking about the new Installer used for Sarge) has a real nice installation process, making it easy to install straight from network. The package system is clearly one of the best, installing additional software has never been easier: "apt-get install foobar", and through the magical wonders of the internet you get foobar right on your system, including any libraries it depends on. This is a major advantage over other systems where you have to browse through endless lists of packages, interactivly selecting the right package and installing it. The package system is most flexible, so you can get your packages from several sources, really nice for example if you use Debian Stable and backports.org (this project adapts recent software for the Stable branch). I'd say that Debian is the best distribution for newbies, since heliping others is so easy: You acan easily transfer example configurations, you can offer commandline examples for certain jobs, no need to tell someone where to click and what do look for in those fancy colourful dialogs.

And remember: The best distribution for newbies is always the one your more experienced friends use.

It Is Pretty Sweet, I Think

[6800]

I did enjoy the analysis and, somehow, it did seem to hit home, like reading the explainations on a Chinese Restaurant place matt of the year you were born, with just a smitherene of truth. In my case I started with slackware (not mentioned), changed to redhat from 1.x to 7.2 (bought 8 but never installed it for real use) but after buying a new nvidia chipset MB at home and being given a new intel chipset gateway at work to load, at the time Mandrake was the only distro that came close to working right and supporting the devices. So the newer kid on the block (mandrake) became the suave dominator and when redhat did it's turnaround in the big customer direction, I began to forget about them and fumora, well I tried it. Of course Mandrake ain't perfect and all have a ways to go. But the real Truth is I carry a live linux cd, Knoppix or one of it's derivitives for various uses. Long live knoppix!!!

Re:A distro doesn't say a damn thing about anyone

[dumeinst]

God..

Trust a slashdot reader to take this shit seriously. Get a life

Re:Slackware should have gentoo description..

[arcanumas]

I am using Gentoo mainly because i ended up installing by hand a lot of software and got tired of fixing problems that may arise from that. Gentoo does this exact thing _very_ easy. You don't have to meddel with every possible ./configure option, or know which options break which other options because the ebuild maintainers do that for you.
I don't have to know that installing wkWidgets with unicode support may break other existing programs that rely on the non-unicode library, and that i actually have to make 2 versions of it. the ebuilds do that for you. So, if you need (for whatever reason, be it an actuall need , a hobby, or you just want the bleeding edge versions of programms) to install from source, then Gentoo makes it extremely easy. there are quite a few other things i like about Gentoo (great documentation, very active and friendly community (and very newbie friendly)). Portage is _very_ customizabl.
The /etc directory is currently maintained with diffs of old and new versions that let's you select which changes youwant to keep and which to throw out. (so you don't looose your modifications to configuration files if these are replaced, nor do you loose the additions to to new configuration files if these are discarded. Sure, it's not very sophisticated yet, but it works great and it's improving.)

so , why am i saying this? Because there is a trend here on Slashdot (and other sites like the 'Gentoo is Rice' guy) that Gentoo is only for idiots and theres nothing Good about it.
This is wrong.
I admit that there are things that are wrong with Gentoo (eg. Not enough dependecny checking when removing packages, people misuse compiler flags and end up with fucked up systems , etc etc) .
Gentoo is certainly not fit for _all_ situations, but it is an excellent distro, provided that you need what it offers.

I mean, isn't it that it's all about? Different distros for different needs?

Gentoo get's it's bad name because a lot of people think it's gonna make them '1337' to use it. But dismissing it as stupid is insulting to all the rest of us who don't think that a distro makes you cool and we just use it because we like what it offers.
So , please stop bashing Gentoo people. There are idiots in all distros. (not to mention anything about the incrasing number of 'snobish' neophytes who claim that they have used Slackware since the dawn of time, which apparently means two months ago, and it's the choice of the experienced gurus).

Re:hear hear!

[dleifelohcs]

Parent is a troll.

Parent's Parent (Grandparent?) said he tried Gentoo. To try Gentoo, you must compile a kernel. Therefore, compiling a kernel cannot be something you can target.

Re:Libertarians vs. control freaks

[jlar]

"Less power to the government = more power to the people = free people."

That is a gross oversimplification. From your statement it seems like it is only the government which limits the freedom of the people.

In fact one of the most important uses (in my opinion) of government power is to prevent a limitation in the freedom of people by restricting actions from other people and organisations that try to limit this freedom.

An example could be pollution. The government (through regulatory bodies) limits the freedom of people and industry to pollute my neighbourhood. That is a limitation in their freedom but it is done to protect our right to avoid pollution (breathing unpolluted air and so on).

My point is that your freedom to swing your arms in the air ends where my nose begins - and that it is the duty of our government to enforce the rules securing that (the rules are of course passed by the legislative body).

Different distros for different people

[davidwr]

I chose Suse because it's reasonably popular, it's configuration and updates were relatively easy, and, unlike Fedora/RedHat you download (almost) the same CD that's "paid-for" box, then buy a license later if you need corporate support.

I used to use Red Hat 9 and earlier, for the same reasons. Unfortunately, now that RH9 is no longer getting official vendor updates, it no longer meets my criteria.

For demos and "instant linux," I prefer Knoppix, although SuSE's live CD is okay.

I haven't tried it, but something along the lines of LinSpire would be good for Windows98 converts.

For special-purpose configurations, such as firewalls, I'll use a CURRENTLY SUPPORTED, FREQUENTLY UPDATED/EASY-TO-UPDATE distro that's designed for that purpose.

I guess this means I'm a nerd, I'm a nerd, and I'm a nerd [slashdot.org].

Re:Slackware?

[JWSmythe]

Well, you're wrong. No offense intended.

Take a warm fuzzy distro and install it. do a 'ps -auwwx' and look at all the crap running.

Take Slackware, install it like I would (install everything, don't let anything but SSH start as services). Then recompile the kernel specifically for your platform. Compile everything you *NEED* into the kernel, and don't make anything as modules. Now boot. It'll boot faster, run faster, and be far more enjoyable.

Why start and use things that you don't need? No printer, why CUPS or lpd? No SMB network, why samba? Do you really need/want Apache, MySQL, pcmcia services (on a desktop), etc, etc, etc, if you just want a fast running machine? Nope.

Most distros have fallen into the Microsoft way of thinking. Go ahead, start up as much crap as you can. They use might use it someday (or probably won't). If it's slow, they'll buy a bigger, faster computer.

The biggest reason for me to upgrade my home machines:

1) to support more drive space for things I work on.
2) to compile things faster
and very occasionally
3) Better video support for the games I occasionally play.

Again, that's Linux. I'm not part of that Windows gaming world, where you're almost expected to be running the latest/greatest hardware (and overclocking it at that) to play your games.

Re:Slackware?

[pjt33]

Why start and use things that you don't need? No printer, why CUPS or lpd? No SMB network, why samba? Do you really need/want Apache, MySQL, pcmcia services (on a desktop), etc, etc, etc, if you just want a fast running machine? Nope.

That's why when I installed my Debian system I didn't tell dselect that I wanted them. Why have them cluttering up my hard drive if I never use them?

Re:hear hear!

[LMariachi]

To try Gentoo, you must compile a kernel.

Those must be some very special LiveCDs they offer.

Re:Slackware?

[Mad_Rain]

Slackware on a machine is usually 50% or more faster than the fedora,redhat,mandrake

Please report to the following website: Gentoo Is for Ricers [funroll-loops.org] and join their well-informed masses.

debian

[sewagemaster]

"This distribution is popular with those who always count in binary, and are politically correct in a free software kind of way. Many are suspected of having been nursed on a TTY. Debian users take pride in the fact that their distribution is always several releases behind the latest version of the kernel, but makes up for that by being more difficult to install and use."

uh... no....

I use debian because it takes zero effort to upgrade packages - no BS, and if there's a change in the default /etc files, i have the option of keeping my old config or use the new package maintener's version. Unlike rpms, the debian packaging system doesnt just dump the files. it checks more than that.

I dont ever have to download ISOs and reinstall the OS from scratch.

There's also a lot less crap installed on my machine than distros like Mandrake or Redhat.

I dont have to worry about rpm packages breaking my system. Packages aren't outdated because I'm running unstable...

I actually find it quite easy to install with their newest installer

i'd rather spend time getting work done than wasting time configuring my system and updating broken packages. I don't want to read packages of documentation from linuxdoc. I just want things to work without the need of manually changing LD_LIBRARY_PATH or using a distro that comes with a beta version of gcc (redhat).

Re:Libertarians vs. control freaks

[lightknight]

Inequality is unfreedom? Is "unfreedom" a word? You know, there might be a reason why a (frictionless system) breaks down into such equalities: some people are better at giving other people what they want better than others.

For instance, I frequent Chilies, and I love their food (from the choices to the results). It's not Le Bec Fin, but it's a decent place to grab a bite to eat (average $16-22). Contrast that with any number of diners out there, lacking in business. Foods not terribly good, prices are ok, not much of an atmosphere. You see, Chilies gives people what they want, and so they grow($$$). What you argue is that they should all grow, equally. It's so a antithetical to...life, that you would have to redesign the universe from the ground up to support it.

The rights given to you are simple: no matter how much property you accumulate (from nothing to a lot), you have the same rights to it. Live for yourself, and the universe will take care of itself.

Lastly, while capitalism achieves inequality (with some people rich, and some people poor), and socialism does create equality, it's not in the manner that you think. Socialism, after a run of many years, creates equality by MAKING EVERYONE POOR. The U.S.S.R (putting aside the political figures) may have been one of the most equal states to ever exist, but I doubt the people saw it as that.