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It's funny. Laugh. Software Linux

What Your Choice of Linux Distro Says about You 494

Posted by CowboyNeal from the choose-wisely dept.
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."
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What Your Choice of Linux Distro Says about You More

What Your Choice of Linux Distro Says about You

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  • Slackware? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by slavemowgli ( 585321 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:37AM (#10672499) Homepage
    No mention of Slackware? What a pity.

    • Re:Slackware? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Performaman ( 735106 )
      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."

    • Not a pity... (Score:5, Funny)

      by SaDan ( 81097 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:43AM (#10672553) Homepage
      Slackware users don't need to be compared to the rest of that trash!

      Oops... Did I say that out loud? ;-)
      • Thats right, all two of them are in a totally different league than the drooling Linux masses...

      • Accuracy in Reporting! (Score:5, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 30, 2004 @01:34PM (#10673772)
        Slackware: You have an old-school stick up your arse. Doesn't that chafe?

        Debian: You are like Ayn Rand: you insist that everything in your system be internally consistent, at the expense of nobody else being able to understand you.

        Red Hat: You want to be Microsoft, except without the jackboots and the viruses. Well ... maybe the jackboots.

        SuSE: You remember how fascist and self-righteous the Novell administrator for your high school was? Surprise -- that's you!

        Knoppix: You're good at getting Windows users to try Linux. But hey -- they're Windows users.

        Mepis: You sound like a child talking about urinating.

        Fedora: You eat Nike cheeseburgers and wear McDonald's sneakers, to show that you are not a corporate whore.

        Linspire: You are root. All the time. Isn't that k3wl? Here, have a virus!

    • Re:Slackware? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by NemoX ( 630771 )
      I was surprised about this as well. I started on Slackware, and still find it to be my favorite after taking a dip in many other waters. So, I guess the question should be "what does newsforge's choice of linux distributions say about newsforge?" :p

    • Got Slackware Right Here (Score:5, Funny)

      by Jameth ( 664111 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:54AM (#10672659)
      Since they didn't cover Slackware, here you go:

      Slackware users are paradoxically obsessed with being cutting edge and traditional at the same time. They love to point out that their distro has all the latest programs, but explain that it's ancient installer is 'still up to the task' and that the lack of powerful package management 'leaves them in control'. Slackware users like to do things for themselves and tend to ignore what popular opinion (and logic and reason and all rational thought) says is good.

      And, since they didn't include Fedora either, here's that one:

      Fedora is synonymous with Red Hat, but many of its users believe that it isn't. The song of the king of the Linux street, Fedora is popular with those who want to be in the middle of the road, but leading the crowd. Unfortunately, they are actually be pushed along from behind, with the silly-hat men leading from behind. Fedora is very loyal to its customers, except when they want something that Red Hat doesn't, in which case they consider the feature risky.
      • That sounds about right to me. I've tried the others and keep coming back to Slackware. I've been using it since it came on a fistful of floppies. I remember downloading my first copy from a friend's FTP site on a 14.4K modem.

        I still don't like package management. If I have the choice, I'll download the source and compile it myself.

        Slackware seems to be the only distro that actually believes you and does the right thing when you try to set up a box without a GUI. All the others I've tried install all

    • Re:Slackware? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:57AM (#10672676) Homepage
      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.
      • 50% faster?! Give me a friggin break. No general purpose, modern OS is going to be 50% faster across the board then another one on the same hardware. This is even less likely when you are basically talking about slightly different flavors of the same OS.

        • Re:Slackware? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by JWSmythe ( 446288 ) <jwsmythe@@@jwsmythe...com> on Saturday October 30, 2004 @01:28PM (#10673732) Homepage Journal

          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? (Score:3, Informative)

            by tzanger ( 1575 )

            Well, you're wrong. No offense intended.

            Sorry, I'm a Slackware user (since '96) and you are the one who is wrong here.

            Slackware is not 50% faster than the other distros. Sorry, there just isn't enough crap running on FC2 or Gentoo or Suse to slow down the same machine that much. And yes, I'm talking runlevel 3 or 4. I find Slackware zippier than the others, yes, but 50% faster? Give your head a shake.

            Also you will find if you take the time to do the critical analysis that having everything in th

          • Re:Slackware? (Score:3, Insightful)

            by pjt33 ( 739471 )
            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:Slackware? (Score:3, Informative)

            by crazyphilman ( 609923 )
            There's another reason you want to turn off ALL unessential services: security.

            I run Slackware at my apartment, and when I installed it, the first thing I did was make sure that the only services I installed in the first place were the ones I was going to be using daily. Since I'm using the laptop as a workstation, that means I installed almost nothing except CUPS and the client for DHCP so I could hit the web from KDE.

            You might also want to go into /etc/rc.d and comment out all the lines that start servi

      • Re:Slackware? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Mad_Rain ( 674268 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @02:27PM (#10674137) Journal
        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.

        • Re:Slackware? (Score:5, Funny)

          by dildo ( 250211 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @09:32PM (#10676400)
          I don't use a distro. I do everything myself. I even make my own shoes. I am a bad ass.

          My first computer was a mancala, and I was so bad ass that I programmed my own version of doom using nothing but red pebbles -- and after that I wrote a C++ compiler for an analog pinball machine (you think that compiling all that crap for gentoo is a pain in the ass for your pentium 200? this thing had to do like, 6-multiball play for three months straight before KDE was finished, but now I just use it to run TCPdump on the cluster of pinball machines I've got in my house).

          I'm still trying to get X-windows running on my toaster, but the video card is REALLY obscure so I may have to write the driver myself. For security, I'm using 4096-bit ssl connection between the plug and the wall, and I'm taking notes from OpenBSD by encrypting the crumbs at the bottom so some script kiddie from Finland doesn't know what kind of bread I've been eating.

          I'm moving forward to cyborg stuff -- I'm going to start small by getting LOGO installed on a baby tortoise, but I need to find a good wireless protocol (WEP = weak encryption protocol. ha!) to send commands to it. I don't want the NSA to know what goes on between me and my tortoise.
    • I know. As a BSD junkie, I figured the closest to me would be Slackware and I was disappointed not to see it. Also Slack was my first Linux distro, back in, I think, the 3.0 stages.

      If I were more clever, I'd produce a FreeBSD description now. But I'm not, so I'll just paraphrase what another poster has already said in reply to your article: "We don't care what's best, pick a goddamn direction and stick with it." It's the single biggest reason I steer clear of Linux now whenever I have a choice. I, to

    • Re:Slackware? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by JWSmythe ( 446288 )
      Funny, I saw the story, wanted to whine about Slack not showing up, and the first post is for Slack!

      Maybe it's a bit too .... hardcore?

      Every time I read a list like this, Slackware is marked as the oldest, hardest, and favorite among real administrators, hackers, and geeks who know what they're doing. No sissy graphic installer. No warm fuzzy configuration tools. You want to configure something, you just do it and know it's done right, rather than pointing and clicking, and wondering if what yo

  • Don't believe everything you read. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Rahga ( 13479 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:37AM (#10672500) Journal
    "I use Mandrake, so that makes me suave and sophisticated."

    In other news, Bud Light gets you lots of chicks. In bikinis. And twins.

    Oh, well... It's a Saturday.
  • Please refrain from making 'lickable' jokes.

    That is all.

  • It works...? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DogDude ( 805747 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:38AM (#10672508)
    What if I use the distro that I use because it's the only one that I could get to actually work?

    • hear hear! (Score:2, Interesting)

      by clsc ( 730336 )
      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).

      • Re:hear hear! (Score:2, Insightful)

        by itallushrt ( 148885 )
        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:hear hear! (Score:3, Funny)

          by DogDude ( 805747 )
          uhhh, recompile the kernel and use whichever distro you choose.

          Oh, and people say there isn't support out there for Linux! Look at this pearl, this gem of wisdom... "recompile the kernel". In just 3 words, this obvsiously astute Linux expert managed to confuse, irritate, AND alienate! Wow, now that's what I call real user support; a real tight community! It's a wonder why more people aren't using Linux these days.

      • Re:hear hear! (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Chrax ( 782154 )
        Either recompile the kernel or get an SB Live for $30. Either way beats using Windows.

    • Re:It works...? (Score:2, Funny)

      by dagur ( 821323 )
      What was the problem? Couln't play mp3 files in Fedora? Installing software in Debian gave you the error "bash: rpm: command not found"?

    • Re:It works...? (Score:5, Funny)

      by nomadic ( 141991 ) <nomadicworld@ g m a i l . com> on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:57AM (#10672675) Homepage
      What if I use the distro that I use because it's the only one that I could get to actually work?

      Then you must enter an intense period of training to hone your installation skills. Go out now and get a copy of NetBSD and begin. After you can install that, you can return to Linux in triumph, for you will be able to install anything.

  • They forgot Caldera (Score:5, Funny)

    by antifoidulus ( 807088 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:38AM (#10672510) Homepage Journal
    Using Caldera says that if your linux install fails, sue someone.

  • A distro doesn't say a damn thing about anyone (Score:4, Insightful)

    by phoxix ( 161744 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:38AM (#10672516)
    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

  • Uhm.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Xeo 024 ( 755161 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:39AM (#10672517)
    Oh please, this is just as reliable as the Which OS Are you? [bbspot.com] quiz.

  • Great. No Slackware. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Xpilot ( 117961 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:39AM (#10672520) Homepage
    So I'll just make one up:

    Slackware users are grumpy, bearded old Unix sysadmins who prefer things be done the "good old fashioned way", making their Linux distro stick to traditional Unix principles, through 10 feet of snow, uphill, both ways!

    P.S. I'm a slackware user myself, don't flame me ;) It was tongue-in-cheek.

  • Does Fedora count? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Sensible Clod ( 771142 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:39AM (#10672521) Homepage
    I don't see any mention of Fedora. Do they expect everyone to believe it's the same as Red Hat's commercial distro?

    More likely, we Fedora users are just too good for words.
    • Sometimes I feel like I'm just not a good enough geek because I use Fedora, I should be using Gentoo or Debian. But I work fulltime and go to grad school and I don't have time to mess with an OS that is anymore complicated than Fedora. Fedora works, is easy to configure, knows all my hardware, has lots of community support and is easy to update with Yum. When I graduate or get laid-off I'll go back to messing with Gentoo but right now I just don't have the time.
      Of course I have the time to read /. !

      • Re:Does Fedora count? (Score:5, Funny)

        by NTmatter ( 589153 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @12:43PM (#10673437) Homepage
        Full-time emplyment works quite well with gentoo, actually. When you wake up, you start compiling the results of last night's 'emerge sync' and then by the time you get home your compile should be finished and you'll sink a few minutes updating your config files. When the weekend rolls around, you'll finally have the time to use your freshly compiled system. Bonus points if you use your lunch break to check up on the status of your compile.

  • Suse users like a *clean* desktop? (Score:5, Funny)

    by KublaiKhan ( 522918 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:39AM (#10672524) Homepage Journal
    Obviously, theyv'e never seen mine...the only reason that the icons even line up is because the automatic line up feature's enabled. As for my non-computer desktop....it's been declared a Superfund site, and the EPA guys will be along any time now with the hazmat suits.

    I guess I'm using the wrong distro, huh?

  • Tagentially related ... (Score:3, Informative)

    by YetAnotherName ( 168064 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:39AM (#10672528) Homepage
    ... is BBSpot's OS Quiz [bbspot.com].

  • Lisandro (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lisandro ( 799651 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:40AM (#10672533)
    Gentoo

    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. Some feel that Gentoo users are simply lazy louts who always want to have a ready excuse for why they are not doing constructive things with their computer, other than compiling or recompiling the latest kernel, app, or hapless passerby. The official Gentoo motto is, "If it moves, compile it."

    Paraphrasing Maddox, Gentoo users are baddases and listen to Pantera. Red Hat users get their nails done and shop for purses.

    Ok, i'll shut up now :)

  • The article is a troll (Score:4, Insightful)

    by dancedance ( 600701 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:41AM (#10672537)
    The entire point of the article is to piss off everyone using any of those distros.
  • John Wayne - American (on his medal of freedom)

    and of course:
    "Rooster Cogburn : I aim to kill you in one minute, Ned. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience. What'll it be?

    Ned Pepper : I call that bold talk for a one eyed fat man.

    Rooster Cogburn : Fill your hands, you son of a bitch."

    and:
    Rooster Cogburn : You can't serve papers on a rat, baby sister. You gotta shoot him or let him be.

  • Damn Small (Score:3, Funny)

    by loomis ( 141922 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:42AM (#10672547)
    What if I use Damn Small Linux? Does that make me very tiny?

  • Gentoo (Score:4, Funny)

    by toupsie ( 88295 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:44AM (#10672567) Homepage
    I use Gentoo because I believe that an OS should be loud, obnoxious and have glass packs on the exhaust. Of course my Shuttle XPC has a "Type R" sticker on it.

  • No need for that (Score:5, Interesting)

    by CaptainZapp ( 182233 ) * on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:45AM (#10672575) Homepage
    Knoppix users are pushy and aggressive. It's not at all unusual for them to hand you a CD and tell you to boot from it.

    What a cincidence and a true story.

    One of the broad minded Windows admins in [insert major logistics company] yelled at me "Linux for President" when I passed his office before yesterday.

    It turns out that one of his laptops was fuxored and no matter what he wasn't able to boot it under Windows.

    Since he is broadminded and a good admin (even though he's an MCSE) he has his tools ready and one of it is Knoppix.

    The laptop booted like a charm, made the partition visible, the files where saved to another laptop and Linux oughta be president.

    There was really no need to push Knoppix on him.

  • Slackware
    • Slackware users just want a lean base system and dont need any kind of package manager since they just build the stuff they need from scratch. while not the best choice for a production system imho (go FreeBSD =), Slackware is excellent for any kind of academic / system development work.
    • yup, slackware is for people with lots of time to kill: slackers! 8D

    • Re:missing option (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Eudial ( 590661 )
      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.

  • What Gentoo REALLY says about you (Score:5, Funny)

    by Have Blue ( 616 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:48AM (#10672606) Homepage
    http://funroll-loops.org/ [funroll-loops.org]

  • What about Ubuntu? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Does that mean you like threesomes?
  • Between the various Linux distros I use (Red Hat, Mandrake, Coyote, Debian), the Mac OS versions I'm running (7.0, 9.2, 10.x), the Windowses I use (mostly at work) (98SE, 2K, XP), and the FreeBSD and BeOS boxes I play with, I presumably have a case of Multiple Personality Disorder.
  • This box is Suse 9.1... the fileserver in the bedroom is Mandrake 9.2... the laptop has now got Ubuntu "Warty Warthog" on it and I'm currently downloading SimplyMEPIS to play with on the spare box...
  • Both NewsForge and Slashdot are part of OSTG [ostg.com].

  • Not informative, not funny, whee... (Score:5, Informative)

    by sultanoslack ( 320583 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:57AM (#10672673)
    Uhm, this isn't really news and isn't even really decent humor.

    If you want something informative, there's the old reliable Distro Watch [distrowatch.com] and if you want something funny, try:

  • Funny to see the obligatory "Debian is great and sucks less than it used to and has a cool package tool!!111!" post.

  • Sure (Score:5, Funny)

    by Sivar ( 316343 ) <charlesnburns[ AT ]gmail DOT com> on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:59AM (#10672700)
    I had opened the link in a new tab and was about to read it, and then I caught the "I use Mandrake, so that makes me suave and sophisticated." part, which instantly removed any faith I may have had in the test. ;-)

  • A non-distro specific answer (Score:3, Insightful)

    by j0e_average ( 611151 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @10:59AM (#10672701)
    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!

  • 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.

  • Debian comments are a touch off (Score:5, Insightful)

    by debrain ( 29228 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @11:13AM (#10672783) Journal
    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.

  • Star Trek + Linux (Score:4, Funny)

    by starseeker ( 141897 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @11:17AM (#10672808) Homepage
    I think it would be more fun to pick a Star Trek race for each user to assume at a convention.

    Mandrake - Humans. Like it simple and straightforward, but can be badass at need and gets things done.

    Redhat - Vulcans. People may not like them, but they do a lot of things right and everyone owes them.

    Debian - Romulans. Tough, but strangely elegant. Deserve more respect than they get.

    Gentoo - Klingons. Never do it the easy way if there is a hard way - it makes one stronger!

    If any MacOSX guys wander in, they get to be the tribbles. Soft, cuddly, and relatively harmless.

    Windows users unlucky enough to stray in - the Borg, of course. The one common enemy of everybody else in the room.

  • Psst! You forgot the disclaimer: (Score:3, Funny)

    by Vintermann ( 400722 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @11:19AM (#10672822) Homepage
    Newsforge is owned by etc...

  • What Your Choice of BSD Distro Says about You (Score:5, Funny)

    by HenryKoren ( 735064 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @11:24AM (#10672849) Homepage

    OpenBSD - You are a paranoid schizophrenic and you think everyone is out to get you. You consider your pores security holes

    NetBSD - You take solace in the fact your operating system can run on playstation2 and dreamcast and is thus superior.

    m0n0wall - You are the Calista Flockhart of the BSD world. You like to keep your base at six megabytes because anything more would be bloated.

    Dragonfly BSD - You are a rebel without a clue. You are against the status quo establishment and all the conformist sheep that follow it. Anybody who questions your judgment can go fork themselves.

    FreeBSD-CURRENT - You are a crusader, living on the bleeding edge of the Open Source revolution. You build worlds, merge masters, and slay kernel panic modes with nothing more than an UPDATAING file to defend you.

    FreeBSD-STABLE - You are a corporate whore... caring more about production, stability, and uptime than any reasonable person. Your if it ain't broke don't fix it mentality makes OS developers ponder the true purpose and meaning of their life quests.

  • Bar pickups got a lot more complex (Score:5, Funny)

    by GMFTatsujin ( 239569 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @11:38AM (#10672942) Homepage
    Single White Gentoo-Using Male seeks chique Mandrake-Using Female for late-night RPGing...

    So, what, now instead of knowing that my Sun Sign is Leo with Mercury in ascention, I instead have to be able to recite my USE flags with /etc/portage/package.mask?

  • What your choice REALLY means... (Score:5, Funny)

    by bwoodring ( 101515 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @11:39AM (#10672954)
    • Mandrake: You're a nerd
    • Red Hat: You're a nerd
    • Suse: You're a nerd
    • Debian: You're a nerd
    • Slackware: You're a nerd
    • Knoppix: You're a nerd
    • Gentoo: You're a nerd

    BONUS!!!!

    • FreeBSD: You're a nerd
    • OpenBSD: You're a nerd
    • Solaris: You're a nerd

  • Fun and lighthearted (Score:4, Interesting)

    by polyp2000 ( 444682 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @11:52AM (#10673042) Homepage Journal
    Thats a nice fun and lighthearted article for a saturday afternoon. Makes a change from all the serious stuff!

    I wonder though what about people who use multiple different distributions? For example :- I've got a couple of higher spec machines I use for gentoo- but I also run Xandros (Open Circulation Ed.) on this laptop (which is for family use) and I've got my mother running Libranet on her aging K6.

    I suppose technically speaking Xandros and Libranet are Debian based - but so is Linspire - Where does this leave me?

    Im in a twisted state of being neither here nor there help me ... please!!!!

    Nick ...

  • debian (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sewagemaster ( 466124 ) <sewagemaster@NOSpAm.gmail.com> on Saturday October 30, 2004 @03:34PM (#10674531) Homepage

    "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:debian (Score:3, Informative)

      by MobyTurbo ( 537363 )
      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).
      Red Hat (and Fedora) haven't come with a beta version of gcc for years, ever since RH 8.0 came with gcc 3.2 instead of 2.96. Your criticism is a bit out of date.

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