[LAU] Switching the distro

[Mark Knecht]

On Sun, May 29, 2011 at 12:59 PM, Ralf Mardorf
<ralf.mardorf at alice-dsl.net> wrote:
<SNIP>
>
> Honestly, I just worry about prepackaged Linux, Suse, Ubuntu and others.
> While Linux audio and MIDI becomes better and better, ready to go
> 'desktop' Linux cause more and more pain. PulseAudio, no xorg.conf for
> default installs etc.. If need be I could live with a vesa driver, but I
> can't live without a working mouse wheel, as I've got for my two Ubuntu
> installs. Suse 11.2 is very old and the mouse wheel is working. I also
> don't like packages that run update-grub2, especially if it's done by
> three packages, one after the other etc., but this starts to begin
> OT ;).
>
> Time to get off-line and to install Debian ... I hope PPPoE won't force
> me to download 8 DVDs. I'll now try the net-install.
>
> Cheers!
>
> Ralf

I got interested a year ago about Ubuntu, tried it on an old Mac Mini
I had here, and within about 2 days just junked it. The idea that
maintenance is a sudo operation was really tiresome to me. It felt
like Microsoft getting in the way of Linux. Someone else deciding how
I should run my hardware.

I don't mention Gentoo anymore as I've been here for years using it
but I treasure this distro. Yeah, lots of code building which is slow
on older machines, possibly hard(er) to learn for folks new to Linux,
but GREAT documentation and for the most part very few real problems.
The idea of an X driver being removed is a standard problem, but
Gentoo supports you creating your own overlay which allows you to keep
what you need forever.

I understand Arch is like Gentoo, but more binary and friendlier. I
just couldn't get through the documentation a few years ago to really
get into trying it. Maybe it's better now.

Oh yeah, only 1 CD required for Gentoo. None actually if you have a
running Linux box and some disk space as you can install the whole
thing in a running chroot using any Linux environment like Fedora or a
live disc like Knoppix.

Have fun with whatever you try next and I hope it works for you.

Cheers,
Mark