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[Hubris Incalculable]

Exactly what it says on the tin. I want a change from Debian to something more interesting, and if anyone could give me some sales pitches on their favorites, it would be great. Just leave out Ubuntu. That one's boring to me now.

[LordSlowpoke]

Will this do the job?

[Hubris Incalculable]

Will this do the job?

Um.... No. Not really.

Anyway, I should have mentioned that I've already used Gentoo. I want something new.

[Tellemurius]

Slackware, still running old school monolithic unix and the most powerful distro to get your hands on. and one of the oldest distros

[kidhedera]

In linux distros I value a focus on usability and consumer grade documentation (been working in tech support for years. If I can't teach people to teach themselves how to use a linux distro, its worthless to me). So Ubuntu is pretty much at the top of my list for that - but I love Gnome3 and neither Ubuntu or Mint support that by default. (There's complications with gdm conflicting with the cinnamon desktop manager that lead to trouble installing new packages. Unacceptable!)

So I'm pretty much in the same boat. Just spent the weekend trying to get my laptop working with a variety of distros, and I've settled on debian, but i'm having a whole host of trouble with drivers that I didn't expect.

I'm tempted to try out Arch Linux, but I'm studying comp sci at the moment, and the attitude of Arch users has turned me right off even looking at it. ("Pah, girls shouldn't study comp sci! I bet you use a mac!" "Um, actually I use linux." "Oh really? Which distro?" "Mint" "Oh, thats not *real* linux. If you were a real geek you'd be using Arch." God, teen boys can be obnoxious. I wish I didn't look so young, then it would be more obvious I have half a decade of industry experience, and started using computers when they were still playing with trucks in the sandpit.) The linux users who use slackware/gentoo/ubuntu/mint/fedora/openSUSE are all just happy to geek out about F/OSS with me, but those arch kiddies drive me nuts. SO I haven't installed it out of sheer stubborn bloody mindedness. I'm considering downloading a Fluffy Ponies style theme for my GUI too, but I'm not sure I'm willing to go *quite* that far to thumb my nose at some bratty boys!

Anyway, my recs for OS's that are a bit different include:
- Puppy Linux (Founded here in Australia! Whoo!) Small footprint, ok interface, all you need to get shit done.
- Arch or Chakra (the latter being a KDE remix of the former)
- PClinuxOS (Never actually used it myself, not a huge fan of KDE, but I've heard good things)

And its not Linux, but that might make it even more interesting, HaikuOS (https://www.haiku-os.org/) is based on BeOS, which frankly I hadn't ever heard of, but HaikuOS itself looks really interesting.

[rutsber]

And its not Linux, but that might make it even more interesting, HaikuOS (https://www.haiku-os.org/) is based on BeOS, which frankly I hadn't ever heard of, but HaikuOS itself looks really interesting.

Thanks for this, it looks pretty interesting and I wanted to try a different OS anyways. I'll probably install it tomorrow, if you want an opinion.

[kidhedera]

Yeah, I'd be interested to hear what a Real Person(tm) thinks of it. I've not gotten around to installing it myself - I'm too busy trying to keep up with School in the face of my DF addiction.

[Tellemurius]

In linux distros I value a focus on usability and consumer grade documentation (been working in tech support for years. If I can't teach people to teach themselves how to use a linux distro, its worthless to me). So Ubuntu is pretty much at the top of my list for that - but I love Gnome3 and neither Ubuntu or Mint support that by default. (There's complications with gdm conflicting with the cinnamon desktop manager that lead to trouble installing new packages. Unacceptable!)

So I'm pretty much in the same boat. Just spent the weekend trying to get my laptop working with a variety of distros, and I've settled on debian, but i'm having a whole host of trouble with drivers that I didn't expect.

I'm tempted to try out Arch Linux, but I'm studying comp sci at the moment, and the attitude of Arch users has turned me right off even looking at it. ("Pah, girls shouldn't study comp sci! I bet you use a mac!" "Um, actually I use linux." "Oh really? Which distro?" "Mint" "Oh, thats not *real* linux. If you were a real geek you'd be using Arch." God, teen boys can be obnoxious. I wish I didn't look so young, then it would be more obvious I have half a decade of industry experience, and started using computers when they were still playing with trucks in the sandpit.) The linux users who use slackware/gentoo/ubuntu/mint/fedora/openSUSE are all just happy to geek out about F/OSS with me, but those arch kiddies drive me nuts. SO I haven't installed it out of sheer stubborn bloody mindedness. I'm considering downloading a Fluffy Ponies style theme for my GUI too, but I'm not sure I'm willing to go *quite* that far to thumb my nose at some bratty boys!

Anyway, my recs for OS's that are a bit different include:
- Puppy Linux (Founded here in Australia! Whoo!) Small footprint, ok interface, all you need to get shit done.
- Arch or Chakra (the latter being a KDE remix of the former)
- PClinuxOS (Never actually used it myself, not a huge fan of KDE, but I've heard good things)

And its not Linux, but that might make it even more interesting, HaikuOS (https://www.haiku-os.org/) is based on BeOS, which frankly I hadn't ever heard of, but HaikuOS itself looks really interesting.

All the Arch hate but you recommend it?

I put out Slackware as its one of the few that started out in the early 90s and its one of the few that kept close to unix. I will tell you though, its a bitch if you have no clue on what the fuck you are doing. Theres lots of power under the hood but need a excellent mechanic. Ubuntu really went downhill ever since they wanted to conform like OSX. Puppy Linux is great but all in all but GNOME is fugly (KDE4!)

[Hubris Incalculable]

I'm tempted to try out Arch Linux

Yeah, that's the one I'm most tempted to try out thus far.

but I'm studying comp sci at the moment, and the attitude of Arch users has turned me right off even looking at it. ("Pah, girls shouldn't study comp sci! I bet you use a mac!" "Um, actually I use linux." "Oh really? Which distro?" "Mint" "Oh, thats not *real* linux. If you were a real geek you'd be using Arch."

Looks like everything has it's hipsters. 

EDIT: I promise not to become an elitist if i do install it.

[Hubris Incalculable]

I put out Slackware as its one of the few that started out in the early 90s and its one of the few that kept close to unix. I will tell you though, its a bitch if you have no clue on what the fuck you are doing. Theres lots of power under the hood but need a excellent mechanic. Ubuntu really went downhill ever since they wanted to conform like OSX. Puppy Linux is great but all in all but GNOME is fugly (KDE4!)

Gotta disagree with you there. I prefer Gnome over KDE.

[Tellemurius]

I put out Slackware as its one of the few that started out in the early 90s and its one of the few that kept close to unix. I will tell you though, its a bitch if you have no clue on what the fuck you are doing. Theres lots of power under the hood but need a excellent mechanic. Ubuntu really went downhill ever since they wanted to conform like OSX. Puppy Linux is great but all in all but GNOME is fugly (KDE4!)

Gotta disagree with you there. I prefer Gnome over KDE.

i don't mind, its good but Graphics, pretty graphics.

[kidhedera]

All the Arch hate but you recommend it?

Lol yeah. It can't help it if its users are twats. I just don't want to *ever* have to ask for even the smallest amount of advice on computer use in class. If I was only using my machine at home I'd install it anyway and bumble through using forums.

GNOME is fugly  (KDE4!)

Gotta disagree with you there. I prefer Gnome over KDE.

I had a play with KDE4 this weekend, and its certainly very customisable, but I had a lot of trouble making it look attractive in the understated way I like from an interface. Gnome3/Gnome Shell has some gorgeous themes available, but I think that KDE(4) vs Gnome(3) thing really comes down to a personal taste thing these days.

Looks like everything has it's hipsters. 

EDIT: I promise not to become an elitist if i do install it.

Lol, glad to hear it! I think that my class mates are mostly of the overly-entitled 4chan/trollface type, and that lends them to elitism. It could be any distro, its just Arch they've latched on to at the moment. (I asked in class once, and I'm the only one that plays DF, which I thought was interesting too. They all play minecraft, but not DF.)

Ubuntu really went downhill ever since they wanted to conform like OSX

Yeah, I've not really used it much in the last 12 months or so. Canonical has the Benevolent Dictator model of business which means there is a lot of centralised control of the development direction of Ubuntu by one guy, so its adherence to F/OSS principles is less strict than I would like to see. Its still the distro I like to wean people off MacOS and Windows with though.

[Alastar]

I had the best experience with Arch Linux: Simple, transparent, up-to-date, excellent documentation.
Requires a little more legwork than with most distros though, even installation involves getting one's hands dirty. Also, quite easy to break through user error.
By nature it's a bit of a polarising distro - good at what it tries to do, not trying to be everything to everyone. Maybe have a look at a ready-to-use derivative like Archbang, install the real thing if you like it.

For GUIs, FVWM fits my needs best - lightweight, stable and very configurable through open-ended plaintext. I haven't found anything else that makes it as easy to have things work and look exactly how you want them.
The default configuration is a hilarious blast from the past though - control scheme predating windows 95 and fat blocky pseudo-3d in garish colours.

*

A bit hard to make a recommendation not knowing what you're looking for though. Debian is rock solid and quite sensible, anything you switch to will either be buggier or require more DIY.

[Hubris Incalculable]

I had the best experience with Arch Linux: Simple, transparent, up-to-date, excellent documentation.
Requires a little more legwork than with most distros though, even installation involves getting one's hands dirty. Also, quite easy to break through user error.
By nature it's a bit of a polarising distro - good at what it tries to do, not trying to be everything to everyone. Maybe have a look at a ready-to-use derivative like Archbang, install the real thing if you like it.

For GUIs, FVWM fits my needs best - lightweight, stable and very configurable through open-ended plaintext. I haven't found anything else that makes it as easy to have things work and look exactly how you want them.
The default configuration is a hilarious blast from the past though - control scheme predating windows 95 and fat blocky pseudo-3d in garish colours.

*

A bit hard to make a recommendation not knowing what you're looking for though. Debian is rock solid and quite sensible, anything you switch to will either be buggier or require more DIY.

Yep. Decided to go with Arch.

Borrowed a drive and caddy from my dad (who is the CTO/sysadmin at a small care-home charity), and backed up my /home - I'll be needing that stuff after the switch, and I'm moving to the next stage soon.

[kidhedera]

My hunt for a distro that suits my needs is narrowing down to arch as well.

The final straw was installing ubuntu because 'I don't have time to fuck around, at least I know it has the drivers to use my ethernet and wifi, and I really just need to get this assignment done, and I'll install something else over the summer'. I then discovered that not only is synaptic gone (fired it up to install eclipse, bluefish and other developer essentials to get my homework done) but *the repository to install it is gone too*. I had to add a new repository to get it. Synaptic - its not the command line, and its not the BUY OUR STUFF Centre Software centre, its my friend, its loverly... and its gone.

I just... I don't... I just... GAH.

So ubuntu isn't even my 'at least its a n00b distro that will work out of the box for emergencies' option anymore.

I'm on my midsemester break though, and I'm a sensible woman. There's only so long you can go 'This nose of mine might be great, but I'll cut it off cos FUCK my face is a bitch!'

 I even did the distro-watch search to see which distros would suit me best, and you guessed it, Arch, Archbang and Chakra were the first 3 to come up. lol.