very good description of ubuntu. I’ve installed Ubuntu 6.06 dapper drake and it works quite well, booting much faster than windows. But there is one problem: If you install on the second HD (hdb) using the novice mode, the grub loader installs itself in the mbr of the first hd (hda). In my case, it shot the mbr (and the pbr?) partly. The effect: ubuntu loaded well from hdb, but the win2k on hda showed a blue screen.

I would like to point out some things on Gentoo:

1. Availible Packages:
Should be rated 9. Don’t be fooled by the number of availible sofware, it differs from other Distributions. For example, there are no -dev packages in Gentoo because all headers are included (you need them to compile the system) also there are less packages for a specific programm, take amarok: while other distributions have up to 8 packages for amarok(because of output plugins), in portage you only have one (which can be compiled with different backends).
There are much more programs in the portage tree than any other distro has to offer eg. UT2003-4 + Demo and expansion + mods/quake 4 …
http://www.gentoo-portage.com/ (over 11000) packages as in August 2006

2. Support for restricted formats:
should be high 7-9.
Because things as decss apperently are legal, when distributed in source form, the official Portage tree contains such programms.also the gentoo packages (ebuilds) do not contain the actual programm, but only instructions for downloading and compiling the programm. So the gentoo-project doesnt have to host borderline-legal things.

The “Supported architectures” list for Gentoo is missing alpha arm ia64 m68k mips s390 sh.

The “Package number” for Gentoo should be “Over 11000″ not “Over 8000″. We currently have 11252 packages.

The “Predefined package groups” for Gentoo should not be “Not available”. A user can create a meta-package (i.e. an ebuild containing just dependencies) with the packages he or she wishes to have in the package group. Then the user can put that package into an overlay.

The “International installer” item for Gentoo should not reference gentoo-wiki.com. It is not official Gentoo documentation. Additionally, gentoo-wiki has many translations available. See http://gentoo-wiki.com/Gentoo_Linux_Wiki:Translated_Editions

“Support for restricted formats” in Gentoo should be “yes” instead of “?”. Gentoo supports wmv / wma / rm / ra / mp3 and many other formats. See the win32codecs package as well as the packages for all of the media players.

Hello Thomas Cort. Thank You for this reports. Some corrections has been made, however there will be new, better Gentoo description in the near future. Regards.

First Things First

Your description of PLD is strongly biased, which renders it less credible. PLD itself is probably quite good, and might play in the same league as CentOS — however, the opinionated introduction condescends its qualities.

Second Opinion

The benchmarking of SUSE is outdated by several years. Today’s penguinistas (n00bs and geeks alike) aren’t that much interested in what has been relevant years ago, or any other fairy tales. Let’s leave them to SCO

Please update your description of SUSE, possibly with the name as well — you’d know by now that we have openSUSE and SLED, which are not at all identical. Please make very clear which SUSE Linux do you attempt to describe and benchmark.

Third Helping

I like your website a lot. Keep up the good work!

Yours

YBK

.

@admin

Dear Paweł Czerski,

Kudos for designig a smooth website. Did I say I liked it?

“Nickname (wymagana)” should read “Nickname (requested)” — at first, I was quite baffled by the mish-mash of English and Polish, but then I had a second thought.

You could probably put the country’s name to good work, augmenting the fact that PLD is a very _polished_ Polish distribution.

Yours,

YBK

.

Correction!

Ohmigawd, I looked up the word in a wrong place.
wymagana = required (not “requested” which would be “żądana”)

I have to polish my Polish a bit

Yours,

YBK

.

YBK: which parts of PLD description is biased for you? I’d like to correct it if we said something that isn’t true. We mentioned the turn-offs like lack of English documentation and not being an easy distro for newcomers…
Just be more specific and we’ll fix it.

About Suse - yes I realize it’s outdated. Perhaps you’d like to help updating it? We’re very open to invite new people to work on the website.

I fixed the Polish words in comments box. Sorry for that. The vortal has been translated from Polish and occasionally you may encounter oops like that one

PS: Please do not use bold font unless you’re emphasizing something.

CFG for NetBSD is not a driver,
please read the article you link to.
It’s just a name I gave to using a combination of the cgd(4) and vnd(4) drivers.

Thank You Hubert Feyrer, I have corrected CGF description.

Why don’t you wikify the comparation system?
You’ll expand your database informations make the users enjoy

Claudio M.

Why don’t you wikify the comparation system?

Claudio, we believe in a tight and integrated crew which takes care of the quality of the website. A wiki is not a good solution in my opinion. It encourages vandalism and biased descriptions and we do not have enough time for continuous supervision and moderation (yet?).

Instead, we strongly encourage you or anyone who would like to help, to join the PolishLinux.org team in order to make the site better and more professional. The site editing is quite easy (thanks to the Wordpress engine). The only thing you need is the good will to help.

Edited on 25.10.2006: Well, all in all we ended setting up a Wiki for distro comparisons Check out the http://wiki.polishlinux.org site. The information is not transmitted automatically to the main site (we are doing manual verifications) but it usually takes up to 24 hours to get the edited information on this site thanks to the automatic scripts I managed to write. Everyone is welcome to join the wiki-writers team now (anonymous editing is possible for now) so feel free to edit the descriptions and enjoy the freedom!

Under distros to choose there is “Wyślij zapytanie”.

Under distros to choose there is “Wyślij zapytanie”.

Fixed.

ubuntu was also one of the first VM distros for VMware player - a fact that might have contributed to it’s popularity in the last year.

I might be worth-while to include a section about virtualization in your comparisons. It’s a growing area that does not seem to be reflected in your stories.

[...] En el mundo de la informática son habituales las guerras religiosas: Windows o Linux, Gnome o KDE, Ubuntu o Debian, … Vía meneáme.net leo que existe una herramienta que genera informes de comparación entre distribuciones. El sistema, por el momento en fase beta, se basa en generar puntuaciones (entre 0 y 9) a los distintos aspectos de una distribución, como pueden ser la instalación, arquitecturas disponibles, o cantidad de software disponible. Una herramienta interesante que ofrece una valiosa información si te estás planteando cambiar de distro. PDF [...]

Cool, in debian you should mention alien, it’s an important tool.

“Package selection
Mandriva
(9) Present. It’s one of the advanced options during the installation.
Ubuntu
(0) Not available”

The above summary is a common misconception. Although it is true that you are not able to install packages using the main installer, you are still able to install packages via apt-get before running the installer. Any and every package you install before running the main installer will appear in your final installation.

@WildWinlinWars

And how does it differ from manually installing programs after the installation? We are talking about the installer here. There is no option to choose from a list of packages while installing Ubuntu. I have mentioned your remark in the description anyway, just so that it’s clear

Just skimmed the OpenBSD bit and found it funny that OpenBSD got a 0 for wireless support, considering it has the single largest wireless driver support list of any of the open source operating systems.

Note that Gentoo does have in-tree Speedtouch drivers: net-dialup/speedtouch, net-dialup/speedtouch-usb. I’m not sure how is this even relevant to a general distro comparison, however.

[...] http://polishlinux.org/choose/comparison/?distro1=Mandriva&distro2=Ubuntu [...]

Hi very good job helping poeple to use Linux.
I like the open source becuase I feel free and it is good to be free.
I gree with you that FreeBSD is the best even though you did not say it.
Ubuntu is very good for new comers to Linux and I think it is great using it as desktop and some server as well. I did not like FreeBSD 6.0 some bugs in the installation installer.
Thank
A Tamer
Tripoli Libya

Good info in general, but I have to disagree on one point.

Having just gone through wifi hell trying to get Ubuntu to work with WPA, I have to say that NO Linux distro presently rates higher than 5 for wifi, unless you want to run an open access point. WEP has been cracked wide open and is now non-secure; might as well not bother to use it, since it only keeps out the honest folks anyway. And for WPA you need a guru to get it working (maybe… depending on which chipset your wifi card has… or maybe it might work with ndiswrapper… or it might not…).

Point is: it’s bad security to run an open access point, and WPA under Linux is half-baked.

I’m an advanced WinXP user who has made the transition to Ubuntu on one of my boxes at home. I’m tired of Microsoft, and I love the idea of doing it on my other systems too. But the ones that require wifi will have to wait until WPA support is a whole bunch easier than it is now.

Eagle-USB is in the Gentoo repository as “net-dialup/eagle-usb”
As stated by intgr above: Alcatel modems have their drivers in Gentoo’s main repository: “net-dialup/speedtouch” and “net-dialup/speedtouch-usb” as

@ViceVirtue

Thanks. The DSL-modems data has been corrected for Gentoo.

I give up… tried several distros and got lots of stupid errors and configuration problems. Just try to make synaptic work over a authenticated firewall and you know what i mean. If the desktop Linux distros do not get better there’s still a lot to learn from windows.
btw putting name/password combos in a text file ( by design in Linux it seems) is not a good idea!
Back to windows it is…will try in a few years from now..

Zenwalk is really awesome. My learning curve has grown. I can never see myself back-peddaling to windows again. Vista seems cool though, but I love speed of my PC and security while being able to watch movies, surf the web and not have folks, isp, etc all over my PC available ports.

It seems in your comparison DesktopBSD is lacking. I used Ubuntu and Kubuntu for a while, it is nice, I have no real criticism on it. But it remains: it is Linux, and therefor a kernel with packages gathered “from here and there” (no offense to anybody). BSD is an OS, where kernel and necesaary packages to arrive at an OS are integrated, and designed coherently. FreeBSD is not for the novice, no: whether you like it or not, after install FreeBSD, you will need to dive into pages and pages of (good) manuals before you can install a GUI. The guys over desktopBSD tackled exactly this problem: they took FreeBSD, developed a pack of utilities so you can have a system with a GUI and your average desktop apps (like Open Office, Multimedia, web browsing/chatting and alike) right after the install. So DesktopBSD brings FreeBSD to the desktop of the average user! This is a superb initiative, because it helps people experience FreeBSD while remaining as close as possible to FreeBSD (you can install any of the 16000 apps that come for FreeBSD to DesktopBSD; after all, DesktopBSD *is* FreeBSD plus a “pack for the beginners”.

I’m in love with it allready; it’s much more responsive than a Linux version

@Guest:

We have the utility to work on the descriptions of thr remaining systems (including DesktopBSD). Visit our wiki at http://wiki.polishlinux.org and feel free to contribute. All the changes are copied to the main webpage after verification.

I tried freebsd, gentoo, ubuntu, redhat, mandrake, and debian. I must say that I loved messing with gentoo, it was the dist that made me learn about NIX.. but not too practical if you are just looking for things to work. freebsd is rock solid and fast but it seems mostly for server and u’ll find that lotts software you can easily use on linux won’t be available. redhat.. no comment…
mandrake and ubuntu are super easy.. but they tend to get corrupt after a while..

finally… debian. I love it.. not AS fast like freebsd but also very stable. You aren’t gonna compile everything and tweak it to hell but yet it’s still very customizable. once you get a hang of it.. you’ll find that it just works. It’s got lotta ground so lots of software are available via APT. It’s just such a well balanced distro for getting things done, no wasting time, but yet still fun to play with. hohoho yay!

Read through the reviews everyone has given and would liek to add my 2 cents.

First off if you can’t get Wifi working it is not Linux’s fault. 90% of the time its because whoever made your wireless card only made drivers/firmware for M$ Winblows. If you can’t get Encryption working try different software search around, don’t just post and say its broke. You will probably find that your wireless hardware is proprietary and hence will have trouble no matter what you do. Why you need to research out when you buy a box, not just walk into the retail store and say gimmee. Know what you are buying.

As far as WPA encryption being unbreakable, BS…I own and operate a Wireless Internet Company and I can break WEP in less then an hour and have even broken basic (store bought implementations of WPA) WPA in a few minutes.

Case in point is: if linux sucks so bad on Wireless then why is every wireless AP built on linux/unix or vxware?

Finally, I have used literally dozens of distros. The popular ones such as Suse, Fedora, Mandriva, Ubuntu are IMHO all that way because they are easy setup distributions. Throw disk in, click, click, click I am running linux, yeah….I’m uber now.

Onwards, I find the most suited distros are Gentoo for Desktop and Debian for Desktop and Server. For web/file server exclusive FreeBSD is a charm.

Gentoo helps you learn a lot about how linux runs and allows severe, almost to much optimizations. I have literally seen people take Kia’s and try to make them run with Lamborghini performance. Often more then not from the point, click, click I’m uber crowd. For this same reason so many people leave Gentoo. Reason I say Gentoo is not a good server distro is, no server admin will want to take this much time to install a distro.

FreeBSD, well its a Unix, rock hard, and very fast running web/file server performance. Secure by default and it installs fairly quickly. Downside as mentioned is it is really not designed for desktop use, but can be used as such. It also needs a better volume management system and better file system selection, although I have heard rumors circulating that FreeBSD wants to use Sun’s ZFS.

The advent of Debian Etch, is very cool, I find the system almost as responsive as Gentoo, and the new GUI installer makes it a point, click, click distro , even for those of us who like to use software RAID5 acrossed 6 300GB HDs and then use EVMS. Its a very fun Distro and I find that it is useful on both Server and Desktop platforms. I even have it running on a Sony Vaio with the Intel 3945ABG card, and yes I am using WPA. All fn buttons work and the only thing I have trouble with is my wireless mouse and touchpad mouse playing fair, but guess what Winblows puked on that too.

Please before you bitch, research it before you buy it, and research it when you try to install it. Otherwise play with winblows and when the Intel/M$ forced system upgrades/purchase happen because of Vista, you will know why so many have left that world and deal with things in Linux.

I’m currently running Gentoo, Unbuntu, Freebsd and PC-BSD to select a new os for my next notebook. I like gentoo, but you frequently run in having to install yet another program for simple tasks. Whereas Freebsd provides a complete unix environment, Gentoo is very bare bones, which is sometimes a pain. Good example, you install a mail server and want to use telnet to see if it is working properly. Bad luck, first find a telnet package to install, wait a long time (on my P3-450) and then do your test.

For being fast I liked Unbuntu and PC-BSD (a freebsd based dektop os running KDE with a very nice package management tool and full FreeBSD under the hood). Having to run linux together with Windows at my office I may end up with PC-BSD under vmware using a Windows host or a Linux host running windows in the vm.

I do a lot of development and thus far there are really two different environments I work with. .NET under windows and C under Gentoo; personally i refuse to use redhat for what they are doing to the kernel and SUSE it becomes too difficult to operate with “one-offs” when packaging system limits you to Novell certified components.

@mad@m$

“as far as WPA encryption being unbreakable, BS…I own and operate a Wireless Internet Company and I can break WEP in less then an hour and have even broken basic (store bought implementations of WPA) WPA in a few minutes.”

WEP != WPA…. i would not consider guessing “admin/admin” for username and password to qualify as “breaking the encryption”

@lariva

If I remember correctly I did not say I broke into the router…which is definitely a well documented method of wireless network security breaching. What I said is I broke WPA…
if you look around long enough there is a LiveCD which has some pretty powerful tools for Wireless Breaking. I use it for Pen-testing my own network. In the few minutes case the encryption was WPA-PSK and the password was “aa11bb22cc33dd”…as you can see its not to tough to break that sniffing the network and then running a standard dictionary/slot tool.

With more packets injected and more time sniffing I was able to break this “zusij09biJy&\/nBKZbB” WPA 160 bit key. Time to break…packet gathering 44 minutes. System running the decryption. 1 hr 3 minutes (use a single dual core laptop if you would like I could bring the data back(SSH) and run it on my HPC cluster? Which would yield by far faster results as it is a cluster of 10 64 bit AMD 4600s each with 2GB RAM). Which gave me 5 probabilities. Time to try 5 possible keys out ~5 minutes. Total time = ~1 hr 52 minutes.

This is why high end wireless WPA does forced key rotation. In a business application where you are signing up customers this is impractical. If you are someone who uses wireless and has HIPPA on their back then it is the way to go. Because by the time the key is broke a new key is in use.

Onwards may your quest continue…I still firmly back my original post. I would like to add that Solaris 10 is a great server environment as well and the New ZFS allows great leaps in the world of file serving. Peace, good luck, good will and happy Open Sourcing.

Solaris 10 is a great server environment, and even looks very attractive on the desktop (JDS is by far the most beautiful default desktop I’ve used recently). It has a clever architecture that does not break old software - it’s forward compatible. However, it’s use on x86 is sketchy IMO because in many cases it doesn’t work. In fact, it failed to install on my *NIX machine.

If it wouldn’t be monumentally worse than Linux as far as hardware support and installation went, it would actually be able to quickly trump Linux, IMO. It has advatages over Linux that cannot be inhereted into the Linux codebase due to CDDL/GPL incompatibilities - but Solaris is quickly inheriting Linux’s vast pool of F/OSS applications.

Finally a simple , elegant comprehensive chart comparison.

On, my quest to find the perfect OS, I tried slackware, ubuntu, debian, fedora core, red hat, suse(openSUSE), gentoo, openbsd, freebsd. And the most joy I have ever gotten from an OS is from openBSD. Out of the linuxes I have tried, I loved Gentoo and Slackware. Slackware was more of an educational OS and Gentoo, I used as a regular everyday OS. All the other linux distros seemed and still seem bloated to me. I love openBSD’s policy. out of the 4 computer I have 3 have OpenBSD and one has windows (only becuase, nvidia drivers aren’t released open source, and I really dont want to install a linux). The only complaint I have heard about obsd, is that not much hardware support. However, I have a brand new intel core 2 duo with a intel 945 GM, Intel HD Audio, and all of that was supported right out of the box. Even my sd card reader was supported not to mention that my intel pro wireless 3945 card was supported without any effort. as soon as i was finished installing, i did an ifconfig -a and my wireless card came up and immediately worked. So, if youre paranoid like me about security and want a secure and easy to set up os then obsd is for you.

You’re obviously in love with SuSe.

I don’t think the perfect distro exists quite yet. Both Feisty Fawn and Debian 4.0 may be contenders.

My take: I started with Dapper (Ubuntu 6.06), went to Edgy (Ubuntu 6.10) too quickly (as in, the moment it shipped) and it blew up in my face. Didn’t lose data though. Reinstalled Edgy a week later because I wanted Firefox 2.0, did a clean install this time, it lived about a month before becoming unstable yet again. A few crashes before that, too. Decided Ubuntu had gone off the deep end with Edgy, jumped to OpenSuse 10.2 when it first shipped.

I found OpenSuse to be stable as hell and very usable, except for annoying glitches in the auto-update process and YaST being a bit of a mess. Ubuntu’s package management had spoiled me rotten :).

After a couple months of OpenSuse, I decided to try Fedora Core 6 for grins’n'giggles. Running it now. I found the learning curve a bit steeper, and more manual configuration needed, but by then I had learned how to install raw programs from RPMs such as OpenOffice 2.1, Firefox 2.x, etc. right from the original application sources. And for that, Fedora kicked OpenSuse’s butt…what was tricky in OpenSuse was relatively clean in Fedora.

So what would I do on a brand new system being set up for a newbie?

I think the real answer might be back where I started: Dapper. Start with that, deep-six the older OpenOffice and FireFox installs, put all new code in, roll with that for a while until either Debian, Ubuntu or possibly a newer Fedora get their butts fully in gear. OR possibly just start with the latest stable Debian 3.x series.

Here’s the good news: throughout all this messing around, I stayed with gnome and was able to keep my entire home directory intact, backing it up via external USB hard disk and reloading it on each install. Preserving bookmarks, mail, most application settings. In some cases even preserving old Gnome settings from previous, in others having to delete /home/user/.gconf/apps/gnome-settings/%gconf.xml in order to restore gnome defaults and re-do my preferred desktop settings, but that’s no biggie.

I don’t know how well KDE would have done at preserving settings across multiple distros. The fact that I *know* gnome can do it makes me want to stay with that.

This is a great website, and the side-by-side comparison of Ubuntu and SUSE was good, and I thought unbiased?

Reading through the comments I am surprised at the total void of mention of Mepis?

I have been testing various distros for some years now, and reckon that the easiest to install, with the applications that I need, is Mepis.

Sabayon is good too, but the chicken theme is a bit heavy? And wireless support is “Iffey”

Currently using SUSE 10.2 on this Fujitsu-Siemens notebook, Mepis on an ancient Gerricom Supersonic notebook, and Mepis on a Celeron Desktop no problem. Wireless no problems on any of the notebooks.

Reluctantly using SUSE 10.2 on a Toshiba P100 Notebook, just waiting for the latest release of Mepis to test the sound system. SUSE had to be tweaked to get the sound working at all? All other distros, including Ubuntu failed?

As my user name implies I a only a linux user. I am looking for a distro that does the job for me, and that I can recommend to others?

There is no MEPIS in “Compare Distros”.

There is no MEPIS in “Compare Distros”

It’s on the way: http://wiki.polishlinux.org/mepis
It just needs someone to take care about it on the wiki!

Thank you! I hope to get time to edit the wiki tomorrow.

Surprised that I didn’t see a category for Live CD/DVD. I have a Live DVD on dual-layer media called LARCH developed by user Gradgrind in ARCH distro which has 3200 of the arch packages available for install direct from the DVD (no need to download, just install via the arch PACMAN system).

The PACMAN system was not emphasized in my comparison with MANDRIVA.

I don’t even use linux yet and have only begun to look into it. What about linspire? The idea of a linux distribution that looks and acts like windows but is linux sounds like it would be a natural.

I run Windows, OS X and Linux machines.

In respect to linux,

I tried well over a dozen linux distros including Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Mandriva, Archlinux, DSL. Puppy linux, Knoppix, Dreamlinux and others.

In the end it was a toss up between SUSE 10 and Fedora 6.

After giving both of them a shakedown test, I decided on Fedora 6.

And its been a month of bliss.

I think I am hooked.

Aqua Fyre

Ps..Mind you, if you want a brill slavage live CD system…

Nothing beats knoppix.

Cheers

The SuSE vs. Xandros chart was very well thought out and unbiased.

I favor Xandros over OpenSuSE 10.1 because of the usability of it.
I recently replaced Windows in my home with both editions. I know a bit about linux, but I wanted to see how well the others on my home… all Windows users, would interact. SuSE was preferred over Windows in speed, but was not as efficient as Xandros. Xandros initial startup was faster, too, even on a slower computer. I preferred the SuSE desktop, for its ease and straightforwardness, however, delving more deeply into the file system is much easier on Xandros. Xandros gets the vote for working “out of the box” with my HP Printer, and also without configuration for my video and sound, both of which are from PCI cards. Wireless, however, was flakier on my desktop at home with Xandros, but it handled the wireless cards on the laptops better.
Just some points that I though you would all find useful.

Please include Bluetooth Development Tools support..

Realy great comparison tool, this definitly made my choice of linux a whole lot easier.
greets rick

[...] Comparer en détails les distributions Linux. [...]

PCLinuxOS has gone into the top 5 at distrowatch.com, maybe it’d be time to include it in your comparition system.

PCLinuxOS has gone into the top 5 at distrowatch.com, maybe it’d be time to include it in your comparition system.

Go ahead and add it: http://wiki.polishlinux.org/pclinuxos
That’s how the KateOS and Zenwalk descriptions landed here!

Hi, i think it is interesting to do comparation like this. How about if we combine Linux and BSD ( just like : base with linux and application with NetBSD packages ).

Thank’s

Just migrated from Win XP to Xandros 4.0 Home Premium. This version is not free but still costs a lot less than Vista. Switching from Windows to Xandros is the best choice i have made since getting involved with computers.

Good webpage, very comprehensive and valuable information.
I only disagree in one point: WiFi ist not very well supported, neither in Suse nor in Fedora.

I would also like to see PCBSD and Desktop BSD included in the comparison tables.
As well as Linspire/Freespire.

Great site!

I would also like to see PCBSD and Desktop BSD included in the comparison tables.
As well as Linspire/Freespire.

Freespire is included in the comparison.

And for PC-BSD and DesktopBSD, there is an effort to include those in the comparison, see the wiki entries:
- http://wiki.polishlinux.org/desktopbsd
- http://wiki.polishlinux.org/pcbsd
Feel free to help — no registration is required, just click Edit and enter the data!

I would like to know if there is a NetBSD Live CD Distribution available for Dreamcast.

Good site! I found in google.com +

Good webpage, very comprehensive and valuable information.
tell me how to play games in Freespire and Ubuntu,Kbuntu,and Xbuntu
i have all [OS] cd’s. i have 1 game name is counter strike 1.6 stream verision but its not work and how to install execute files… i have lan chatting software but its not work.

Just migrated from Win XP to Linux different OS.

>Asad Baig Says:
>March 25th, 2007 at 7:10 am
>
>Good webpage, very comprehensive and valuable information.
>tell me how to play games in Freespire and Ubuntu,Kbuntu,and Xbuntu
>i have all [OS] cd’s. i have 1 game name is counter strike 1.6 stream verision but its not work and how to >install execute files… i have lan chatting software but its not work.
>
>Just migrated from Win XP to Linux different OS.

You will need cedega, it is commercial software. You install CS through cedega. It does not depend on the distribution you are working with. You should also keep cedega uptodate, with local updates, or from internet.

have fun

needle

I just bought a 64bit machine that has 32bit windows on it, first thing I did was delete that bloatware and got me some free 64bit linux to put under the hood, you should hear this kitty purr now.

[...] After you’ve narrowed your choices With this website you can compare two distros side-by-side and compare everything from installation to wireless support.  Very handy. [...]

Do you really mean “It its philosophy it’s” 1st paragraph for Arch?

Do you really mean “It its philosophy it’s” 1st paragraph for Arch?

Fixed, thanks!

[...] Ever wonder, for instance, how SUSE’s system requirements stack up against Ubuntu’s? Or how Debian’s installer rates compared with Fedora’s? The site lets you choose any two distros (out of 16 total) and view a side-by-side comparison covering everything from general features to system boot-up speed. (Some of the categories are factual; others have numerical ratings.) For seasoned users and novices alike, this is a great way to see how the various Linuxes stack up. (And don’t forget our comprehensive Linux coverage around these parts.) Too bad you can compare only two at a time. Heck, they should export the whole thing as a Google Docs spreadsheet! Whattaya say, polishlinux.org? — Rick Broida Compare distros [polishlinux.org] [...]

Totally brilliant. Its a real moving target to document these differences - with new versions being made all the time. If someone did this with Windows you would be comparing Win95 with XP and so forth - it would be too revealing! I prefer Linux for most things, I can now find distro’s that suit the purpose. Thankyou for your valuable research.

[...] Ever wonder, for instance, how SUSE’s system requirements stack up against Ubuntu’s? Or how Debian’s installer rates compared with Fedora’s? The site lets you choose any two distros (out of 16 total) and view a side-by-side comparison covering everything from general features to system boot-up speed. (Some of the categories are factual; others have numerical ratings.) For seasoned users and novices alike, this is a great way to see how the various Linuxes stack up. (And don’t forget our comprehensive Linux coverage around these parts.) Too bad you can compare only two at a time. Heck, they should export the whole thing as a Google Docs spreadsheet! Whattaya say, polishlinux.org? — Rick Broida Compare distros [polishlinux.org] [...]

You should add windows to this list. Be fair and honest, it doesn’t matter how much a group tries to make something work for everyone, it will never be be for everyone all the time. For the vast majority of tasks there is a Linux distribution that outdoes windows in that certain area. Most of the Linux Distros are going to blow windows out of the water when it comes to Installation Default Sfotware packages, and security.

If you do add windows, Remain Fair, Give each version of windows credit where it is due. The obvious benefits of Linux will shine through and perhaps persuade future users…

I installed ubuntu fiesty fawn on my PIII laptop. It’s incredibly lightweight. The hard drive doesn’t spend all the time, the fan rarely comes on, and the speedstep processor usually runs on the lowest setting. I would recommend ubuntu to anyone seeking an affordable and truly enjoyable computing experience.

The BETA1 version of Zenwalk 4.6 “Red pill” introduces public beta releases of Zenwalk GNU Linux. Main changes in this release are :
- Kernel 2.6.21, with kvm support
- a new toolchain, featuring a new glibc and gcc so that most packages have been rebuilt,
- XFCE 4.4.1 with new plugins, and system notifications (for example, udev now send user notifications about hotplugged devices),
- Firefox 2.0.0.3, Thunderbird 2.0.0.0,
- Many improvements in the base system and admin tools.

You will notice that Zenwalk installer has been simplified a lot, making it one of the simplest setup available in the GNU Linux world.
You will also enjoy faster boot times, resulting from the highly parallelized and optimized init system.

Wish I could agree with you. Installing Ubuntu takes over 2 hours for some reason. Then after it’s installed I can’t get any “downloaded” software to install. I’ve just started to learn Linux but it’s been a nightmare to get installed and running. I managed to get my WiFi to work and play some MP3’s but that’s it. I have 6 programs that I downloaded sitting on my desktop but no way to install them. I’ve Googled til I’m blue in the face but I just don’t understand the installation proceedure. I’m back on XP hoping that maybe someday I’ll find an answer to how install software (downloaded) in Linux. If I could do that then XP would be in the trash. Went through 7 video cards til I found one that worked in Linux and it was an old SIS card. Nvidia and ATI cards don’t work without the drivers then I would have to use NDISwrapper which I couldn’t get to work either. Linux has bee the worst computing experience I’ve ever had.

Hi, This is a great web and of course a VERY great resource for investigation.
Congratulation!.

I need to know if is possible do a comparative between CentOS and Debian. Please tell what it is possible.

Thank you very much in advance. Have a nice day…

I need to know if is possible do a comparative between CentOS and Debian. Please tell what it is possible.

It will be possible if you help us providing decent info on CentOS on our wiki: http://wiki.polishlinux.org/centos

Hi Colliman,

If you have downloaded some .deb-files you can install them with
> dpkg -i “package-name”.deb
with sudo. If there is some dependencies it will be seen. Install them and try again. It should work.

Perhaps the packages you would like to install already is in the repositories. They could be in the universe or muliverse repositories. Check /etc/apt/sources.list to see if universe and multiverse are active.

For the video-cards you can try different drivers. For ati-cards you have “ati”, “radeon” and “flglx” and for nvidia I know of “nv” and the one found on the nvidia site.
The easiest way is to change the driver in /etc/X11/xorg.conf and restart X(Ctrl-Alt-backspace) to see what will happen. Of course you backup the original xorg.conf before start so if it does not work you can always go back.
> cd /etc/X11
> sudo cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.orig
> sudo nano xorg.conf

I hope I clarified something and you find this text helpful.

I have been using Mandriva Spring for the last month or so and its very stable and gives superb performance. Its easily the best distro out there and configuring al the basic hardware is a basic cakewalk. Kudos Mandriva

collieman,

I’ve had your similar troubles. I’ve had a very difficult time in downloading a Linux distribution previously. I think the reason is due to lack of partitioning software on some Linux installation software…I couldn’t install Ubuntu…it took forever…the only way I could format/partition my computer was through a Windows cd…that didn’t do me any good.

My advice to you is to try out Freespire. its easy to to install…the first thing you want to do after the CD starts in your computer is to go to create/modify disk partitions

you have to partition your drive as an ext filesystem for Linux……then after you do that and format…you can go ahead with the installation of Freespire..its very user-friendly and it’ll allow you to learn Linux because you can still work from the shell in it.

I sort of disagree with come comparative analysis you made.

1. You did say the System boot-up speed for slackware was “(6) Acceptable speed just after installation, but optimization quite easy well-documented BSD-like scripts.”
After default installation of Slackware, the average boot-up speed is between 2-2:30mins after the bootloader section because there are basically only a few services enabled: syslog, alsa, sendmail, font, and nfs (which u have a choice of turning off)and from that analysis I feel slack should get a “9″ because it takes FreeBSD and Gentoo a longer time to boot than my slackware on the same m/c. I feel you should review that.

2. You also said:
“System responsiveness:(6) Unlike Mandriva or Fedora, Slackware has not enabled many services, so freshly installed system has qood responsiveness. Most packages is compiled for i486 but with i686 optimizations.”
Well I have used a couple of UNIX m/c ranging from Solaris,HPUX,FreeBSD to LINUX(Redhat,Fedora, RHEL, Gentoo,Debian and Slackware)both at home and in my office( Telcommunications) and out of all these flavors, Slackware seems to out-perform everyone in terms of system responsiveness apart from FreeBSD in which it is at par with. I never used a system that could handle heavy load and yet it is a 32-bit based system.
I feel MATURITY, SPEED, STABILITY and RESPONSIVENESS should go to both FreeBSD and Slackware( it has only been keeping a low profile for a longtime though)

Thanks

You also said:

@McDaniel: there is no “you”. This service is powered by the users and the wiki. If you feel something is wrong, go fix it: http://wiki.polishlinux.org/slackware

I like this service - but you should make links to the special distro which i want to diff…

i mean if i search for fedora vs. debian it would be nice to get links for debian.org and fedora-project.com and so on…

perhaps? Download Link? Whould be great…

@spammy-deluxe: you have links to distro descriptions in the right sidebar. There are download links, links to reviews, screenshots, other resources and so on there.

I had already been thinking of downloading KateOS and making a test install, see how it works.

since my favorite OSs are Slackware, Zenwalk, pQui, Deli, Arch, Crux, Puppy and Gobo - the latter two are pretty good for pendrive installs (for Gobo use an 8GB stick) - I believe KateOS could pretty fit in my multiple boot installs. now I know it

another one I like is Kurumin, the only non source code based distro among my favorites; it’s easy to handle, completely Debian repository compatible and not too hard for even the laziest office employees in the world.

by the way, how many wireless channels does KateOS have? I realize Zenwalk has only 14 (European standard?), Kurumin has 16 (Brazilian standard). I would like to know it in order to see if I make my test install in my PC or in my notebook. at Brazilian airports, VARIG’s free wireless network uses to be on channel 16.

well, I think you might made some mistakes while comparing ubuntu and debian.

@magisu
Please point.

If you are new to Linux, consider Ubuntu… It’s pretty easy…

Rather infact I’d really recommend Linux mint, it’s 98% Ubuntu, the only diffrence is that it has all the ‘needed’ ability’s like DVD playing, flash player, etc. So if you like Ubuntu which is the best distribution in my opinion but don’t want the hassle of getting flash and DVD’s to play try Linux mint, its Ubuntu without the hassle.

PS. Please excuse my spelling :/

Wonder if they’ll ever try to combined them or colaborate maybe mandora to have the bst of both worlds. be one big os with almost billions of pkgs and drivers.

I’m a Gnu/Debian user, but I think thah ubuntu is easy for people taht no wants be complicated, but for people more mischievous like the students is a great solution for learn so much, that was my experience, I learn so much more than in my studies of my carier, using GNU/Debian can do things that I don’t believe that could I do some day

Please forgive my bad english I’m a Salvadorean and still learning about all.

——–
Atentamente
El Gato
“Nunca se tiene suficiente de algo bueno”

Too many Ubuntu fans !! But I’m sorry, I don’t agree with them… I’ve tried ubuntu by six months and I get too many problems in such as simple things like play an mp3 file. So, I returned to my oroginal distro, Mandriva, because in all kind of matters is more simple, more reliable, more flexible, very easy to use and more stable. You can try Mandriva downloading a live version like Mandriva One DVD/CD or Mandriva Flash, a product you can buy tath brings you a complete live distro in a pretty 2 GB usb flash memory… Try it and you never change anymore

Muy buen sitio para aquellos que desean migrar hacia un sistema operativo libre y desean verificar qué distribución es la que mejor se adapta a sus necesidades.

Sabayon, a Gentoo - with a lot of packages precompiled - distro - it saves a lot of time installing - is not on the list, and is one of the best Linux distro, avoids almost all the contras you have wrote about Gentoo.

[...] Nosotros hemos hecho una comparativa entre Ubuntu y Fedora. [...]

I’ve NEVER touched Linux before, but I’m wanting to try it. Soon I’m going to be going to school for Computer Science and will be learn C++ type languages. Is there a certain Linux that will work better for this type of work?

[...] CompareDistros (No Ratings Yet)  Loading [...]

Most distros are good for working with C++ once they are set up. Just make sure they include the GNU Compiler packages, GCC and G++. Ubuntu is really easy to set up for newbies. Gentoo has one of the best development environments, but it is not very newbie friendly. For a total beginner, I would suggest Ubuntu. If you like to get your hands dirty, Gentoo. ^_^

Both are excellent distributions, depending on your level of expertise.

Thanks for the help. I’m a pretty quick learner and like challenges. So I may go with Gentoo. I would still have to download a package to be able to work with C++ right? Also, is gentoo free if does it cost $? Where can I get it? Also, where woul I go to download some packages (or pay for them) So I can get basic word processing programs and the C++ prgrams for the Linux Distro?

I dont mean to double post, but I can’t edit like a forum. SORRY. But what about Slackware? I heard it VERY stable, but will it work well with what I’m looking for and is it too hard to learn for me?

@Austin: If you are not experienced in Linux try something less time-consuming first. I suggest Debian or Fedora since they both have thousands of packages, including the programmer stuff, and are not as hard to setup as Gentoo/Slackware. If you like the stability, go for Debian Etch. If you like experiments, try Fedora 7.

[...] que hay una herramienta que permite comparar distros de Linux entre si en esta direccion: http://polishlinux.org/choose/comparison/. Asi que si por ejemplo dudabas entre una Ubuntu y una Suse o una Mandriva y una Debian, o las que [...]

I have tried Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora 7,NetBsd 3.1 and FreeBSD 6.2 on many different machines. Fedora was the only os that worked on all the hardware (ethernet, sound, video…). Ubuntu had problems detecting some sound chips, Debian, NetBSD, FreeBSD had problems detecting SATA hard disks. NetBSD and FreeBSD had problems detecting or using network chips.

Summary:
Use Fedora, especially for new hardware.

[...] una herramienta disponible en polishlinux que nos permite comparar distros de Linux entre sí. Tiene una lista bastante amplia con las distros más usadas en la actualidad. Algunos de los [...]

In my experience pclinuxos is best. Ubuntu is overrated. My second choice is Simply Mepis. Puppy is a gem.

I’ve tried 9 distros so far. PCLinuxOS is the best yet. With ALL of the others, getting online was almost impossible. PCLinuxOS made it easy. Have a few more to try before I make my decision as to which distro I’ll stick with and support.

[...] Comparador de Distribuciones. [...]

[...] Compare Linux distros 17 by 17 choices [...]

The list here is ridiculous. Yoper? Where are PCLinuxOS, Sabayon, Mepis, Mint, Damn Small, Vector, Pioneer, etc. etc.

I’m a pretty quick learner and like challenges. So I may go with Gentoo. I would still have to download a package to be able to work with C++ right? Also, is gentoo free if does it cost $? Where can I get it? Also, where woul I go to download some packages (or pay for them) So I can get basic word processing programs and the C++ prgrams for the Linux Distro?

If you really were a quick learner then you would have already figured out how to find all of this out via google and wikipedia.

The list here is ridiculous. Yoper? Where are PCLinuxOS, Sabayon, Mepis, Mint, Damn Small, Vector, Pioneer, etc. etc.

Most of them are on our wiki: http://wiki.polishlinux.org waiting for you to update the data so that we could put them in this comparison.

I’m a pretty new Linux/UNIX user, I’ve tried Xubuntu Feisty, Debian 4.0, Fedora Core 6, PCLinuxOS 2007, and “sort-of” Dreamlinux 2.2MMGL, and Gentoo 2007. My machine is a Intel Core 2 E6300, 2 GB of RAM, and a GeForce 8800GTS(bought before I knew I’d be trying Linux…).

Xubuntu was my favorite: only because it was the only one that didn’t browse the web like a dog with cement shoes. Unfortunately, it didn’t accept the NVIDIA official driver even after I followed the guides at Ubuntu and NVIDIA on the subject(apparently related to recent versions of X.org in Feisty).

Debian 4.0 takes the driver and is perfectly stable, but it’s slow like aforementioned analogy. I tried deleting the default GNOME in favor of Xfce, and it failed to make a dent. It’s what I grudgingly have installed right now.

Fedora Core 6 is pretty slow on the web, though not as slow as Debian. It took the NVIDIA driver though, and the initial install was very customizeable, allowing me to pick my Desktop and install only the handful of programs I’d want to use. I got it through a DVD on a “Linux Tome,” hence why it wasn’t Fedora 7. I’ve been trying to avoid burning more than one CD for a single distro, is Fedora 7 worth it?

PCLinuxOS 2007 was also slow. I’d also want to get rid of basically all the applications it comes with, including KDE and Beryl. It takes my hardware, but who cares if I’m just going to have to raze it to the ground?

Dreamlinux had 100% reproducible kernel panics when it tried to mount root at boot. Gentoo choked to death on it’s own driver for my video when trying to boot from the LiveCD, and I think it’d be the same if I installed it another way(am I wrong?).

All I want is a distribution that’ll take my hardware, doesn’t come as bloated as a Dell, and runs at least as fast on the web as my old Windows XP. I have no problems compiling packages myself(done it a few times on Debian to get more recent software).

fedora have YUMEX …it’s a great graphic updater and installer .
with depot like remi freshrpm livna …we will obtains a lot of softz.
it’s stable secure and professional …

for me fedora and Ubuntu are the same ..but with SElinux no way to compare security under red hat ( Fedora ) and (debian ) Ubunto
…ubunto offer free cdz so they obtains more users
so “distrowatch” don’t show the reel status of use for those distroz.

sorry about my poor English :p

Why is mandriva mentioned in the description of Ubuntu? This is rather confusing in a distro comparison.

Anyway, I think this page would be very helpful if I were looking for my first GNU/Linux. Keep up the good work!

[...] En PolishLinux podemos ver comparativas en duelo entre el montón de distribuciones que están disponibles para todo usuario que quiere acercarse al mundo Linux, por ejemplo Ubuntu versus Debian. [...]

Personally the top distros for me are

OpenSuse
Sabayon
Ubuntu (maybe)

I Look at ubuntu and it doesn’t look as nice as opensuse and Sabayon.

[...] Si quieren tener una completa comparación entre las diversas distros den click aqui [...]

PCLinuxOS is not an available option in the distro comparison. How can we get that added to the drop down boxes.

Nice to see the comparisons on the Linux flavors. It would be better if you can provide the comparisons for RedHat versions.

[...] se aplica para comparar derivadas. Ya que kubuntulio quiere usar slackware pues compare gentoo con slackware y si era bastante buena la comparativa. Comparte y disfruta: These icons link to social [...]

I have to ask are you comparing Debian Sarge with Ubuntu? That’s wery unfair, because Debian 4.0 ‘Etch’ was released in 8th of May this year. In your comparison there is several parts which are incomplete or simply not true. I can’t be thinking that your article is biased to ubuntu.

1) “INSTALLER->Installer - overall” -section: Debian Etch has a new graphical installer. You can choose which installer you want to use. You can select old traditional textgraphics-mode installer or new graphical installer. Here is how you can start installer in the graphical mode. When you see the first installer screen with black background and Debian logo type this line to prompt on screen and press enter:

installgui

Installer will now start in the graphical mode.

2) “Configuration->Graphical system management” -section: You say that there is no special tools for the Debian. And then you list tools like these for Ubuntu: update notifier, NetworkManager, Beagle etc. For your information, all of those tools are in Debian Etch too. All of those except Beagle are installed by default when you install Debian Etch with Gnome-desktop. Beagle can be easily installed using apt-get or what ever package management tool you use. Actually most of the graphical configuration tools in Ubuntu are also in Debian Etch.

3) “Package System->Number of packages” -section: You say that there is over 8000 packages in the Sarge. I’m not sure about that number but it feels way too low. Anyway there is over 18000 packages in the Debian Etch repository’s main-section. And there is more packages in the nonm-free and contrib sections.

4) “Efficiency->System boot-up speed” -section: You say that “System boot-up is slow. Slower than most of the other distributions. This is mostly due to a lot of server services loaded by default.”. That’s simply bullshit.

5) “Efficiency->System responsiveness” -section: You claim that Ubuntu is feels fater than Debian. I don’t aggree at all. Debian runs much faster on same hardware. Debian also runs much better than Ubuntu on older hardware too. Do you know that Debian supports even old Amiga computers which are not really fastest computer on the planet anymore. Debian also runs wery well on many embedded and mobile devices which are not so fast either.

6) “STABILITY/SECURITY->Security focus” -section: I have to say that Debian Etch has update-notifier and Update manager too. You get notified automatically if there is updates available.

7) “STABILITY/SECURITY->Stability and maturity” -section: I have to remind that Ubuntu is based on Debian Unstable which is development version. Unstable is not meant to be used in production systems. This means that packages in the Ubuntu are not tested well. Those packages have still lots of bugs. Debian stable is much more stable and secure than Ubuntu releases.

“APPLICATIONS/NETWORK->Support for restricted formats” -section: Remember that there is non-free and contrib sections in the Debian repository. There is also debian-multimedia.org repository which contains lots of non-free multimedia codecs etc.

9) “APPLICATIONS/NETWORK->Wireless support” -Section: Ndiswrapper is NOT the only way to use wifi cards in Debian Etch. There is many wireless drivers in the main, non-free and contrib repositories: madwifi, zd1211, rt2×00, rt2500, rt2400, linux-wlan-ng, ipw2100, ipw2200, ipw3945 etc. Some of the drivers like zd1211 are in the kernel, so all you need to install is firmware package. Some of the drivers are available as ready to use module packages, eg. Intel pro wireless drivers. Some of the drivers are available as a sourcecode and you can compile driver wery easily using module-assistant. Eg. to install madwifi drivers for the Atheros cards:

# module-assistant auto-install madwifi

That’s it. Now you can use eg. Network Manager to connect to wlan.

What versions have been tested? How up-to-date is the table?

For Arch: Set the number higher! There are no -dev packages existing. They’re just included in every package.

[...] Link a: http://polishlinux.org [...]

[...] read more | digg story [...]

Thanks for letting me know about PLD Linux (http://pld-linux.org)! It looks very good indeed. I can’t wait to try it out

I just finished removing Ubuntu 7.10 from my server, the DNS settings were getting overwritten on every reboot… I have been using Debian for a long time but Ubunut is not for me…

I am testing FC8 right now, it looks pretty good. So for me it is Fedora or the pure Debian.

I am new to Linux and do not have any experience.I have to use windows because of some graphic app(photo editing).I downloaded 8 different distros and so far I can say that they need some more work to be “user friendly”.The sound support it is poor.I have 2 years old emachines(T5052) and could not make the sound work on any of them.
I know what people think about emachines, but my works very good.I run xp and vista and have no problems.Just wonder - how older computer I have to have to run Linux.Look like - if computer is 2 years or younger - no drivers support.
I could not test Mandrive2008 at all.Display problem - frequency out of range.
In forum someone suggest to replace monitor.I am not about to change my LCD HD monitor, because someone screw-up the distro.I am not giving-up.Downloading another distro and see if this one will work.The windows works good so why would I go to so much effort to download and install so many distros?-curiosity.
Thanks

Another waste cd.PCBSD will not let me change screen resolution and no sound.Could not even find the shutdown button.Just turn off the power.So far 9 cd wasted.Maybe not wasted - I learned something.I learned that that most of the free distro is not ready to competee with windows.Will try some more.Ubuntu and Kubuntu,PcLinux,Mandriva,openeSuse,Fedora,Freespire,Knopix,PCBSD tested so far - junk.
I am missing one - I forgot to mark the cd-junk too.
I wonder if there is any distro that will run on my emachines without any problems.

DreamLinux another joke.What kind of “windows man” knows what is the mount point or filesystem.After a couple of hours attempt to install to hd - I give up.Another wasted cd.Too bad - I kind of like the desktop.Need a lot of improvement.

[...] Head Here to compare your favorite Linux Distro Link: polishlinux.org [...]

Used most of those distros before. My recommendation, get a hold of Linux Mint 4.0, or Mepis or PCLOS2007. Opensuse and Fedora are somewhat okay as well, but the top 3 for me would be the first three. I like or prefer Mint as it is based on Ubuntu.
Mepis just works for all types of hardware.

For speed and stability along with ease of use and install; Vector linux & zenwalk
Other alternatives for speed are puppy and dsl linux.

Arch is super fast, but not for newbies.

Why Choose Fedora? (Fedora vs. Ubuntu)
After reading continually about Ubuntu, and having heard about what a great Linux distribution it is for over a year, I finally broke down two days before Fedora 7 was released to the public and installed Feisty Fawn 7.04 on my /backup partition to give it a spin. For two days I used it exclusively, and tried to hold off any judgments one way or another while testing it. After all, it seems like all I hear about is people jumping ship off of whatever Linux distribution they had used for years in favor of Ubuntu (Stanton Finley and Eric S. Raymond come to mind from the RedHat/Fedora camp, among others, including just about everyone from the Slashdot/Digg crowd); and if Ubuntu truly is a superior Linux distribution, then I at least needed to give it a try to evaluate its performance. And so I did. I installed the DNS and LAMP server, followed by the Ubuntu desktop, knowing that I could always install KDE applications if I needed to via apt-get.

Unfortunately, I was not impressed.

People incessantly claim that Fedora is less user friendly than Ubuntu is, but Ubuntu has become so watered down as a Linux distribution that I can only classify it as having been completely n00bified. Maybe I’m out of touch with the budding Linux enthusiast, who is in desperate need of a hand-holding Linux distribution, but everywhere I turned, I found road blocks preventing me from getting work done quickly. A perfect example of this is the simple task of connecting to my DSL internet connection when at home. Under Fedora, this takes about two minutes to setup (if that): System -> Administration -> Network. Type in the root password, click on New -> xDSL connection, follow the directions, and you are off and running. Under Ubuntu, creating a DSL connection via the Network Panel is not even possible! A Google search on the Windows machine turned up the following:

“Configuring DSL can be a hassle…”
“…How good it would be, if there exists a wizard that will guide you thru all the above steps.”

My thoughts exactly! Ok, ok, it is not that big of deal once you know what to do: connect to eth0, run pppoeconf, and use pon dsl-provider/poff to turn the connection on and off. But how is a new Linux user going to figure that one out on his/her own? 95% of the people trying out Linux for the first time are not going to be sitting behind some fat bandwidth pipe using a 100Mbs/1Gbs Ethernet connection. They will be using wireless, or just as likely, have a DSL connection…

At any rate, Feisty Fawn does not seem to be that stable of an operating system. I found that I had to reboot multiple times just to allow it to log me into Gnome properly. Often times, it would just freeze or lock up halfway through the login process. Eventually I figured out that the problem was tied to my not having shut off the DSL connection before logging out, but why should that be a problem? Additional issues included the screen resolution not being set properly (1440 x 900), or allowing me to change it without delving into /etc/X11/xorg.conf, and having to deal with tons of native applications that were not included in the base server/desktop installs. The first mistake that I made along these lines was an attempt to change my shell via /etc/password to /bin/tcsh. Oops! No tcsh. Oops! I can no longer login to a terminal. Oops! I can’t log into root either because I choose to only allow sudo when I installed Ubuntu and had not made a point of setting up a root password yet. Guess it is time to mount the partition in Fedora and fix it, or reinstall… And so it went.

Sure apt-get is great, and synaptic (the GUI) is nice, but what real advantages does it have over yum and yumex? It’s faster? In my opinion, even that’s debatable, simply because there are so many tools that are missing in the basic Ubuntu install that it would have taken me forever to set them all up over an internet connection with apt-get anyway. Sure, Ubuntu gives you a LAMP server (Linux OS, Apache, MySQL, PHP), but what Linux distribution doesn’t?

What Fedora does give you natively that Ubuntu does not is the following:

• The option to create your own Fedora spin!
• Live images that even allow you to boot from a USB key.
• The option to install all Server Applications, Gnome, and KDE at once.
• Simple DSL Setup
• SELinux
• NFS
• Samba
• Compatibility Libraries
• Development Packages
• Compilation Tools
• Programming Tools & Editors
• +1000 other Native Applications

Again, can most of these programs be installed with apt-get and be configured under Ubuntu? Sure, but instead of it taking about 3 days to figure out if I finally have downloaded and installed everything, I can instead burn a single Fedora DVD and install it all once in about an hour. And be completely configured within three to four.

But what about RPM and Dependency Hell?
Ah yes, it always seems to come down to RPM and dependencies. Whenever I hear that argument, I can tell instantly that the person making it has either never used a RedHat/Fedora RPM system before and are quoting a common misconception, or that they used RedHat (and not Fedora) a long time ago before yum came along (Fedora Core 1). Even circular dependencies can be dealt with elegantly using rpm, and if you are missing a library or dependency now, yum whatprovides [missing].[library] is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Frankly, the RPM/Dependency Hell argument is a tired old argument that has not been true for about 5 years. But hey, don’t let that get in the way of a good FUD campaign…

But what about Fedora being a Beta test for RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?
For four years now I have used Fedora: from Fedora Core 1 all the way up through Fedora 8. Before that, I used RedHat from the 7.0 days on up to 9.0. Aside from the typical hiccups that are always present any Linux distribution, I find Fedora to be no worse than other Linux distributions that I have used. I use it 98% of the time while at the University (the other 1% is with Windows), and have had a Fedora Linux server sitting in my office for three and a half years. Fedora has never felt like a Beta test version to me. It has always felt solid, and has always performed admirably. And I like the rapid development and inclusion of new software into the distribution — I have been able to watch Fedora mature over the past few years significantly. And Fedora 8 is simply amazing.

But what about…?
Simply stated, most of the arguments that I have heard with respect to Fedora are dealt nicely on the Fedora Myths page. I suggest that you head over there and read it if you are still skeptical.

The point here is not to try and drag Ubuntu through the mud. But having now used it, I believe I can definitively say that that particular Linux distribution is really aimed toward the Linux n00b (no offense intended), or the Linux desktop enthusiast. For server applications, it just doesn’t cut it. Fedora provides a much deeper and comprehensive set of tools right out of the box, and I find that after I’ve finished installing it, I’m off and running. I’ve seen other people allude to this fact as well — Ubuntu is fine for the average desktop user, but if you are in need of a powerful Linux server, then Fedora is the way to go. And with that, let’s get down to business…

Courtesy of :
Linux Systems Administration — Fedora Core Notes
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Assistant Professor Gregory R. Kriehn

More Review at :
http://optics.csufresno.edu/~kriehn/fedora/ubuntu.html

microsoft windows XP backup vista 64 download…

Nice points……

If you compare PCLinuxOS with Ubuntu and while read ‘STABILITY/SECURITY –> Popularity’, you will find both PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu is/are “currently occupies the first place in the DistroWatch rank.”

And you know …

Why the hell would they add windows? Sense the name. Polish->Linux

Wow, PCLinuxOS sure has a lot of 9’s.

Just pointing this out.

I’ve used linux for a fair few years now and have up to this point stuck with suse and a kde desktop. From memory I think I started with suse 9. I run all installations for several years even if there is a newer one available. Why - updating is a pain. While kde will if installed from scratch import some settings from a previous KDE disto’s as far as I’m aware don’t. My comments relate to suse but I suspect the same can be said for all distro’s. That’s one of the things I’m curious about. Any one facing this problem will find the kde mailing list useful for finding out what needs to be copied across to a new installation.

Some people also seem to think that they will get all packages updated automatically. Not so as far as I’m aware. Most if not all updates concern security. Odd exception - suse10 included a download of the latest open office as this wasn’t on the dvd. Also new kernels have been provided at times - one resulted in the complete loss of the ability to do anything with cd’s or dvd. Fortunately that came back eventually. Additional oddities include loss of the ability to handle ntfs and even fat discs. Easily cured by web searches but a pain to say the least. More recently on suse 10 kaffiene lost the ability to play just about anything. Currently cured by mplayer obtained by cvs.

Ok so a set up has been run for a while and you notice that something that you use has been updated by the authors or you have found software on the web that you want to use naturally going for the latest version. The tendency on suse is to go for an rpm and install it with yast. Yast may ask for the dvd - oh it needs more lib files one thinks - yes sometime it does but if it has a version of the package on the dvd it will install that instead. It’s often older - so much for package upgrades.

One can get round this by using kpackage. It will try and install it but then come the dependencies. Not too much of a problem. Look on the dvd and install those 1st but they may be too old. Then find more recent ones via a web search and install them - more dependencies however this often does work out. On one occasion I arrived at the need to update 2 lib files at the same time. As they were very close to the graphics front end I didn’t as it may have made my machine unusable.

Lastly one can install from source. It’s not difficult. Open a console where ever the source is. On KDE that’s under actions. Type ./configure return and if all goes well, make, su - password, make install, make clean. Dependencies aren’t shown so clearly but should be there some where. Interestingly done this way some packages will install where as any rpm one can find wont. As I have recently mostly installed that way I’ve come to the conclusion that the best package repository is sourceforge and the web.

Ok so you’ve installed your new package but where is it? Find file comes in very useful there. You may also find a little file with an icon. I’ve never managed to get kde to use one of them - it uses it’s own.

Having had a rant I should add that I still like suse - not so keen on the new owners but I think there are a couple of things missing from the comparison. As far as I’m aware all distro’s have these problems. I can’t tell from this comparison site as excellent as it is. It should include ease of upward migration, use of standard linux directory structures (it takes ages to search of root for a file and I have loads of documentation on my machine that the suse help is completely unaware of.), and dare I say it just how vanilla the kernel etc is, likely to be a tough one. Also the availability of easily followed concise documentation of just how things are set up and where.

Just to show that much of what I would like to see is not aiming urine into the wind in such a way that it might blow back in my face. Some years ago there were instruction on how to install the latest kde without any complications at all. They seem to have disappeared and lost there way. A new user was created and the package was installed into that along with all of it’s required lib files etc. That is easy upwards migration as its mostly the graphical end of things that cause the dependency problems. One day I may even find out how to update java.

How does all of this stack up against windoze? Not very well. People are still using 2000, many more are still using xp. I even know of some one who used 95 up till 3 years ago. Do they have the same problems? Not nearly as much. No chance of me going back though - despite the problems

I await comments on various packages in these respects.

John

I have used Ubuntu for several years now and as I learn more about the inter-workings of Linux I realize how uncustomizable Ubuntu has become. Even though there is the built in software installer with Ubuntu, most of it is irrelevant. I am anxious to give up Ubuntu and try something new. I have tried Gentoo (which does not support my video card so no GUI) and I have tried Slackware (which does not update often and seems way behind on Linux technology) but now I think I am going to give Fedora a chance. So far I have not heard anything bad about Fedora and am anxious to give it a try.

Let me make the points clear.

Similarities between fedora and mandriva: both are rpm based and both are cutting edge distros.
Differences between fedora and mandriva: fedora tends to be better server, whereas mandriva tends to be a better desktop. fedora needs more initial configuration, whereas mandriva is much configured from very beginning.

Well I’ve been using gutsy gibson and can get everything working like a charm right out of the box in minimal amout of time even the cool compiz stuff you have to use the term for. freebsd 6.3 kernel didn’t even support my USB mouse out of the BOX. (Hello they don’t make serial or bus mice anymore) I tried to get gnome working and got gdm up but had no .xclients file none of the help I found on the web was helpful tried following instructions that never got my mouse to work they say it has 20 to 30 percent better performance but why would some one waste there time when you have to manually install any updates that ever come out and have to constantly be on some forum or site to even know about updates retarted archaic OS in my opinion waste of time. UBUNTU BEST OS CURRENTLY if only WINE could get a little better I need Ableton Live to work I don’t know what ryan is talking about UBUNTU is so easyily configurable I can make it look and do anything easily and the help and support fourms with UBUNTU are the best on the web. suse is slieghtly behind if they teamed up that would be cool over a hundered distros is kinda redicules but it is cool any one can write there own OS by modifing the kern…

Stumbled.

Hey there, I don´t want to say some big words, linux is for all of us and it is free. That´s the main thing. I have no problems with MS or OSX, but the all the basically movements in personal computering MUST BE FREE for all of us, the professional usability is another way. I have my first experiences in 1988 with an old Atari, and I have my first linux experience in 2004 with Knoppix. I have try Suse, Opensuse, Dreamlinux, all Ubuntu derivates, Knoppix and now I have Fedora 8. It seems to be the best - but only for me. Maybe your is another. Now only a bit more then 2% covers linux and other unix based free OS on the market. It´s a shame. MS rocks???? Sorry for all the MS users - I have Vista also, shame on me - but I hope I will able to finish with MS finally. I wait for this moment, but how long I have to wait? Long live open source OS. Stay clean and be free for the infinity.

[...] http://polishlinux.org/choose/comparison/ [...]

I don`t understand the fact, that the user comments aren`t placed right under the descriptions.
For example: Debian vs. OpenBSD comparison - there are NO OPENBSD-related posts!
Can you explain it?

Hi. Looking at Arch and I see “Partitioning has to be done before launching the installer (e.g. using cfdisk).”, which is not exactly the case. The default installer (ncurses-based setup) evokes cfdisk in the process and then creates filesystems automatically. You only need to do these things manually if you are using “quickinst”.

I consider Kickstart the expert mode of the Fedora installer. It is really, really, cool and is desperately important for business environments. It is pretty easy to setup a completely dhcp/pxe automated installer based on a single manual install.

Hey,

I used to maintain the easyubuntu software. It is no longer maintained as it is no longer required. Ubuntu should actually just install the required codecs as required.

Thanks,
Venkat

[...] http://polishlinux.org/choose/comparison/ [...]

This was a good comparison. I installed Ubuntu 7.04,7.10,8.04, and none of them recognized my WiFi or sound card. Mandriva 2008.1 KDE Spring edition recognized both and so far I’m quite pleased with Mandriva Linux.

Acer Aspire 5315, $348, Walmart Special.

A little subjective I think. Based on the verbiage. I am a ubuntu user at home and RH admin, so I have no real preference. Clearly the person writing this article does.

[...] the polishlinux.org offers a comparison table between two Linux distributions. Choose the two distributions and hit Compare. In addition, [...]

[...] Comparativa de Linux [...]

[...] on in depth. However, it can be a bit hard to compare them like that. Here comes in another tool to compare them. From the same website, you can easily compare two distros, comparing them in different categories [...]

I don’t like graphical operation system installers, textmode installers are much more better.

[...] Distro before committing to installing it on their computer. They even offer a page where you can compare Distros side by side. That’s [...]

[...] Curioso para ver o site? Então acesse! [...]

Problems with linux (debian):
1) printer drivers seem hard to get up (took me ages to find canon s300 ‘gutenprint’ driver, colors still printed wrong)
2) no http://www.isketch.net possible, because no shockwave plugin with apt (perhaps in wine, but did not get it to work myself, because i cant seem to be able to install firefox in wine…)

those two things are real showstoppers…

happy to see the wine-guys are able to play lots of games on debian. still looking into that.

Hey, I like the description of Ubuntu. But the Fedora has the plus point of Stability & Firewall. If u think as a general desktop user, What u need is the user friendly system with multimedia which ubuntu has given. Fedora is little techy, but it has YUM so just hit a command what u want to install & u done it. So its up to the users what they want to use.

I have Gentoo on PII 350MHz 96MB RAM works wel,

After I made experience with the main distros (Debian, Suse, Mandrake/Mandriva, Ubuntu, Fedora/Redhat) I prefer Mandriva.

Mandriva offers a good hardware support and has KDE as the default desktop with its excellent tools. Suse, Fedora and Debian imply problems when you use them with KDE because there are so many Gnome dependencies. Gnome is their desktop by default. Kubuntu is an alternative.

(K)Ubuntu and Mandriva offer the best and most actual software update system when your add the contribution repostitory to Mandriva (see Easy Urpmi (http://easyurpmi.zarb.org).

The Mandriva software management is RPM based, which I prefer, Ubuntu is DEB(ian) based. The graphical software management of Mandriva is excellent. Suse’s Yast2 and Fedora’s equivalent tool cannot keep up.

The DEB(ian) based distributions offer a tool “synaptic” which isn’t bad. But in Mandriva 2008.1 (Spring) you can even get information about packages which are not installed yet from the mirror server repostitories by mouse click. Similar to Debian’s “apt-get” you can also install a package by “urpmi” (a rpm wrapper).

Ubuntu offers an online version update. But I cannot propose it. I had big problems with it.

The boot time of Mandriva was shorter than the boot time of Ubuntu and Suse on my computers.

To get running all features and programs I am accustomed to (non-free packages as well) I needed the less time on Mandriva.

I advise to always hold ready a second hard disk partition for an alternative distro for testing. You can address them by “grub” (for example from different floppies if you had created them).

The list of suck:

K/X/Ubuntu
Mandriva
Red Hat (including Fedora or anything RPM based - wtf, you LIKE pulling out your fingernails?)

I run Gentoo, Debian (stable), and freakin’ FreeBSD and to this day, I still don’t understand why the ‘desktop distro’. None of them work as intended, and GUI’s just push the user further away from the true GNU/Linux + UNIX experience. Get to know CLI (Command Line Interface) and stop being a bunch of lazy n00bs! Learn to not only identify, but also correct your problems and mistakes! Ubuntu’s and their ilk just shine on M$ and OSX for their flamingly obvious fanboi quality.

That’s just my take - don’t take it too serious.

Slackware, Open/Net/FreeBSD, Gentoo, Debian - they are the true path of enlightenment. Use them. Always.

:-p

They are all great distro’s but i like Debian because after installing the base system you can customize it the way you want.

[...] Pentium III or higher? It is noted in polishlinux.org regarding Ubuntu system responsiveness “Technically, packages (except for the kernel and [...]

[...] information on this page is a direct copy of the data from the Linux/BSD Distribution Comparison page on PolishLinux.org. Please feel free to edit the current content and provide better, more up-to-date information about [...]

Dude awesome, you watch stargate.

[...] information on this page is a direct copy of the data from the Linux/BSD Distribution Comparison page on PolishLinux.org. Please feel free to edit the current content and provide better, more up-to-date information about [...]

very nicely given away… i use ubuntu… i think its better than fedora, though it’s not as secure as fedora.:D… frequent security updates happen, so no worries about that as well….

OpenBSD is not localized by default, and is in fact not completely localizable. One can use Korean, Japanese or Chinese character sets fine through X, but it is not possible via the console due to a current lack of wide character support. There is some work being done on this, but it is not yet a part of the default install.

Ubuntu 8.04 versus Fedora 9
http://articlesbook.blogspot.com/2008/09/ubuntu-804-versus-fedora-9.html

I use zenwalk for everyday use. I still have xp dual boot for various reasons but I often don’t need to boot xp. Various reasons = proprietary and development reasons rather than personal choice, linux started doing what I want MOST the time much better than MS products a long time ago. I have tried quite a few distros including the regular ubuntu and other debian based things (along with debian a long time ago), mandrake (then later mandriva)and recently a few based on it like pclos. Also mepis and slack and several distros based on it. I have tried a few others too. None were tested as extensively as most other posters here have tested and I am no expert.

I can honestly say zen is the nicest but thats for me and we’re all different so can understand many might hate it. I started using linux with slack in about 1998 but switched several times usually just out of curiosity or to see if hype was true (sadly it never is )or to see if any were better than slack for me. I am average user so don’t want too steep a learning curve and prefer to use pc to do work rather than working on the OS more than I have too, some work is always needed IMO. I like zen because it gives me slack like feel but with a bit more automation (or should I say with automation since slack does little by default which is often good but sometimes long winded setups ensue).

Slack is solid and nice but whenever an issue arose it took me days to sort sometimes, not being a power user and all. However it does what it is supposed to and expected of it, and does it well. If you are willing to invest a moderate amount of time to get going and to setup new stuff it makes for a sexy box. For desktopuser I’d rate more than adequate but can be longwinded as requires learning the extensive way rather than quick fix. I hear it’s nice for servers etc but have no experience of that. Failing that, sacrifice some of the learning and automate things a little (but not too much) and zen is perfect. It seems more geared to desktop user appeal (that’s me). It’s fast too.

I find Ubuntu and all the other common distros aimed at desktop users often automate too much and bundle too many things you will never use or too many apps that perform same function. The result is your machine isn’t tweaked to get the best out of it and things can get complicated and messy, especially when problems arise.

For want of better analogy tailoring all your shirts from scratch might be awkward (although when done well it’s the best way) so selecting from multisized selection by matching chest, sleeve, collar etc etc is next best thing and is always a better fit than a 1 size fits all. Too many distros aimed at desktop user take the 1 size to fit all approach, what you get is an ill fitting OS. Fact of computer user life is you need to learn something to get a smooth machine. EVERYONE should learn some cli, MS/unix users alike. I’m not elitist/purist at all and consider myself between n00b to average user (most people think they know it and don’t know jack, I admit I know sweet FA). Command line sometimes gets what you need done quicker and easier without the messing and helps you actually see whats going on. It’s not hard learning to write the odd config yourself, or type a command into console (especially since most apps have –help to HELP YOU!).

I seriously love the move to open linux up to everyone and think the more the merrier, yet people need to be aware that you need to learn something to get your machine to be one tasty box of tricks. I am sick of the “I tried **** distro and it didn’t work automatically without me doing anything so I conclude it’s crap”, sad fact is with minimum user input it would suit you better perhaps. Would you send your new TV back because although potentially better than your old one it has a different remote control that requires a little time to learn about operation (prob less than time than taken to read my unintentionally long rant, sorry!)?

[...] Linux Distribution Comparison [...]

[...] Ubuntu vs. Debian [...]

OpenBSD’s SMP supports macppc, i386, amd64, sparc and sparc64 ports.

[...] informazioni presenti in questa pagina sono una copia dei dati presi dalla Linux/BSD pagina di confronto fra le distribuzioni di PolishLinux.org. Perfavore ritenetevi liberi di tradurre l’attuale contenuto o persino di scrivere informazioni [...]

You should update and correct many things in the OpenSUSE review.

[...] information on this page is a direct copy of the data from the Linux/BSD Distribution Comparison page on PolishLinux.org. Please feel free to edit the current content and provide better, more up-to-date information about [...]

[...] Desktop Comparer can be found here. [...]

i vote for Mandriva instead of Ubuntu in so many ways…

[...] information on this page is a direct copy of the data from the Linux/BSD Distribution Comparison page on PolishLinux.org. Please feel free to edit the current content and provide better, more up-to-date information about [...]

I like slackware , Fedora , Ubuntu , With Gnome and some Eye candy will be good
Thanks for this great compare and u have a nice day

[...] Compare features of top GNU/Linux distros — the interactive distro comparison [...]

Strange, on this page https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/serverguide/C/apparmor.html it’s saying that App Armour is coming loaded and installed by default. I will check it out to convince myself who’s gonna be correct

[...] information on this page is a direct copy of the data from the Linux/BSD Distribution Comparison page on PolishLinux.org. Please feel free to edit the current content and provide better, more up-to-date information about [...]

Very helpful article! So… I previously worked with ubuntu 8.0.4 and now… I have both on my computer!

I just wanted to mention that the info for Debian is very, very out of date.

Thanks for this!
Helped me very much on using and installing gentoo and netbsd! The links were very helpfull and speeded installations up

[...] information on this page is a direct copy of the data from the Linux/BSD Distribution Comparison page on PolishLinux.org. Please feel free to edit the current content and provide better, more up-to-date information about [...]

Too bad Gentoo falsely boasts a Dreamcast distribution. It seems the people who do Gentoo do not know how to make Gentoo work like others did with Red Hat, Ubuntu and Debian. Gentoo can’t be all that good.

[...] http://polishlinux.org/choose/comparison/ [...]

[...] information on this page is a direct copy of the data from the Linux/BSD Distribution Comparison page on PolishLinux.org. Please feel free to edit the current content and provide better, more up-to-date information about [...]

Please update this board. It is an awesome tool to review and compare Linux but it is out dated.

PLEASE - I need to decide between Xandros 3 pro and Ubuntu 9 on an ASUS EEE PC 1000HE…I already know the data above is OLD!

I’ve been using linux virtually everyday for over 10 years. I’ve used a lot of distros over that time including Slackware, Red Hat(Fedora), Free BSD, Mandriva(Mandrake), Debian, SuSE, and others. I always come back to Mandriva, though. I generally run it in console mode and have little to no problems accomplishing what I want to do; and isn’t that the point? I briefly tried Ubuntu and found it similar to versions I had already tried. It was ok, but overall I was left unimpressed. I like Mandriva’s ease of use and very UN-Windows like behavior ( i.e. it does what I want it to do the first time ). I like having MCC in both X and console modes. I love the third party and propietary compatibility right out of the box. Mandriva recognized my NVIDIA card, wireless network, sound card, and *all* my other hardware right out of the box. No searching for drivers. The Plug-n-play support is phenomenal. Hell, it even recognizes my iPod and Logitech game controller (Open Arena anyone?).

To all the Gentoo fanboys (and fangirls) out there, all I have to say is this: Shave the caveman uni-brow, drop the club and get with the times. I can point and click my way (even in console mode) and get things done a helluva lot faster, more efficiently, and better than you can with all your hand-cramping typing out everything. I can use the same console commands you can and then some. My box is more secure than yours. My box is faster than yours. Gentoo is outdated and out-classed by nearly every other distro out there, except maybe Slackware. It’s the 21st century. Did you miss the memo on that?

This page needs to be updated.

[...] comparateur d’OS libres sur polishLinux, avec ici FreeBSD vs [...]

Fedora really smashed gentoo ……i like fedora so much i would give it an A+

didnt try gentoo though ….i have heard its quite good

Openbsd is the greatest of the all

Very interesting tool!!! I just compared ArchLinux vs PCLinuxOS both OSs have the same scor in System Responsiveness (7). AFAIK, ArchLinux is known as the fastest binary distro. Is PCLinuxOS in the same league?

Would be useful to se more distros (Slax, Wolvix, Mepis, etc.) in this tool.