Your Favorite

[cajunman4life]

Hey guys, I'm asking the one question that probably gets asked far too often. What is your favorite OS (or distro if applicable) and why? Tell me what other ones you have tried and why you weren't too fond of them as well. I'm the curious type... I'll start it off.

 

I'm not a huge zealot, I believe in using the right tool for the job. I've used Solaris on servers before, and while I really like it, I like Linux on the servers better. My current favorite distro is Gentoo, but I've used Debian, Fedora, RHEL and even Mandrake. I still like Debian, as well as Fedora and RHEL, but I wasn't impressed with Mandrake (used it about 6 years ago so I'm sure it's improved since then). I'm also a big FreeBSD nut.

 

I'm starting to use Linux on the desktop more too. However, what currently resides on my (laptop) is Windows XP Home. I would say the main reason it's still there is because I'm too lazy (and admittedly a bit scared) to try Linux on my laptop. Plus, I use CoffeeCup HTML Editor, and while they used to have a Linux version, they don't anymore (anyone tried it in Wine? Don't wanna install it on one of my servers to find out).

 

I think that about sums it up. Now let me know your favorites!

[Guest Serpentine]

FreeBSD has to be my favorite. Mostly for the stability and because I dont have to bother with patching my system every few days. It does seem to take forever to install some software though but I just switch to my other computer while it works.

 

My other computer is my gaming rig and I run Win2K on it. Some games run better on it than on BSD so I keep it. I wont upgrade because I am too cheap.

[borfast]

Linux (and probably Mac OS X, when I get to try it ).

 

I've tried Debian, Red Hat, Mandrake, Fedora, Ubuntu, Linspire, Xandros.

 

Fedora is still my favorite but it's currently fighting Ubuntu for the throne. Actually, I think Ubuntu would easily win if it weren't for the lack of updates to some packages and my lack of memory to remember how to configure certain things by hand (blame those GUI configuration tools from Fedora ).

[cajunman4life]

Linux (and probably Mac OS X, when I get to try it ).

 

I've tried Debian, Red Hat, Mandrake, Fedora, Ubuntu, Linspire, Xandros.

 

Fedora is still my favorite but it's currently fighting Ubuntu for the throne. Actually, I think Ubuntu would easily win if it weren't for the lack of updates to some packages and my lack of memory to remember how to configure certain things by hand (blame those GUI configuration tools from Fedora ).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

lol that'll do it... you've been "gooied"! You know I forgot to mention OS X. I really like it too. In fact, OS X and Solaris are the only "commercial" UNIX that I like.

[cajunman4life]

FreeBSD has to be my favorite.  Mostly for the stability and because I dont have to bother with patching my system every few days.  It does seem to take forever to install some software though but I just switch to my other computer while it works.

 

My other computer is my gaming rig and I run Win2K on it.  Some games run better on it than on BSD so I keep it.  I wont upgrade because I am too cheap.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

FreeBSD is what brought me back to Linux/UNIX. I got an old machine with FreeBSD that I made into a web server, and it's all history from there

[MikeJ]

I recently became an Ubuntu fan for the desktop. It's stable, well packaged, you can choose to have frequent updates or rock solid stability depending on your preference (just select the version you want, and if you want backports or not), and it largely "just works". I currently run it on my Dell XPS Gen2 laptop, which I use for work, personal, and even some gaming (including Windows games thanks to the power of wine... I currently have World of Warcraft running on here even). Some distros may be a little more flexible, but I wanted a good balance between flexible, stable, well supported and lack of overhead administering (it's my notebook I use every day all day, I can't afford long downtime due to misconfigured packages, driver conflicts, etc...).

 

For the last two years I had been using my PowerBook G4 with Mac OS X on it, but I finally made the leap on the desktop to the OS that I really like (Linux) and deal with on a daily basis on my servers.

 

I do have one machine at home running Windows XP Pro, but that's nothing more than a game console OS for me at this point.

 

I'm really a fan of all OS's though. I'm a firm believer each one has it's strengths, and always like trying new ones (I've used a large number of different OS's over my years, more than I can count).

[curtis]

Currently I have installed on my 3 main computers Debian on 1, Ubuntu on 1 and Win XP Pro on 1. I like all 3 but am finding myself using UBuntu more and more for every day use. I've also tried Red Hat, Xandros and Mandrake but I like Ubuntu better. Haven't tried Fedora yet but its on my list as well as FreeBSD.

Edited May 18, 2005 by curtis