We all know the big Linux players: RHEL/Fedora, Mandrake, SuSE, Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, Ubuntu, Linspire, Xandros, Lycoris, YDL, TurboLinux etc. But what about these still-small but promising distros? Come in and vote for which one you think is the most promising of all.Note 1: You will need javascript to vote or view the poll.
Note 2: No LiveCDs or special-purpose distros (e.g. routers, firewalls) have a place on this poll. The question is about normal desktops/workstations.
Note 3: Please keep the poll fair.
Poll: Most Promising Generic Linux Distro?
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
I use a generic distro (Debian), but don’t have clue about lesser utilized distros. I guess option one really should read “I don’t use/know lesser utilized distros”. Whatever… poll is poll.
Hi,
I vote cAos, but that might be because I’m a developer on it, but I also just think its nice cause it’s fast (no, you dont compile it yourself), its stable and it is well supported.
Check out http://www.caosity.org for more info.
btw Eugenia, a real poll aint that hard to make right? 😉
Debian is not that generic actually. It has lots of debian-specific quirks and utilities and it’s a well-known distro. The term generic in the poll seems to mostly mean “lesser utilized” as you said. But that term is kind of weird.
Why is Mepis (an installable Live-CD) listed but not PCLinuxOS?
I would have to say that Arch is my fav. It’s everything I love about Slackware plus an awesome package manager (which is kept simple as well).
up2date and simple. Love it.
Well, if you put it this way, you are right. But then only LFS and somesuch would be really generic. What i meant was more like “generic means all-purpose”.
Agree?
Because the *primary* usage of Mepis is to get installed, not to just run as a LiveCD. If it was primarily a LiveCD, like knoppix or pclinuxos, it would not get listed either.
None, I’have tried several distros and I’m disappointed.
My worth experience, Ubuntu 4.10. It has destroyed the
geometry of my hd. Has anybody suffered from this?
What should I do now?
I’ll have to go with Vida. Although I run a vanilla Gentoo install, Vida is great when I want to recommend a distro since it’s fundamentally Gentoo (= I can be tech support) with the wonders of portage, but without the high barrier of entry. As was touched on in Richard Spindler’s usability article (or was it an insightful comment on it?) the ability for different users to choose the interface they want to the core system is a good thing and Vida does this very well for neophytes wanting the power of portage. Aside from that, it’s a good example of Gentoo’s “Meta-Distribution” philosophy, since it shows someone can put a nice shell on it without jeopardizing its inner workings.
I voted for Mepis and I think the only thing Mepis lacks is some polish like Ubuntu has. Unfortunately, if Kubuntu guys wake up and produce something as polished as Ubuntu with Gnome, Mepis will fall then. Anyways, Mepis is a one man work, Kubuntu has many devs.
One thing I am sure of, Mepis has the best installer in Linux world!
Tell me this. Why don’t all the linux distributions and other operating system developers get together and pressure these hardware makers into handing over technical specs.
I think it would make a world of difference if X windows would be as compatible as Windows.
I have problems with Linux everytime because some hardware doesn’t work like modems or something else(graphics,sound).
This team along with ease of use is a problem for linux.
I wonder if Microsoft has some covert deal with these guys to keep competitors away.
Someone want to explain to me what is meant by a “generic distro”?
How exactly is Buffalo or Vine a “generic” distro?
If you want to run a free RHEL 3/4 “rebuild” I would say CentOS is great
I voted Damn Small because there are lots of old machines with limited ram and speed.
Vidalinux of course. It has a lot of potential, just look at it’s reviews! 5/5 in all categories @ madpenguin, an only positive blog review (sorry, don’t remember where) and a mostly positive Linux.com review! Only good reviews!
Why is Mepis listed as an option? It is, according to distrowatch, the fourth most used distro.
Ubuntu is probably destined for the biggest boost. Deb based, ppc-friendly, uber-free…
The primary usage of PCLinuxOS is also to get installed.
I voted for Damn Small Linux. Its got lots of potential, but maybe I just favor it more than the others because I usually use linux on an older machine.
That ranking on distrowatch is only page hits. It’s essentially meaningless with regards to how many people actually use a distribution. Mepis is definitely not the 4th most used distribution.
That said, I use stock Debian with a few added repositories for specific packages. I ended the whole try a new distro every week phase a few years ago. Debian is great for people who’s primary concern is using a stable distro as opposed to tinkering with the latest packages.
First I think the poll is kinda dumb. A lot of distro’s listed as established and not eligible are hardly known by most Linuz Users (ie. Ubuntu).
I saw someone say VidaLinux is the answer cuz it gets good reviews. Vidalinux is just Gentoo. Period. Unless your a Gentoo user who doesn’t like the install routine you won’t run it. It has nothing else to offer.
I think the poll, to be fair, should include distro’s off the beaten path (ie. Other than the corporate desktops Red Hat, SUSE and Mandrake). All other distro’s are in the “other” group in the corporate world. Actually Mandrake wouldn’t even be there to be honest.. but…
I voted for Arch. I still find package management to be the crux of all linux systems. I love portage but compiling everything is not realistic for a desktop system where installing and uninstalling is a common task. I loathe rpm distros. Apt-get is close but still a far cry from what I want from a package manager. Arch’s pacman though is incredible, especially for how young it is. I imagine it will mature into a very powerful program that hopefully other distros will pickup.
Yep I voted Vidalinux, as it made the world of Gentoo accessible to a complete noob like me.
Don’t slight the new dog on the block..Puppy Linux which has the slight edge of running in RAM and lets one use the CD after booting. Great for small RAM users and can use multi-session CD as well. Firefox and Opera versions!
I enjoy archlinux and its pacman but do appreciate LiveCD’s such as PCLinuxOS and Knoppix as well.
“Vidalinux is just Gentoo. Period. Unless your a Gentoo user who doesn’t like the install routine you won’t run it. It has nothing else to offer.”
An easy installer and nice fuzzy gnome setup is a _lot_ to offer imho. Sure, long time Gentoo users will use it, but they won’t be the only ones. I’ve recommended it to many that would otherwise have gone for Fedora et al, but have instead been able to make use of portage, etc, due to the reduced barrier of entry. Those I know that have run Vida have come across minimal problems, certainly fewer than I did with a Stage 2 Gentoo install, because it provides what everyone pines for with regards to Linux – a configuration that _just_works_. And better still, as you progress up the learning curve, nothing is closed off to you, it’s still good old Gentoo under the hood.
I voted for Yoper, I even dumped FreeBSD for it. Ah
VidaLinux has the potential.
Definitely is a bright up-and-comer. It’s both a live-cd and installable. It uses Synaptic apt-get manager along with a repository filled with many many popular software packages. It also has all the plug-ins and codecs you need to enjoy the internet and multimedia (everything just works).
PCLOS is the best desktop experience I have found. In fact, I reboot into PCLOS when I’m in WinXP to watch videos and listen to music since no matter what combination of codecs was used to encode media, PCLOS has not failed to play them all.
If you want a simple, rock solid, easy to install and maintain distro for use as a home or small business server, it’s hard to beat SME Server. It can serve as an all-in-one firewall, web, mail, file/print server, NT style domain controller, etc. It is fully administered through a web based interface and can be setup . I’ve been using it for years as my home server and it’s a great alternative to something like MS Small Business Server. You can find out more at http://www.contribs.org.
Libranet all the way!
Dave
Nuff said. Precompiled Linux distributions are for grandmas and tools.
As other commenters have asked, why is Mepis included in the lineup? Since Mepis is included, I don’t see why my favorite distro, Kanotix, isn’t included. Not only is it an excellent livecd but also a superb distro to install to hd (that is the way I use it primarily). With a little bit of visual tweaking it makes the finest distribution I’ve ever used.
Arch isn’t bad either.
Mepis is useless! (Ok, maybe not useless but not nearly as good/useful as Kanotix).
Tried Yoper.. horrible install program installer.. the cd installer is bad too. when it goes to install there is no notification that it’s doing anything and at first I thought it had crashed.
Arch linux I couldn’t get to boot. figure if a cd installer can’t even write the fstab what’s the rest going to be like?
I’ve downloaded DSL but not tried it yet. perhaps I’ll go do that
the rest I’ve never tried or never heard of.
Arch, CentOS, Vida, DamnSmall, Vector….. too many to mention really – think they’re fairly well established and well known to most of us here
– each is maturing nicely and has a place.
agreed. And just wait till 3.0 comes out. The betas are rockin’.
VidaLinux has my vote. I wouldn’t even include MEPIS: anything in the top 10 hits from Distrowatch should have been excluded, IMHO.
Yes, Vida is Gentoo (mostly). So what? Mepis is just a tweaked debian, as are Xandros, Ubuntu, Libranet, Zen, and many others.
The difference is, Gentoo is a very popular distro, but suffers from a difficult (for me anyway) install. If I can do an end run around that, and get all the benefits of Gentoo, then that’s an important distrobution.
arch is still new and not quite as mature perhaps as some other distros that’s been on the block for years upon years.
It’s the distro i’ve been waiting for…. it takes the best of two worlds. simple package manager (miles ahead of apt-get) and a policy of k.i.s.s. from slackware.. no heavy GUI config tools like fedora, no extra addons/patches to already existing packages and the easiest way I’ve seen to create a native tgz package I’ve seen anywhere.. Not to mention that there isn’t a policy of waiting until next year to get the latest version of kde, gaim you simply type “pacman -Syu” and voila upto date system.
Morphix is missing in the list…
very nice even in its “alpha state” —-easy, to update, install, and configure, but still waiting for the new installer
I voted other as the distro I work on is not yet well known enough to make the list
http://www.symphonyos.com
I voted for Vida as well. After wiping out a Solaris 10 installation, I installed the x86_64 version of Vida. I have been using Gentoo before this but it was especially easy to install and get into the familiar Gentoo environment without too much hastle. There’s definitely a learning curve because it’s still Gentoo but it just easier to install.
If the Vector Linux team changed from being Slackware-based into being Arch-based, then THAT would be the fast, light-weight, smart and easy-to-use distro that I’d call really promising. But such a distro is yet to be made…
What does ‘promising’ mean? I mean, how can DSL ‘promise’ anything? It does its job, but doesn’t intend to get anywhere.
Because I hate ubuntus way of handling repositories (no firefox 1.0 on stable repositories!?), also i prefer kde and overall arklinux is pretty nice, for a linux distro that is.
If developers of ARCH Linux will continue with a good and relatively fast job, this distribution can be one of the main players in the TOP 10 Linux Distros in the near future – (in NON-GUI-CONFIGURABLE category of course)
is missing. Or do you consider it too mainstream to qualify?
I voted for Libranet, but that is definitely neither small nor in need of becoming well established.
I have been a longtime Slackware user, with visits to Suse and Redhat (seen also OpenLinux, Corel Linux and debian). I have grown tired of having to reinvent the wheel in order for my soundcard to work under Linux. So:
Which linux distro will detect and install drivers/modules and configure them in the modules.conf or whatever file, automatically?
Also, why is Knoppix not mentioned? I don’t know much about it, but I would have thought Knoppix defeinitely belongs to this list of distros.
… but my brain voted for CentOS. I think it makes sense for a lot of people to have a free enterprise linux which is nearly 100% RHEL.
My vote is for Knoppix. It’s not just a live CD. I have it installed on my hard drive and I used it to get a Debian system all set up.
“Which linux distro will detect and install drivers/modules and configure them in the modules.conf or whatever file, automatically?”
Kanotix, most definitely. No other distro beats it in hardware detection and configuration.
Which linux distro will detect and install drivers/modules and configure them in the modules.conf or whatever file, automatically?
Most of them. But when you have older hardware sometimes it can’t be automatically configured reliably.
The radeon script for Knoppix is bust at the moment though
Most distros do that for most sound cards, including two you tried already (SuSE and Fedora). The fact that this hasn’t worked suggests you have unsupported or hard to detect sound hardware. ISA cards, in particular, are tricky, as auto-detecting ISA cards can cause the system to lock up entirely. Most distros now no longer attempt to detect ISA cards as there’s so few still around that the danger of locking the system isn’t worth doing the detection. To give a definitive answer to the question, it’d really help to know what your sound hardware is.
Keep waiting! Ark has been in “alpha state” and waiting for the new installer since the the time of the dinosaurs.How difficult was taking Anaconda and modifying it (JAMD? Vidalinux? Progeny?…)
And it has caused a lot of people untold trouble. They make you believe that it is newbie friendly, but if anything goes wrong, it is alaways the same old story: “we told you that it was an alpha!” What a farce. If all linux distros were like that Microsoft would be laughing all the way.
“Morphix is missing in the list…”
When was the last time that Morphix released?
Onebase isn’t showing any sign of life whatsoever. It can’t even be downloaded:
http://www.ibiblio.org/onebase/onebaselinux.com/Community/phpBB2/vi…
Sorry for being in such a critical mood, but some distros bring Linux into disrepute.
Conectiva is now a big player because it was asquired by Mandrakelinux…
…since VectorLinux is based on Slackware, it gets my vote. VectorLinux has a lot of potential and one to keep a very close eye on!
you can nock ark but they arn’t using Anaconda, they are writing there own as they think it is crap. As for being “newbie friendly”, it does qualify as long as you arnt installing it alongs side other os’s. Me personally have had less trouble with it than any other distro.
No distro *promises* more than gnnix http://gnnix.org unless maybe LFS http://linuxfromscratch.org B-)
arch rocks! it will rock even more once we finish the x86_64 port!
“they arn’t using Anaconda, they are writing there own as they think it is crap.”
Anaconda is crap? It is the most ported installer and good enough for the enterprise. Was JAMD linux, which used Anaconda, crap? Never heard any complaints about JAMD linux, heard endless ones about Ark (and my own experience)
As to their own installer, it has been in the making for years. Oh well, they have plenty of time till the end of the world… (or maybe not?)
Nothing is worse than people whose arrogance is based on hot air.
“As for being “newbie friendly”, it does qualify as long as you arnt installing it alongs side other os’s.”
Most newbies *will* install alongside Windows.
Went to Arch. Ok not the easiest to setup but it’s fast, clean and pacman is the bees knees. Best package manager I’ve used. Still VidaLinux looks like a nice distro and for mainstream you have Ubuntu which is dummy proof or at least Hoary is.
The most promising for what? A desktop Os or a server Os or a specialty app. It all depends on the needs of the individual or company.
I used Source Mage 0.7.1 a while back. I loved it. It was by far the distro I wanted to use the most. Unfortunately, there were some minor flaws with sorcery that made it difficult to use. I’ve been trying to go back to it since, but every time I do something wrong happens: I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’ve downloaded at least a dozen ISOs and all of them seem to have some bugs… builds almost always fail on the system rebuilds. I really wish that this distro could get going again because… I loved it. And I’m really, really sick of Linux distributions today. Crux is annoying to set up, Arch is going all to Hell, Gentoo… ugh; Portage is the most annoying software I’ve ever used. If I could I’d be using a BSD, but with my multimedia (recording) needs, it just doesn’t work.
I guess what I’m trying to say is: I like Source Mage.
DamnSmallLinux is the best little distro for old hardware with everything you need in 50 meg. And if there is anything missing you really want just add it using MyDSL. 🙂
Hmm, googling didn’t help in finding a download for Libranet 3.0 beta. Can you upgrade to 3.0 beta through apt if you have 2.8.1 installed?
no you can’t, it’s not a public beta.
wow lets see this must be the 348234123412341234123412342343223 poll of this subject type and i go with ubuntu
Ubuntu is a big linux distro are you out of your mind. It just started and I was never successful in installing it on my amd64 machine. Just because Ubuntu sent free CD’s to people without high speed internet means nothing. I guess I am all for CenOS since this is the only distro that has stayed on my laptop for a long time.
Ubuntu is a big linux distro are you out of your mind. It just started and I was never successful in installing it on my amd64 machine. Just because Ubuntu sent free CD’s to people without high speed internet means nothing.
No, the free CDs mean a lot to many dial-up users.
Ubuntu is big time: it got community, momentum, and style. Sorry it didn’t work for you, but its a great distro for lots of other people. Distrowatch shows it to be the most popular distro for the last three months for a reason!
It is just a rebuild of RHEL, so whatever Red Hat does CentOS does with a few extras…
Like a lot of people, I did a bunch of distro hopping trying to find the perfect distro for me. I was a little intimidated to try Arch because I had only been running linux for 4 months and it claimed to be for competent users, but I took the plunge and every expectation has been met. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as it was made out to be.
It’s truly the perfect distro for me: i686 optimized so it’s fast, very lean (currently 250 packages for 1.3 gb), great package management system, wonderful community, and has a large number of available packages for the latest software updates. I can finally say that my search has ended. I highly recommend it anyone who doesn’t feel right with their current distro.
H3knix, its always fun watching a distro slowly mature.
Hi,
I am a Gentoo user and wanted to install it on my friends Laptop. However he never allowed me to make his laptop unusable for hours before he can work on it ( even a Gentoo install with Knoppix Live CD takes all resources and leaves a gittery desktop). VidaLinux came as a boon. Takes 20 min to install and we have a polished desktop. Use mirrorselect and I had A perfect Gentoo system. Best part about Vida is the precompiled packages it has. On Laptops this is a big help. Vida is not just for Gentoo users, it is also very good for newbies and people who want to enter the beautiful world of Gentoo without install troubles.
I use Ubuntu now, but I did come from Yoper. It is not that bad of distro, if they could just work out a few bugs here and there, it would be a very good distro. Very quick.
~Alan
After 10 years using every major and minor linux, VLOS is simply the best distro I have ever seen. I loved apt-get but after experiencing portage I am hooked. Ease of Fedora install, complete and awe inspiring power of gentoo and portage.
Slackware. It just keeps working the way I like it.
Here is an interesting site for Gentoo binary packages:
http://www.gen-ux.com
Also since there is so much talk about Vidalinux. Some reviews for those interested:
http://www.linuxtimes.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=83…
http://madpenguin.org/cms/html/47/3321.html
http://distrocenter.linux.com/article.pl?sid=05/01/14/0158217
My vote goes to Trustix (trustix.org) for combining a secure out of the box mentality with prompt security updates. Its RPM based but is easy to manage with swup.
My sister left her new laptop with me – and begged me to install Linux.
Which is a clever choice.
Just the other day a friend of hers phoned me to help her install dial-up on her Windows XP.
No firewall, no anti-virus.
Hence the huge army of zombies that plagues us, and the spam filling our inbox …
Back to the laptop:
Its a Intel Mobile Pentium M / Celeron Process
Wireless Lan 802.11g (oh dear)
ATi Mobility Radeon 64Mb (oh dear again)
I know for a fact that if I pick the wrong distro – I will regret the initial attempt. My worse fears is the wireless connection (which she doesn’t need just yet) and Ati graphics card.
I know laptops are not Linux friendly. I don’t know how Samsung scores.
I would put Yoper my favourite distro, but it is still not compatible with many laptops (at least my Toshiba) – so I won’t take chances.
Again anyone with a Samsung/ATI and knows of the best distro for it let me know.
Not Slackware or Debian, those are hard.
Gentoo could be an option though.
Mandrake is still behind with KDE 3.2, I want KDE 3.3.
I discovered Yoper six months ago after having used Mandrake for many years (and experimented many problems: KDE crashing every day, network config not saved, etc.).
I tried MEPIS, Gentoo, ArchLinux, but Yoper is really better: to install, update, have support (very active user forum) and… run.
“I don’t use/know lesser utilized distros”
i think the poll was indeed about lesser-utilized distros. but check out the 6% for DSL which makes me think the poll was interpreted in multiple ways by others.
Libranet — i’ve been looking at this distro lately and quite interested, compatible with apt-get, i need an easy to use distro for day to day use
Vector — small ISO (350 meg) i.e. good for dialup users, slack packages, decent but i feel i’ve outgrown it
Arch — crux derivative?, i686 optimized whatever that’s worth, pacman is a nice pac manager, i like it but it’s a pain to configure
Mepis — i’m tempted to try it
DSL — great for portable use and recovery, but not my daily distro
Crux — a good learning experience (i had to use RTFM!), not something i want for a daily distro
Onebase — i tried 3 source-based distros but skipped over this one, maybe next year
as the keymaker would say, always another distro.
I’m running x86_64 Ubuntu Hoary on my laptop. It’s my favorite so far. Debian with up to date packages for the win.
Michael
Vida Linux!as for the distrowatch rank is false!I think many is agree with me.so Mepis Linux cant be the 4th used distro in the world so the Mandrake!look at the distros history and then judge them like stability,speed,installed aplications and what it will give you after you install it?sure when we use as a live cd different matter then
Who says us “Hillbillies” can’t code!?
Go Warren! WVA & the World Loves Ya’ Buddy! Mepis #1…..skee-dattle ya’all!
Daemons @ Santa Fe ~Faithfully ACKnowledging our SYNs~
Hard to say,in my opinion the following are nominated:SuSE,Gentoo,Debian,Fedora,Ubuntu,Mandrake.
SuSE starts to run nice when you have a AMD64.
Installing Gentoo is a little more work,compiling takes a lot of time,however when everything is in place,it’s a stable and comfortable to use.Fedora lacks a good package manager,yum isn’t from the next area,you can’t expect from new users to edit yum.conf right away,or start hunting for packages on multiple sites,they should study carefully how Gentoo deals with it.The complete repository is displayed on their website.Ubuntu is an exellent beginner distro however there aren’t many Ubuntu packages so you have to borrow them from big brother Debian.Hard to notice any progress from Debian,while Gentoo and SuSE were ready for AMD64 light years ago Debians one is still in it’s early beta stage with only 2 mirrors.Some Fedora sites stopped maintaining x86_64 packages.Mandrake is very technically progressive ,easy to install/maintain yet has enough for more experienced users.SuSE harrasses it’s users with over cautious sabotazing everything that can play dvd packages.While other distros leave for eg:xine intact,SuSE makes it impossible to watch your bought dvd’s even when you have installed the proper codecs,this is unnecesary in my humble opinion,on the other hand when this isn’t an issue for you SuSE runs very smooth on a AMD64 and comes with a lot of propietary packages,and has th3e NX bit set by default ( for what it’s worth).
Unfortunately you can’t download Mandrake 10.1 x86_64 in order to test it.
I would say the most promising distros are both SuSE and Gentoo.
I’m curious if Vidalinux somehow restricts you from installing the software from the purchase version?
I would vote for ALT Linux.
It is a Russian distro with Debian and Mandrake roots.
Its plusses are: 2nd (to Debian) biggest oficial repository, apt-rpm as official distribution method, a lot of non-free packages, stable releases which are somewhat more fresh than debian’s.
I guess it is even may somehow fit non-Russian user who just needs all that packages like ms-fonts and mplayer and mp3 and so on out-of-the-box.
This linux shows a lot of promise, especially for noobs new to linux.
Come, ppl, seriously Beatrix is THE distro…Small, simple, elegant, fast ( Debian + Gnome – Bloat + Simplicity +Speed) – the best equation ever
Voted for Mepis but it’s a pity there was no option for GeeXboX
http://livecd.gnustep.org/
This is a complete system, that runs very nice and is refreshing, beautiful and efficient to work with. Its grounds designes well over ten years by experts. Today still used in Mac OS X (Cocoa).
Linux distros are not really able to put pressure on hardware manufacturers, the kernel devels do to some degree, helped by users sending in poll results and other means of expressing their needs, but I think the best way to make this happen is to only buy supported hardware, and telling the manufacturers you didnt buy from that they lost out on income.
I’ve used Puppy Linux for disk recovery, biut other than that I’m sticking to Ubuntu on the Linux side and FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Windows, and soon MacOS X.
Beatrix isn’t Debian it’s Ubuntu. I was going to try it until I found that out.
I cast my “Other” vote for GoboLinux.
Arch linux. Just great. Simple. Clean. Neat. Happy hours of cracking conf files. Package manager which’s a powerhorse.
As my officer in charge would say, “Arch is freakin’ great sh#t!!” (Note: he uses the word sh@t as a positive word.
)
By AdamW (IP: 204.209.209.—) – Posted on 2005-03-09 23:13:50
Most distros do that for most sound cards, including two you tried already (SuSE and Fedora). The fact that this hasn’t worked suggests you have unsupported or hard to detect sound hardware. ISA cards, in particular, are tricky, as auto-detecting ISA cards can cause the system to lock up entirely. Most distros now no longer attempt to detect ISA cards as there’s so few still around that the danger of locking the system isn’t worth doing the detection. To give a definitive answer to the question, it’d really help to know what your sound hardware is.
First of all, I never said I used Fedora. You are just assuming, and you know what happens when one ass-u-me-s.
The sound hardware that was not detected is not on an ISA bus:
On one computer I have an Audigy (PCI) and an oboard VIA AC96. On the other it’s an Aureal Vortex (PCI).
Anyway, I’ll try Kanotix as someone with constructive intentions, suggested.
“Ubuntu is big time: it got community, momentum, and style.”
Bullshit. Just because the Gnome lovers have congregated around it doesn’t make it a big time player, but quite obviously since our webmistress hates KDE, Mepis is somehow not in the same league even though it’s gotten rave reviews and is a popular distro, is easier to install than Ubuntu, etc. Gnome lovers just need to leave the 90s behind already.