It’s 2017... which distros work consistently out of the box?

Discussion in 'all things UNIX' started by mattdocs12345, Nov 2, 2017.

  1. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    I think the problem is with OEM's and compatibility. Virtually all hardware is deliberately Microsoft compatible, I'm not so sure about Linux. Some OEM's have dedicated compatible hardware. A variety of Lenovo laptops are intended to work with Ubuntu for example.
     
  2. Secondmineboy

    Secondmineboy Registered Member

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    Personally i really like Linux Mint, also a work colleague of mine just switched to it (Cinnamon Edition) and he likes it so far.

    My father prefers SUSE but his Linux days are long over.
     
  3. The Red Moon

    The Red Moon Registered Member

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    i havent had any issues with linux lite.
     
  4. mattdocs12345

    mattdocs12345 Registered Member

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    I was thinking about that.
     
  5. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    USA still the best. But barely.
    Excellent distro. Booting off an SDcard on my Lenovo X201 Thinkpad & everything is aces ootb.
     
  6. linuxforall

    linuxforall Registered Member

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    Ubuntu LTS edition and of course any Arch based as they have latest kernel to accommodate latest hardware. Antergos is very good, so is Manjaro and of course plain Arch.
     
  7. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    Exactly my experience. Ubuntu can and have been very rough throughout the years. 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016 (years I've used it) are examples, and the LTS ("Stable") releases don't escape this either. While Ubuntu had game-braking bugs in these years, Mint always removed a lot of them.
    IMO Mint receives more attention to the usability and how things work, they used to fix quite a lot of problems with Ubuntu (but also they had their own) although nothing as trivial as not installing the kernel headers along with NVIDIA drivers, a stupidity found in Ubuntu 12.10 which was removed from Mint X (whatever was the equivalent version).

    Debian is nice these years too, I've been using Stretch for my game development and can't complain in a single subject regarding stability, how things work, etc, and I'm a very experienced and seasoned user who likes to mess with the OS as much as possible.
     
  8. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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    This is exactly my experience over the past many years too... Very good.
     
  9. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

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    I would agree with that as it is what we use for work. For play I would not, it takes a lot of tweaking to get it to where it needs to be.
     
  10. pcalvert

    pcalvert Registered Member

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    Debian will never fix that because nothing is broken -- it's that way by design. The official ISOs do not contain any non-free (i.e., proprietary) firmware. However, there are alternative ISO files available that do include non-free firmware.

    Here's a link:
    Unofficial non-free images including firmware packages
     
  11. fblais

    fblais Registered Member

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    Thanks a lot!
    I'm presently unable to install Debian because my wifi adapter is not supported without the non-free firmware.
     
  12. RockLobster

    RockLobster Registered Member

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    I know that is their policy, but when you install the standard Debian distro it has a checkbox "include non free". Even when you check that box it STILL won't install the non free WiFi drivers.
     
  13. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    That checkbox simply enables the non free repositories. It won't install automatically packages from there (only exception are the gpu drivers); not even amd and intel cpu firmware packages are download by default. Use synaptic and search "non free driver" or the manufacturer oname of the driver that you want and you'll be able to install the drivers that you need.

    As for the the non-free images, I wonder if they ever test them before releasing them... most of the time their installer and local non free repository are buggy as hell.

    Panagiotis
     
  14. pcalvert

    pcalvert Registered Member

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    You need a working internet connection for that to work. Since the driver(s) you need are not on the disc, the installer needs to download the package(s) from a Debian repository. In case someone reading this just installed Debian and encountered this problem, there's a possible solution.

    Go here: Debian -- Package Search Results -- wireless firmware
    Find the package that you need, download it, and then install it manually.
     
  15. mattdocs12345

    mattdocs12345 Registered Member

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    I understand that each Linux distribution has it's own culture and I know Debian is supposed to be for those with more advanced knowledge... But this is really annoying.
     
  16. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Honestly, I don't understand why you try Debian instead of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is based off Debian and has all non-free things built-in, so you just install and play. Why go for Debian and then complain its lack of non-free stuff?
     
  17. fblais

    fblais Registered Member

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    Tried the special debian distro with added non-free firmware but it didn’t work better...
    So I’m back with Mint. :)
     
  18. raymorris

    raymorris Registered Member

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    Someone mentioned Fedora. Fedora is explicitly NOT stable; it's cutting edge, trying out new stuff.

    If something works well in Fedora for a year or two, it may be added to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. For stable and reliable, you want Red Hat or it's debranded free clone, CentOs, not Fedora.

    Because the Fedora / Red Hat / CentOS system deliberately separates the hottest new stuff (Fedora) from the stable, reliable stuff (Red Hat / CentOS), the Red Hat and CentOS distributions are stable and reliable.

    Your request is, however, a bit contradictory depending on the hardware. For new types hardware that just came out this month, a stable distro may not have driver support. It will have solid, time-tested support for well-established hardware. So to some extent you have to decide - do you want support for the newest proprietary hardware, or do you want stable and reliable? If the manufacturer doesn't provide Linux drivers, new
    reverse-engineered drivers won't be stable and reliable - they'll be new and experimental.
     
  19. fblais

    fblais Registered Member

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    Scientific Linux is another distro quite similar to CentOS.
    They're like cousins, or maybe even brothers. :)
     
  20. mattdocs12345

    mattdocs12345 Registered Member

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    I don't disagree. More like rant but you are 100% correct.
     
  21. summerheat

    summerheat Registered Member

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    Because there might be other aspects worth considering?
     
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