Ubuntu alternatives?

A lot of discussion is going on about Unity. I don't like it, neither do many other users - although one should concede that it will surely mature over time. Gnome 3 isn't really my scene either - and Gnome 2 won't be developed any further, will it? Thus, any Gnome based distro will have to switch to Gnome 3 (among them Mint and Mint Debian). Another aspect: I need a distro with a new kernel 2.6.38 as I'm planning to buy new hardware (Sandy Bridge CPU, SSD) in a couple of weeks. That's why I think distros like CentOS or Scientific Linux do not qualify. So what are the alternatives?

Kubuntu had been seen as kind of an Ubuntu stepchild in the past. But from all what I've read, 11.04 with KDE 4.6.2 is running very well (and I can confirm that as I tried it in a Virtualbox VM - really very nice). And AFAIR Kubuntu Lucid was the first Kubuntu LTS version. I think this speaks for the fact that Kubuntu should be taken more seriously than in the past. - The KDE version of Mint also comes to my mind. In the past - after trying out Mint - I had always gone back to the "original", though.

If you like KDE, OpenSuse would be a good alternative. Mrk was rather excited about 11.4. I had used 11.2 but went back to Ubuntu after a while. I found the OpenSuse package management a little bit weird and slow - but that seems to have changed in the meantime. (Nevertheless, I prefer to stay in the Debian family unless someone convinces me otherwise.)

Fedora has some fans here and it also comes with KDE. But it has its problems according to Mrk's sceptical review. And Fusion Linux?

What about Xubuntu or Lubuntu? I've never tried them, but I've installed the Xfce version of Mint Debian in a VM. I have to look deeper into it.

What other alternatives come to your mind? What other thoughts or proposals do you have?

 

Once existing Ubuntu installs age, I'm going to replace them with Mint.
I think you have some two more years before you need to make any critical decision.
Gnome 2 will be around while LTS is around, so that's my choice for the time being.
Mrk

 

Yes, that's true - I forgot that aspect. But what do you think about Kubuntu? You reviewed v. 9.10 - will you also 11.04?

 

tlu,
You could do worse than Scientific Linux SL6. I am very happy with it and am considering elevating it to main distro status once Lucid is retirement age.

http://scientificlinuxforum.org/

https://www.scientificlinux.org/

They have a new but helpful forum. Sure getting some of the packages might be a little inconvenient, but you can still get what you want eg. Firefox 4. Some packages are not quite so recent but you have a stability bonus. Take a look - there is a Live CD also.

Another candidate for eventual Ubuntu replacement would be another rolling release viz.
Linux Mint Debian. I was very impressed with the Live CD and am mulling over whether or not to install over my U. Maverick.

 

I probably should test Kubuntu

And Gnome 2 will be around much longer, as long as RHEL6 and SLES11 are supported, so you have a handful of years ahead, something like five or so.

Regards,
Mrk

 

Ocky, I'm convinced that SL6 is a very good and stable distro. But as mentioned in my first posting, I'm planning to buy pretty new hardware, and I sincerely doubt that kernel 2.6.32 fully supports the SandyBridge CPUs. And AFAIK trim support for SSDs was introduced only in kernel 2.6.33. That's why I want a distro with a new kernel.

Yes, I'm testing the Xfce version right now.

 

I have used LUbuntu for awhile, and it is a stable GUI, but not as full featured as Gnome or KDE (on purpose though).

 

Please! ATM, Kubuntu is my favourite candidate.

Right. But as I said, I prefer to stay in the Debian family, and I'm not sure if the next version of Mint will still stick to Gnome 2.

BTW: Some sideswipes at Mint: They have their own problems. I remember problems with fsck which often prevented a clean boot process. Although solved in Ubuntu after a couple of days, Mint users were affected by this for several months.
Another thing I can't understand: For the 64bit version of Mint 11 the Flash Square version is installed. But the last update for Square was in December - that means it's full of security leaks discovered since then and fixed in the 32bit version. IMO it's irresponsible to install it by default in Mint 11 64bit.
That's 2 examples which make me doubt if all these changes compared to Ubuntu are always well founded.

 

well i go for open suse 11.4 64 bit kde or fedora 15 64 bit kde as kde 4.6 are pretty stable now

or maybe gnome i go linux mint debian


xfce is great but give you old xp kinda look but in performance its very fast as compare to gnome and if you have a good hardware and 64 bit xfce you feel like mini super computer



as for Lubuntu its made for old hardware with less ram ....etc you never get a benefit of installing it on a good hardware machine

as far stability you cannot judge stability of a distro on one machine may be works for best for me and it may be unstable for you

honestly speaking i being using fedora base distro since core 2 a long time and after fedora 10 they are pretty stable and default choice for me.

 

Me, too. OTOH, I am *really* enjoying Pardus 2011. Speedy. Stable. Moreover, the Proxomitron works really well via Wine. Pardus is my Ubuntu replacement.

Hint: I upgraded to the devel version of Pardus and it effectively eliminated the only issue I experienced with this new KDE desktop.

 

Yes, with the new hardware I'm planning to buy performance should not really be an issue.

Quite frankly, I've never tested it. Perhaps I should do it now. But again, I prefer a Debian derivative.

 

Yes, Mrk's review was quite good. On the other hand, Kubuntu is running very stable in my Virtualbox VM - and it's a Debian derivative (sorry, I'm repeating myself). Besides, what I really like is the fact that via ppa's (like the xorg-edgers) they offer bleeding edge package versions that might be necessary for my new hardware (considering various reports on Phoronix). I'm not sure if other distros offer that, too.

 

for kde please consider all kde 4.6 + and above they all run great after kde 4.6 it again become pretty much stable and great and gnome alternative

for xfce i like mint xfce then xubuntu also new one xfce is based on debian rolling

next i am one going to try is mandriva linux 2011

tested paradus but live dvd dont have feature to install software and test them and i dont want to download all that again and install a distro just to check how good it is

 

Use Arch Linux !

 

You can't go wrong with Linux Mint or OpenSUSE. Both distro's have a large community behind it to help you if you encounter any problems. I would avoid Fedora, in my experience it's (very) unstable.

 

now that I don't need to play games on Windows... I will be switching back to Linux again...

starting with Kubuntu (downloading right now.)

 

Debian Wheezy (aka Debian Testing) runs kernel 2.6.38 and Gnome 2.30.2
I'm pleased with the font rendering (took the ubuntu fontconfig and assembled a /etc/fonts/local.conf based on significant settings.
Perhaps another option is Debian Squeeze (Debian Stable) with a custom 2.6.38 kernel?

 

Lubuntu is now a Canonical distribution.

Dedoimedo complained in the past about XFCE not doing Samba shares. He'll find its been fixed with 4.8 - which is in Natty Xubuntu 11.04

And now you can edit the menu with alacarte according to FreeDesktop standards.

 

I've never tried it (but I will). From what I've read I'm afraid that it might be too ... well .. archaic for me

 

But I'm afraid that they will also move to Gnome 3 before long. I could chose the other flavours (KDE, Xfce) but I'm not sure if that makes sense compared to K|Xubuntu - see my crtical remarks in post #8.

Yes, that would be a good alternative although I prefer a Debian based distro.

I agree. I installed Fedora 15 yesterday in a Virtualbox VM and had 2 freezes. Not convincing

 

Go with wilbertnl's suggestion http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1604
It's the architecture you are looking for. I am also considering it.
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/linux-mint-debian.html

 

I must admit that my experience of Debian is limited. I have the impression that with Debian you have the choice between a rock solid distro with old packages or a distro with newer packages at the price of potential instability. I might be wrong - but Ubuntu seems to be a good compromise between stability and timeliness. And adding, e.g., newer graphics drivers is easy with the proper ppa without sacrificing too much stability.

 

Thanks. I might test this variant, too.

 

Yes, I'm testing the Xfce variant right now.

 

linux mint debian would be great choice you can also consider kubuntu or open suse as second kde distro

you get one more vote for linux mint debian

best is what you feel comfy with go with it )