Ubuntu and Slackware named top distros

Discussion in 'all things UNIX' started by linuxforall, Feb 16, 2012.

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  1. linuxforall

    linuxforall Registered Member

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    http://www.pcworld.com/businesscent...lackware_named_top_desktop_linux_distros.html

    Slackware Takes No. 2

    In the desktop Linux realm, the results were more thought-provoking.

    In particular, Ubuntu Linux won the desktop distribution of the year award with almost 22 percent of the votes, while Linux Mint was back in the No. 4 spot with just under 12 percent.

    Rather than Mint, the contender that won the No. 2 spot was none other than Slackware, which also garnered just under 22 percent of the votes. Slackware--listed down at No. 16 on DistroWatch--also took the No. 2 spot on the server side.

    Debian, meanwhile, ranked at No. 3 on the desktop with just over 13 percent.

    Results for the top desktop environment were also interesting: KDE took the top spot with just over 33 percent of the votes, followed by lightweight Xfce at No. 2 and GNOME Shell at No. 3.

    You can check out the overall summary of the winners as well as a detailed breakdown by category on the LinuxQuestions.org site.


    Surprise here is Slackware but its another sadly overlooked distro that just works outta the box and works fast.
     
  2. vasa1

    vasa1 Registered Member

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    As you pointed out somewhere else, it's possible that, no matter how good a distro is, there may be reluctance to use it if it's from a "small" team.
     
  3. linuxforall

    linuxforall Registered Member

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    Very true Vasa and sadly, people are missing out on real goodies like Slackware and Chakra.
     
  4. tlu

    tlu Guest

    But, linuxforall, a "small" team is, IMHO, indeed an aspect which should be taken into consideration if you consider your decision for a distro as a "long-term investment". Even if a distro is "really good" you need a team with a minimum size in order to ensure organizational stability and to overcome problems like vacation replacements, sick leaves and expectations of your spouse ;). I think a good maintenance of a distro can only be done as a full-time job by at least some of the team members. It's difficult for a small team to achieve that.

    But hey - distro hoppers might not be concerned about these aspects at all :D
     
  5. linuxforall

    linuxforall Registered Member

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    tlu, you do raise a valid point there, this is the reason when I deploy or recommend linux to others, its strictly Ubuntu and only LTS flavor and nothing else. Having said that, a distro is relatively safe when it uses the latest packages, this is where Chakra, PCLOS, LMDE which are semi rolling release model come in to shine. It puts the latest and greatest at your disposal without the inconvenience of re-install and yet you are relatively safe unlike total rolling release distros.
     
  6. addi6584

    addi6584 Registered Member

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    the small team argument is total bs

    any sys admin updates applications as needed directly from the developer and does not rely on the distro to distribute the updates. this is why mailing lists such as bigtraq exist to stay on top of vulnerabilities.

    while ubuntu has made enormous strides making linux usable by total idiots, admins do not sudo apt-get install

    they compile from source ;)

    and source has nothing to do with your distribution of choice. linux is linux is linux if anything distros lead by large teams like ubuntu have made basic tasks such as recompiling the kernel a 98234758947584 step process which in reality it isn't....

    so much for large teams.

    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Kernel/Compile wtf is all this!?!?!?

    make menuconfig
    make bzImage
    make modules
    make modules_install

    DONE!

    hell even the README in 3.2.6 is only:
    and that even has optional syntax lol

    openbsd is maintained by 1 guy too and that has a larger user base than slackware. but if you really want to learn linux, you learn in on slackware. no surprise its the #2 distro.
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2012
  7. linuxforall

    linuxforall Registered Member

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    And who makes the critical wise decisions leaving and adding modules out, certainly not John Q. Public who don't have the foggiest what IRQ balancing stands for or r6.
     
  8. addi6584

    addi6584 Registered Member

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    they should go back to wintendo
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2012
  9. linuxforall

    linuxforall Registered Member

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    Ibdy Ibdy Ibdy........Dats All Folks............

    <1% market share, thats the reason why.
     
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