Want to move away from ubuntu

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pwrusr

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I currently have Ubuntu 10.04 installed on my laptop but I have been wanting to move to something else. I don't want to say a hard core Linux geek kinda distro, but something better in a Linux sense then Ubuntu. I was thinking pure Debian, however there are a crap ton of choices out there that look cool.

I'll try 'em out in a VM on my main desktop so trying a few won't be a big deal.

In the end I'm looking for something fairly lightweight, ultra stable and has good support. I don't expect anything quite like Ubuntu kinda support, but it would be cool to find something close to that level of support and documentation. I personally know Debian the best thanks in part to Ubuntu. So again I'm leaning in that direction, but I'd love to try something a bit different as well. :cool:
 
I have recently moved away from Ubuntu, mostly due to UI issues that Unity has brought along and just overall spiral downwards for a while.

I've been on a Linux Mint Debian rolling distribution since then. It runs by default with Gnome 2.3. I have always been a Gnome user, so I'm happy with that.

It's not lightweight - I don't know of too many lightweight distros - and I honestly don't think there are any at this point in time. It is Debian testing, so stability can be somewhat debatable, but if you don't mind spending a few hours a month fixing stuff, then it shouldn't be a big deal.

Besides that, hmm... Arch Linux might be something you might want to consider. It has a great community (or at least used to, when I used it 2-3 years ago), is very stable and can be made lightweight if you choose so. It used to be a bit of a hassle to set up (read: it gives you a whole lot of freedom) but if you have been a *nix user for a few years you shouldn't have any problems.

My preference - it depends. I like the simplicity of Debian based distributions.

If, however, I want a workstation, I go for Gentoo.

If I want something in-between, Arch is a very reasonable choice.
 
Arch is not what I would consider "ultra stable" by any means. It's bleeding edge to the extreme.

I liked Linux Mint Debian Edition for a while, but they no longer update it. I think the developers moved their resources into standard Mint development, and to projects like Cinnamon for Gnome 3.

Light-weight and ultra stable makes me think of something based on Debian or Slackware. Xfce is also a good choice as a desktop environment. It's a lot like Gnome 2, but lighter. And it's still being developed unlike Gnome 2.

Consider:

1. Vector Linux. (Slackware-based)
2. Salix (Slackware-based)
3. Dream Linux (Debian Testing)
 
I moved to Arch from Ubuntu and will never go back. Performance, stability, choice are far, far better. The fact that you have near total control of what you want installed is a HUGE plus. People like to say that since its a bleeding edge distro, stability and compatibility will suffer but that is rarely the case. Arch is by far the most stable OS I've ever used and if there i a problem, its fixed within a day or two or you have the option to downgrade the problematic package until a fix is found.

My only regret is not using Arch sooner. I cannot recommend Arch enough.
 
Arch it is!
I've learned alot in the past hour or so of just installing it.

I'll check out the other options as well. I love virtual box :D
 
Excellent! You won't regret it. If you do have an issue that isn't addressed in the wiki(not likely), feel free to PM me
 
Well I can't get it to start x in virtual box... a bit of googleing lead me to install virtualbox-archlinux-addionals. Still no go. I think this will be a project for another day and I'll install arch on my laptop to see how I like it :)

I'm going to go toy with gentoo in vbox now just to see how that works :D
 
Is that a known virtualbox issue or id there another error? Usually, when X won't start its because dbus hasn't be installed or started.
 
Ion Silverbolt said:
Arch is not what I would consider "ultra stable" by any means. It's bleeding edge to the extreme.

I liked Linux Mint Debian Edition for a while, but they no longer update it. I think the developers moved their resources into standard Mint development, and to projects like Cinnamon for Gnome 3.

Light-weight and ultra stable makes me think of something based on Debian or Slackware. Xfce is also a good choice as a desktop environment. It's a lot like Gnome 2, but lighter. And it's still being developed unlike Gnome 2.

Consider:

1. Vector Linux. (Slackware-based)
2. Salix (Slackware-based)
3. Dream Linux (Debian Testing)
Click to expand...

Where did you see it isn't updated anymore? Bad news indeed....I have this on my desktop but track debian unstable (still pretty stable IMHO).
 
Foxcow said:
Is that a known virtualbox issue or id there another error? Usually, when X won't start its because dbus hasn't be installed or started.
Click to expand...
I think it started with a dbus error, but after googling the issue I found that installing vbox arch addionals should have fixed it, but it didn't. still getting a error that x server won't start.

Here's the output screenshot:
archerror.png
 
pwrusr said:
I think it started with a dbus error, but after googling the issue I found that installing vbox arch addionals should have fixed it, but it didn't. still getting a error that x server won't start.

Here's the output screenshot:
<snip image>
Click to expand...
Getting Arch to run under VBox was a pain in the ass. I wish that computer (I had it working on my old work desktop) hadn't died otherwise I'd send you the needed Xorg information. From the little I remember, it's been 4+ months since I did it, I used pacman to install the vesa and fbdev modules to get rid of those errors and then I think I reinstalled the vboxvideo module in order to get X working. I then got XFCE running correctly as well.

Sorry, I can't remember more. I was simply playing around trying to decide what distro, for Android Development, I wanted on the laptop my wife was getting me for Christmas. In the end I went Xubuntu, disabled most of XFCE, loaded Compiz and Cairo-Dock and haven't really had to do much else.
 
I left Ubuntu because of Unity. I'm running CrunchBang Linux now. Really pleased with it.
 
pwrusr said:
I think it started with a dbus error, but after googling the issue I found that installing vbox arch addionals should have fixed it, but it didn't. still getting a error that x server won't start.

Here's the output screenshot:
archerror.png
Click to expand...


bizarre. I have no experience with installing in a virtual box but I'd say double check and make sure that dbus is running and the daemon is listed in /etc/rc.conf as well as the the required drives are installed.

Are you using the Beginners Guide from the wiki?
 
Looks like you just need to install a graphics module. Something like this I would think would at least get you a basic X window loaded.
Code: 
pacman -S xf86-video-vesa
 
you usually don't have to do much googling for arch. everything is going to be in the wiki. just follow the 'beginners guide'
 
I run lots of Arch installs in VBox without issues. What are you having problems with? If you have installed the guest additions and started the modules, everything should work just fine.
 
CEpeep said:
I run lots of Arch installs in VBox without issues. What are you having problems with? If you have installed the guest additions and started the modules, everything should work just fine.
Click to expand...
I got x to start successfully. However I haven't been able to get gnome to start yet.
 
pwrusr said:
I got x to start successfully. However I haven't been able to get gnome to start yet.
Click to expand...

I don't use Gnome in Arch, but I don't think there's anything about being in a VM that would prevent it from working properly. Try following the directions on the wiki, or post specific errors from a log if you are having issues.
 
Another bleeding-edge distro is Semplice.

http://semplice-linux.org/

I'm running 2.0, which is still available from

http://semplice-linux.org/download/

not the 3.0 alpha release.

I got fed up with Gnome 3 bugs showing up on one of my computers (a Dell server) and figured out the errors were really braindead, on Debian Wheezy. I'm a long time Debian user, but the official distros seem to be getting worse. There's probably a brain drain from official Debian to the new forked distros. I don't think the old crew would have made mistakes like I saw. (something like A depended on B, which depended on A ...)

But I didn't know enough to fix the errors, so I started trying various distros. The first one I tried that had working Gnome (Gnome 3) and also detected the ethernet on my Dell was Semplice. So that's how I ended up there.

And I'm very happy. The guy who puts it out, Eugenio, is extremely sharp and helpful. It's a small community still.

I looked at Ubuntu but it seemed to have crippled security stuff iirc. I never actually used it.
 
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