[PLUG] random question: how do you think newbies select their distributions?

[Aaron Jorbin]

I started using linux after I got sick of blue screens of deaths and
started with Ubuntu because that's what my 'guru' thought would be the
easiest and most welcoming community for me.  He was a Gentoo user
back then, so I had no choice but to look in the forums.  His advice
was great and while he was always there to help, I learned right away
that his initial question would always be "What did they say in the
forum".  While he did help me translate the conversation into human at
first, it didn't take long before I wasn't asking questions to him at
all.  And now I've been a happy linux user for just over five years.


On 3/10/10, Michael Moore <moore.michael.m at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 10:58 PM, chris (fool) mccraw <gently at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> my 3/4-baked theory is that many people new to linux use what their
>> friends suggest, or what they first or most compellingly hear about.
>> that is, they don't do comparative research between available/relevant
>> distributions and choose logically.
>
> Sounds about right.  In my case, no one I knew used Linux.  At the
> time I took the plunge, the biggest debate (from what I could gather
> from USENET, anyway) wasn't so much, "Which distro?" but "Which
> package management?," with a growing vocal minority cheering for
> source-based packages.  (Gentoo was making a big splash back then.)
>
> I wouldn't say my choice was necessarily logical, but I did some
> comparative research on the merits and drawbacks of RPM vs .deb vs
> source, and decided I liked the sound of .deb-based package managment
> best, given my needs and inexperience.  So I tried Mepis and Libranet
> first, because Ubuntu didn't exist and pure Debian at the time scared
> the hell out of me, especially the process of getting it installed
> (which was far more complicated than it is today).  Mepis had an
> excellent live CD that worked, and Libranet was easy to install.
>
> Now, though, I don't think "RPM hell" is such an issue and many of the
> major distros and their offshoots have done so much to abstract the
> package management process that it isn't such a major consideration.
>
> Michael M.
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Twitter: @aaronjorbin
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