[PLUG] random question: how do you think newbies select their distributions?
Carlos Konstanski
ckonstanski at pippiandcarlos.com
Wed Mar 10 23:49:55 UTC 2010
Am 10.03.2010 16:45, schrieb Tim Wescott:
> I'm a "poke around a bit then jump in" sort. After some early
> experience with Knoppix (thanks, Kieth) I tried (ca 2002) Debian because
> Knoppix was Debian based and I figured "go to the source!!". I soon
> realized that the only way it would work reliably was if I became far
> more of an expert than I'm interested in being.
>
> If Knoppix had come with an "install now" feature I would have hit the
> button and been happy.
> But it didn't, and in trying to find out how to install it permanently I
> found out that it's totally centered on being a live-on-CD
> distribution. So I poked around a bit, found out that Ubuntu is Debian
> with training wheels, and I have yet to learn how to ride without them :-).
>
> chris (fool) mccraw 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.
>>
>> certainly that was the case for me in the early days and even now i'm
>> more a "try it and see" type than a heavy researcher when i experiment with
>> distros i haven't used before. hmm, then again, i know more of what i
>> want and need from a distro now, and can judge some things instantly
>> that i would have not understood when i was getting started, so maybe
>> the past 16 years has been of some use after all =)
>>
>> anyway, what is your take on how people choose distributions, and/or
>> how did you choose your first? i think newbies are an especially
>> interesting discussion because we are attracting so many to our ranks
>> these days and i'm curious as to what trends will shape the future of
>> the landscape; i believe that the distros that see the most users
>> fare the best in terms of vitality and usually pace/success of
>> development, commercial or non (though that is a belief open to
>> debate in itself).
>>
>> personally, i started with slackware because i was unaware anything
>> else existed and my mentor used slackware, though i understood that
>> slackware was not linux. the second time (in as many weeks) that i
>> installed it i downloaded it myself from somewhere that had other
>> distros mirrored too and i noticed their presence but was not
>> inquisitive for many months (and many reinstalls). it maybe that
>> nothing else was as mature and generally awesome and in english at the
>> time (mid-1994), but i certainly can't vouch for that with any
>> certainty.
>>
>> thoughts?
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>> PLUG at lists.pdxlinux.org
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Maybe things changed in the last 6 years since I last did this, but back
then (knoppix 3.2) you could install it to the hard drive. There was a
script called knx2hd that was part of the distribution. I ran knoppix
installed in this way for quite a while, before turning to "echt" debian
(play on words).
Carlos
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