So, I'm buying a new computer (hence the thread), and I'm using Linux on it. I'm using it partially because I want to save money, but also because I've read way to many books on how Linux is good and Microsoft is evil, et cetera.

So I've read a lot of literature on the subject, and I feel pretty confident that I can jump right into Linux and be up to speed within a few weeks. Unfortunately, the newest book on Linux at my library is 5 years old. While many of the technologies are the same, many things have changed, especially in the distros.

I ask you, cemetechians, which distro listed above, is best for the intermediate user? I say intermediate, because I feel that 1. I want control over what the OS does, and 2. I want to be able to have some power at my fingertips when I get more proficient.

I would love if this topic wasn't spammed/flooded out of existence, so please add some substance to your posts.

NOTE: Those using the Cemetech6m theme will not be able to see the poll.

I suggest that you should use Debian. You could also try Fedora/OpenSUSE if you want a RPM based distribution, but overall Debian is more stable.

Can you be more specific about what you want, if you are interesting in learning about the GNU/Linux system I would suggest Arch, Gentoo or even Linux from scratch. If you just want someone that will give you a bit more freedom without getting in your way and allow for customization I would go with Fedora or Debian, if you want things to be more beginner friendly and all automagical I would go Fedora or Ubuntu.

Given each option, here's what they seem to be good for. Debian is more for stability. From what I've heard, they are very stable because of their release cycle, which I think is every 2 years. Fedora is on the other hand of that, in a way. Fedora is more of a leading-edge OS and is updated every 6 months. Ubuntu also has a 6 month release cycle, and has a huge span of information on how to use it, but IMO, is more of a beginner's OS. OpenSUSE, not sure, though I've heard it is good with laptops, I think.

I would recommend Fedora because: 1) it's what I use 2) If you are a version or two back (For instance, I am on F13 and F14), there are no stability issues and you don't have to deal with Gnome3 (yes, you can go with others, but I don't care for them either).

I'd say Fedora.

The strengths of Ubuntu and Linux Mint (not listed here) are doing things through a GUI, but they're not quite so good for power users.

As a quick example of that: Ubuntu doesn't let you pick a root password. It has some default one. Now, that password can be changed by using "sudo passwd", but that's reflective of Ubuntu's philosophy: don't use root directly, run things through sudo. Fedora, on the other hand, asks you what you want your root password to be in the installer.

Debian is also kind of in the middle between Arch (very power-user friendly, not so much normal user friendly) and Ubuntu/Mint. I personally prefer Fedora; the main reason for that is I like yum better than I like apt-get. (package manager is probably one of the most important things about a distro). I also prefer Fedora's speedy release cycle like _player said.

Oh, and Fedora lets you easily install 32-bit packages on a 64-bit system- that's something a power user might like.

Nothing stops you from having a multi-boot of different Linux distros. Might not be as desireable as a Linux-Win7 dual boot, but hey, why not?

Also, a lot of these have LiveCDs, but LiveCDs didn't give me a good feel for what I was getting into when I first tried Linux. I tried Ubuntu by the way. I liked how things worked but after awhile the "automagicalness" started to annoy me when I realized I didn't have much control, but the "automagicalness" eliminated the incentive to figure out how to get things working.

Choose a distro that people you know and are able to help you regularly use. In addition to the fanboyism (which isn't always a bad thing), they'll be familiar with the things that beginners have trouble with because they were once beginners themselves.

Also, not everyone enjoys being thrown into the deep end, especially when you are looking for something that works and is stable. If you choose a distro that is "good for you" or "popular," you might find yourself trying to troubleshoot things alone.

So from what everyone above me has posted, try Fedora. You'll have people who can help you here at Cemetech. I actually wish I had gone with Fedora back when I tried to revive some recycled hardware, but initial driver issues when running the LiveCD had kind of pushed me away.

Linux Mint

OK, so I'm getting that I should go with Fedora, but I also have heard some good things about openSUSE, any thoughts?

I would go with Fedora, since I haven't tried openSUSE yet and that openSUSE's default desktop uses KDE.

fedora or debian, and even then, I have fedora, so I say you should take fedora

I happen to like KDE, and would appreciate if you didn't discriminate against distros based on their desktop environment. Als, you havn't tried it, so how could you know if it was good or bad? (I know, you know that Fedora is good, so in your mind it's proven vs. unproven)

The problem with Fedora is the last version uses GNOME3. The thing is, a lot of people don't like GNOME3 and I don't too. I'm not saying nobody likes it, but it's likely that you won't like GNOME3 if you have been using computers for a long time.

Well, the previous version, Fedora 14 has GNOME2, which is much more liked. You could just go for this version, but you can't forget that Fedora versions lose support very quickly after new versions have been released.

Here's what I'd do:

1. Install the normal release of F15. Give Gnome 3 a try (assuming your graphics driver can support hardware acceleration). Decide if it's right for you or not.

2. If it is, great!

3. If it's not, install one of the many alternative desktop environments: XFCE, LXDE, or KDE, to name the three most popular alternatives. You can do this extremely easily from Fedora; yum groupinstall "LXDE Desktop", yum groupinstall "XFCE", yum groupinstall "KDE Software Compilation".

4. Give them a try. You can easily change what desktop you log into using gdm, it's an option on the login screen.

5. If you pick one you like a lot, either ignore the fact that you have Gnome 3 on there, or install one of the spins of Fedora that strip out Gnome entirely.

For example, on my laptop, I use LXDE (with some tweakings), but I still have Gnome 3 installed.

I personally didn't like Fedora all too well, but's prob. because I got hooked on debian, and got very used to it, and hated how different they were, so Fedora and Opensuse didn't really get a chance with me. Plus I prefer rolling releases.

I'd recommend debian, but if you like fedora, by all means go for it! from a coding standpoint, developing for them is relatively easy and simple to make work for all forms of linux.

Seana, there is a difference between knowing what an OS feels like and knowing what a desktop environment feels like. I've tried KDE, and I really dislike it. So I know that I wouldn't like the default desktop environment on openSUSE. I've also tried GNOME3 and rather dislike it, too. Most of the people who say that they dislike something have tried it, and I'd especially say the same with desktop environments.

TC01, I'd also recommend some form of tiling window manager (just to say that you've tried it). Other than that, I completely agree with what you've said

Seana: If you like KDE, then I'm not stoppping you from using openSUSE, I'm just voicing my opinion that I dislike KDE. Also, the default DE matters a lot when picking a distribution, especially for Linux newbs.

OpenSuse does have a gnome and an XFCE version on the netinstall, for the record. You won't find many distros that don't have at least 2 or 3 choices for desktops.

And yes, your desktop matters a great deal for your choice. It will be the biggest factor in speed, past the OS itself, and will determine the majority of the ease of use as well. KDE is slower than most others, except GNOME3. Gnome2.3 is an intermediate requirement distro, and still the version in debian. XFCE is designed to be good while extremely lightweight, but it is a little less newb-friendly. Tiling window managers tend to require at least some past knowledge of linux.

Pick your distro based on its inner workings, and choose your Desktop based on your computer's capabilities and it's handling.

I guess I should sum up what happened: I initially started with openSuSe, just because I liked it better. But due to Hardware problems (It wouldn't recognise my wireless router), Software troubles (I had to try to make hedgewars from scratch, but I never got all of the necessary software to compile it), and lack of Cemetechian support, I switched to Fedora.