OT: "Best" Linux Distro?

[Scott Stevens]

On Thu, 01 Dec 2005 15:40:09 +0000
Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Cini, Richard wrote:
> > All:
> > 
> >  
> > 
> >             I'm thinking of ditching Windows totally on my desktop at home
> > as I build my next upgraded x86-bsed PC. So, I wanted to take a poll of the
> > group for a recommendation on which Linux distro to use. I downloaded Fedora
> > Core, Slackware, FreeBSD, Unbuntu and Linspire. 
> 
> Always been a Slackware fan myself (used it since the SLS days, apart from a 
> brief diversion to RedHat). It's less bloated than the likes of Fedora, but 
> still comes with the option of a lot of desktop software.
> 

I moved from Slackware to NetBSD a number of years ago, and just recently gave OpenBSD a try.  From my perspective, there's an advantage in any of the BSDs over a Linux in that you're dealing with a more integrated OS.  The three 'main' BSDs provide an entire userland from the same source tree, not 'packages' from all over.  So you get X Window and all your standard unixy things, including the core development tools, in a small single-install produced by one organization.  Then 'packages' like word processors, browsers, emulators and such are installed as 'packages' through a package management system.  Most 'linux' distros try to do this, but pull in source and binaries from all over to make up the 'distribution' without the degree of oversight that a modern BSD operating system entails.

What has me 'sold' on OpenBSD at this point is that there is a rich directory of prebuilt binary packages from one place and mirrors that I was able to mirror onto a DVD-ROM and now have in it's entirety.  Which can be done with any other 'free UNIX' if you download enough but there often aren't centrally located repositories.  (BTW- anybody who wants a set of said stuff, holler in private email because I'm in favor of sharing bandwidth.  I will distribute CDs or DVDs- the 'downloadable' stuff only, though, for the cost of media and shipping)  And being moderately cross-platform (not as widely ported as NetBSD, of course) you can run it on a LOT of different systems.  I bought the commercial OpenBSD CDROM set a month ago before embarking on my new OpenBSD system install, and it clearly stated right on the outside of the CD that the set contained the binaries to run on a MicroVAX 3100.  What ELSE can you buy at a Frys Electronics that will run on the latest Pentiums, the 64 b!
 it AMD processors, your Macintosh SE/30 and your MicroVAX 3100?  (they didn't have the NetBSD set at the Frys I visited)

There is also a slogan out there that sums it all up nicely and/or is obvious flamebait:  "Linux is for people who hate Microsoft.  BSD is for people who love Unix."