What distro should I change to?

[Urbanite]

As you are probably aware ubuntu 11.10 was released today, and dropped the ubuntu classic mode (forcing people to use the new unity ui).

While I think unity is great for tablets and/or netbooks, I really don't like it on my desktop, and was wondering if anyone had any good suggestions for other distros?

Ubuntu has been the first disto to get me into linux properly but now I feel its time to move on!

[directhex]

aptitude install gnome-shell

[Urbanite]

aptitude install gnome-shell

Thanks! that works great!

Although I would still like to know about what other distros people are using on a daily basis!

[peterb]

Fedora for me, although the latest incarnation (15) has gone to Gnome 3 (similar I believe to Unity) which I'm still in two minds about. (But then there is always KDE)

[beckieM]

I am using OpenSuse 11.4 and the 12.1 RC2. It's user friendly, fast and stable. You will get Gnome3 and KDE 4.7 as Desktop enviroments.

[ChaosSystem]

I'm running Fedora 16 with KDE on my workstation, Ubuntu 11.10 on my HP Laptop and Centos 6.2 for my server.

[billythewiz]

The comments on this thread are more about the window manager that the distro per se (unity vs gnome vs kde vs take_your_pick).

Where I work there is window manager one-up-manship. It's very hip to moan about gnome (the standard env on SLED11 that we use). We have a KDE die hard and a few gnome fans (can't be bothered to switch). But the real fashion is tiling window managers.
Awesome is ... popular.
Xmonad is the dogs.
Dwm has its die hard fans.
We even have a Fluxboxer.

But my favourite is Scrotwm. Any WM named after a ball sack is cool in my book

If you really don't like ubuntu why not just try some of the others like fedora, centos or an ubutulike like mint. If that scares you (because you like the ubuntu forums), or if it's just unity that you don't like, why not just try a different WM.

One of the great things about Linux (compared to say windows or MacOS or Android) is that you can change most of it.

[scaryjim]

One of the great things about Linux (compared to say windows or MacOS or Android) is that you can change most of it.

Apologies for taking the thread slightly off topic, but ... you can change the vast majority of Android, including the homescreen. Just download a new Launcher from the market. Once I've got my imminent house move out of the way, I'm going to try making myself an LCARS-based launcher to mess with

[dct]

But the real fashion is tiling window managers.

These can greatly improve productivity once got used to. But will me most useful if you love the CLI rather than fancy GUI.

[aidanjt]

You could always try Gentoo, if you're after a challenge.

If the idea of compiling is too much, you can always do a commandline/minimal Ubuntu install and choose which desktop packages you want yourself.

Apologies for taking the thread slightly off topic, but ... you can change the vast majority of Android, including the homescreen. Just download a new Launcher from the market. Once I've got my imminent house move out of the way, I'm going to try making myself an LCARS-based launcher to mess with

And to be even more pedantic, Android still has Linux beating at its heart, Android userspace rather than GNU userspace, but Linux none the less.

[kaser123]

Redflag Linux, works great for the users in Asian area.

[abcsom]

I swear by centos, been stable for as long as i have used it

[ikonia]

I always find these "what distro should I use" threads totally stupid.

the whole point is you choose a distro YOU like in terms of features and compatability with you hardware.

Do a bit of research, there is so much information out there, and work out your own needs/wants, and pick a distro that gets your closest.

If you are unsure, try running a few live CD's, use you won't get the performance of an install, but you'll get an idea of what it's about.

All these people saying "fedora for me" or "ubuntu for me" have the best intentions, but they don't know your situation, what you want.

It's like asking "what car shall I buy" - that's it, no info,

rather than

I want a car, I have a budget of £10K, it must be a 4 door and if possilbe have ample boot space. I'd like a petrol car for motor way crusing so I'd assume something 2ltr or above would suit my needs, if possible I'd like it in blue. suggestion.

That way you get info, and you can actually provide valuable input, but the most important input is the origional poster doing at least a bit of basic research.

If you are incapable of doing very basic research about what linux distro to run, you won't be able to run linux as you'll have to do some research at some point, and if you fail at this early point, don't bother.

[Zeven]

Mint. Haven't used it in a while but I can only assume that it's gotten better. Back when I used it, it was far easier to get things going on Mint than it was on Ubuntu as it comes with a lot out of the box and boasts a user interface akin to that of Windows. Definitely made the transition easier.

[ltnmzh]

Mint looks promising

[ikonia]

Mint. Haven't used it in a while but I can only assume that it's gotten better..

what a stupid thing to say.

you've not even checked the advice you are giving someone you just assume it's got better than it was.If that's the thought you put into your responses to people, why bother.