Best Distro

djlitko i don't mean to come accross as rude or blaming anyone, (and i think the world would be a terribly boring place if we all liked the same things), i was just disappointed that the speed that everyone is talking about in this thread wasn't there, so it must be subjective to those users, perhaps also sidux might be performing better on aao's with only 512mb of ram and ssd, but liked i said on my 120gb 1.5gb aao it is most noticably slower than F10-xfce in both booting and in use. as for kde any version being faster than xfce, not a chance and yum or packagekit is equal or better than apt-get, that's one of the reasons i left debian behind over a year ago. well i'm off to put xfce back, and then i'm going to try out mint

phil

 

[opinion]packagekit is annoying. text-mode yum is annoying. apt-get is annoying. text-mode smart is annoying. smart-gui is somewhat less annoying than the text-mode package managers. synaptic is slightly less annoying than smart-gui, but most Fedora repos aren't set up for it.[/opinion]

 

Happy Harry

No problems mate everyone to there own I am just gratefull that we have linux and that it gives us the vast choices that we have. Xfce kept breaking for me though what with the disapearing panel and stuff, well known bug that still hasnt been fixed apparently, I know that it can be got back but should have been fixed by now. Another observation when I was using xfce was that at first it seemed fast but gradually over time it slowed down.

By the way did you try the KDE 3.5 version to actually see if it was faster than xfce? because I thought exactly the same thing until I tried it.

Also please could you give your details outlining what is better about yum or packagekit compared to apt-get install? i.e in what way are they better?

Anyways if your happy with Fed 10 then good on yer mate

 

I also tried sidux booting from usb stick (kde 3.5 version). I found it equal in speed and responsiveness to suse 11.1 with kde 3.5 which I currently have on my ssd. Only booting was much faster with sidux.
So it seems to me that kde 3.5 makes most of the difference to ubuntu and its variants.

Anyway I will keep suse for now because I have set it up to meet all my needs now.

 

The xfce wiki provides some tips about setting up multimedia keys.

http://wiki.xfce.org/faq#keyboard

Personally, I've since converted to fluxbox, (Both versions of Sidux include fluxbox as a "backup"/alternative wm) and I can say the multimedia keys all there here (Since you need to set them up directly using keycodes).

The issue must be in xfce not recognising keycode number ### is equal to what key.

Faster booting etc; aside from the usual tips about disabling services etc, Sidux allows for true parallel booting via insserv. This isn't enabled by default though. Read: http://sidux.com/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t-13837.html

 

Multimedia keys sorted!!

Ok the fn key and volume up and down are working as they should by simply installing the package keytouch, so if you have synaptic installed just search for keytouch and install or as root do apt-get install keytouch, once it is up and running select the acer aspire 1300 keyboard and thats it now you can press fn and volume up or down with an on screen level meter showing the volume level. The keytouch package is already in the repositories that I listed at the beggining of this thread

 

No, I think what you say is true. To be honest, I simply forgot how fast Crunchbang and other distros actually are. I guess you can say that I got carried away and instantly took Sidux to my liking for its simplicity. I had Sidux installed for a day or two and realized that although it was speedy it wasn't as speedy as I first thought. So I went back to Crunchbang again (at least for the time being). To me, Crunchbang is faster than Sidux in responsiveness. But I'm actually concidering once again (for the umpteenth time) to swich back to the original Linpus, simply because I'm tired of spending time getting everything to work with other distros.

If we go back on topic, I would like to add my two cents on good distros for the AAO (don't know about best, that's up to the reader eh ).

I used to use "Easy Peasy" for quite some time, but with only the 8 Gb SSD 512 Mb RAM model, it felt bloated and slow compared to all the slick and speedy ones I've listed below. I like when my netbook responds swiftly without halting the system too often. So because of that, I find myself mostly interested in light distros these days. Here's a list of some interesting (and fast) distros I have tried so far for the AAO:

Linpus
Best in recognizing most if not all hardware, fast boot-up times, but somewhat quirky operating system.

Moblin Alpha v. 2
Extremely fast, very nice to look at, Xfce desktop. Isn't quite ready for full use yet and as far as I can tell the website doesn't reveal anything about the next Moblin release date. Worth trying. Moblin, I believe, could become THE netbook distro. Watch out for this one.

#! Crunchbang
Very fast, can be tweaked to run very well on the little AAO. Beautiful, simple default layout, uses Openbox window manager which might need a little getting used to for some.

Kuki
Specially tailored for the AAO. Too early state to say anything, but this one, like Moblin, is worth keeping an eye on.

Sidux
Fast, but after testing it some more, not as fast as I initially thought, at least not on my slow SSD with measly 512 megs of RAM to play with. Otherwise, simple and light OS yet with Kde and Xfce DE (desktop environment) options. I would give this one a try again if I had a faster SSD, a HDD model or at least some more RAM. I really like Sidux otherwise.

Slitaz
A nice looking, ultra-light distro which runs swiftly and responds *very* fast, but it looked difficult to tweak and connecting to the web was troublesome. People who know more about Linux than me might find Slitaz awesome -- it looks awesome.

So there. I don't have any clear winner or favorite as per se, but as I mentioned earlier, Linpus probably would be my choice if both hardware recognition and speed are important.

 

Slizas?? could you provide a link, you seem to be very enthusiastic about it.

Thanks,

 

Oops, my bad. I meant Slitaz. Thanks for pointing that out.

www.slitaz.org/en

 

Hi - I've installed Sidux on my AAO. I did have the 512m 8 gig ssd model, but added an extra gig of ram and replaced the ssd with a 30gig i-pod 1.8" hdd. It only took 4 min 50 sec to install the KDE Lite version and it is screamingly fast. It took very little setting up and it really reminds me why I love Linux so much. It's a simple and logical OS. I've always been a KDE fan, too, and I suspect Sidux is the only version of Linux that can make it run so fast on my machine. I'm also impressed by the speed and regularity of Sidux updates - installing Synaptic makes it very easy to do complete updates.

Edit - PS

I have just put Sidux on a 10 yr old pc, Athlon 750, 384meg of ram, 13gig hdd. It is the only way to get KDE on this machine, and it's running quite fast. It takes a while to install apps, but running them is fine.

 

Well I'm staying with Linpus until Ubuntu 9.04 comes out, where I'll order a USB key from the official website.

I've heard that wireless is supported out of the box, which was the HUGE problem for me in Ibex.

I've tried Fedora 10 and it's pretty cool but I like Linpus better.

 

slitaz is quite incredible. Since it's so freakin small (20mb, 80mb uncompressed already with ff3? u gotta be kidding me) it can all loaded into ram and so, is incredibly responsive.

This french guy is developing this http://forum.slitaz.org/viewtopic.php?pid=8068 on his aa0. I just tried it and was very impressed. But slitaz is definitely not for the average user.

 

SSD 16gb showing only as 3.2G media

HI

I have sidux up and running. This seems to have become the place to discus it.

It looks and feels great but I have a problem with my SSD being recognised as only 3.2gb when its a 16gb SSD
In system:/media it says 3.2 Media

Also I have to type in a password to shut down. I havnt searched to see if this is mentioned elsewhere. Appologies if it has. But surley this is redundent. how do I disable it?

remainz

 

I reinstalled via cd and used gparted first to reformat my SSD to its full size. Dont know why it changed the size on the first install.
I still get asked to login on shut down but I can just switch it off at that point.

best distro Ive installed and the only good one where the wifi works

remainz

 

remainz, strange issue you have with Sidux and shutting down the system. I don't recall having that problem. Why don't you create a separate topic so perhaps someone will find your question and help you out? We need a separate topic for Sidux anyway, I guess.

Back on topic. Linpus would still be my choice if Linux was new to me and I just needed to browse the web, reading e-mails and those normal things without needing to tweak the system to my own likings.

However, my personal favorite distro has now become #! CrunchBang (Ubuntu-based, light distro with Openbox as window manager). It's lightening fast (uses even lesser RAM than Linpus I think?) and it's just beautiful and great in all its simplicity. CrunchBang might not be the best choice for total Linux newcomers, but then again, it's not that difficult to set up if you don't mind learning new stuff. I'm absolutely madly in love with CrunchBang.

 

I have to agree! I tried #! CrunchBang after wading through all the distro info/choices. At first it seemed a little intimidating but once I got a little bit used to how it works and after loading Sickboy's Kernel applying the tweaks to make absolutely everything work, I am totally impressed. What a fantastic distro! It took a little bit getting used to Open Box, but after playing with it I realized how well it meshes with the AAO. How refreshing to have the full backing of the Ubuntu repositories at my beck and call. Also the CrunchBang forum is quite a happening place.
I am still keeping my eye on Kuki, but after trying the latest release and running into several glitches I put that project on hold for now. Once it's done it should be even more user-friendly than CrunchBang for the best OOB experience. However, now that CrunchBang is set up and flying on my AAO, I could be hard pressed to make the switch. This could be just a brief affair, but for now I am head over heels in love with #!.

 

Thanks for enlightening me as to this distro, I have a few questions if I could pick your brains.

In reference to adding the repos, can you explain exactly what i should be looking for after clicking those links?
For example should I be going to Dists/unstable/main/? I think next it should be binary-kfreebsd-i386/? but I may be wrong.
Also under each heading there are 2 links, should I click both in each case or just one. It may be too much to ask but I'm probably not the only noob looking at this post, is it possible to have an explanation of the full path for all repos.

Does this line "apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree openoffice evolution kaffeine vlc" have to entered as it is or broken down into the individual names such as apt-get install openoffice

Apologies for being a bit long winded, I installed over the weekend and so far I'm impressed but want to get the other apps installed.
Cheers.

 

I've tried the XFCE and have now switched to using the KDE version of Sidux ..... I have to agree that the KDE version is just amazing ..... it is so fast!

Thanks for recommending this distro and for your posts on how to install and set up.

 

Just a word of caution! KDE4 has just arrived in Sid and is being checked for bugs, so DO NOT DO ANY DIST-UPGRADES for a few days until the bugs get sorted out by sidux and debian!

You can still install and update in the normal way just not dist-upgrade. so in answer to the question re installing separate apps yes thats ok just use the normal #apt-get install and select whichever package you need, (as root of course)

 

madscotsman

Do not click on the links mate just highlight from the first line down to the bottom line and cut and paste into the file, /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sidux.list press alt and f2 type in kdesu kate and when kate loads up navigate to the filed /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sidux.list

then scroll down and highlight from the top hash the ones that need to be cut and pasted into /ect/apt/sources.list.d/sidux.list save the file then do exactly the same for the file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list and save that file too then as root run #apt-get update then #apt-get install openoffice or whatever other package you need. I.E ALL THIS LOT FOR sidux.list

#deb http://sidux.net/debian/ sid main fix.main
#deb-src http://sidux.net/debian/ sid main fix.main
# unstable
deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
# deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free

# testing
# deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
# deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free

# experimental
# deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian experimental main contrib non-free
# deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian experimental main contrib non-free
# sidux e.V., Germany
deb http://sidux.com/debian/ sid main contrib non-free fix.main fix.contrib fix.non-free
#deb-src http://sidux.com/debian/ sid main contrib non-free fix.main fix.contrib fix.non-free

AND THEN ALL THIS LOT for debian.list

deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ sid main
#deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ sid main

deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ sid main
#deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ sid main


#Hints for hardware with non-free needs:
#sidux contains only dfsg free software, so you'll probably want to add contrib/ non-free to your /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list and ensure internet access.
# See sources.list(5) for more information, especially
# Remember that you can only use http, ftp or file URIs
# CDROMs are managed through the apt-cdrom tool.
# The /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory provides a way to add sources.list
# entries in separate files that end with sources.list file.

# unstable
deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
# deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free

# testing
# deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
# deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free

# experimental
#deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian experimental main contrib non-free
# deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian experimental main contrib non-free


There may be a message referring to duplicate entrys but I havent had time to sort them out as yet it will still work ok
Hope this helps