Thoughts on Linux Distributions

I've been trying out different Linux distributions for years now. Have always wanted to try different ones, sometimes lose interest and so on. Here are some thoughts on the major distributions I've had a chance to give a shot.

Just downloaded openSUSE 11.2 and gave it a go in VirtualBox using GNOME. True enough, it's not a totally fair test, but it seemed to run much slower than all the other distros I've tried virtually. Not sure why. It seemed to be a bit of a resource hog, demanding more than the typical 256 MB I allocate for a virtual machine. Had a very clean interface, didn't get a chance to enable 3D support though to see the full UI effects. I liked that it gave me stuff to read during the installation. Fair to say I haven't tested this distro very thoroughly yet. Will have to try it natively sometime to see if it really is a resource hog, even though it claims to have improved laptop power management and performance.

Tried Fedora 10 in April 2009 for a while. Had a few wireless issues, getting aircrack-ng and wicd to work properly. Liked it otherwise. Not really used to the whole RPM package management thing. I'll say right now that I'm a GNOME fan. Can't stand KDE and don't even know why.

Gave Slackware a go for a short while. Got KDE running on it, and some basic configuration. It's a little more work than your out-of-the-box newbie distros. Don't think I'm proficient enough in Linux yet to try Slackware fully, but getting there. Mainly had trouble getting my wireless to work.

The two main distros I seem to keep coming back to are Debian and Ubuntu. Debian makes a great server, tons of documentation and support, and even an extensive security manual. I'm most used to a Debian-layout system. I've used Ubuntu quite a bit for general purpose desktop/laptop everyday use. Yeah it's nice to claim you're a Linux genious and anything that "Just Works" is for newbs, but it's even nicer to install, and get to it. Little to zero configuration time. Excellent support forum for Ubuntu. I'd have to say that if there are two distros I'll stick with, it will be these.

Tried Gentoo once back in high school. Hah! Was I ever in over my head. Lol.

Onward and Upward

Hey,

It's been about 7 months since my last post! What have I been doing? Continuing on with my degree in computer science. Here are some links to cool stuff I've been learning about lately:

• Functional programming in Scheme
  
• Design Patterns
  
• openSUSE
  
• How to unbrick your wireless router
  
• PlayStation 3
  
• Effective C++
  
• Securing Debian
  
• Subversion
  

Switching to Fedora 10 and Wicd Wireless Network Manager

My last few posts have been pretty technical, so I thought I'd write an opinion piece for once, in case anyone cares. I've begun fiddling around with Linux again, and I went back to where I left off using Linux Mint, only I grabbed the new release of version 6. It felt essentially the same as Linux Mint 5, only this time it froze. A lot. Like more than it used to. I had the same problem with Ubuntu, and I know Mint is based on Ubuntu, so I decided to try an OS that wasn't Debian-based for once.

I downloaded the most recent version of Fedora, version 10. So far I really like it. I'm a big fan of GNOME, and I've found the switch relatively easy. I also noticed that I got a little more involved with the command line with Fedora, which is a good thing. I'm glad to learn more about the internal workings of a Linux distro, as it'll come in handy in the future.

My biggest project so far on Fedora has been trying to get the Wicd wireless network manager working. I hated the standard GNOME NetworkManager so I went looking for alternatives. The only problem was, after I installed Wicd 1.5.9, it wouldn't connect to WPA/WPA2 networks. After looking through some logs I determined that it was to do with an external command, wpa_supplicant not having enough privileges to do what it was supposed to. After lengthy conversations and help from the people on the Freenode #wicd IRC channel, I tried installing the release candidate for Wicd 1.6. One of the Wicd authors did some specific error-fixing for me before I got the latest revision. I also helped him uncover some other bugs. Anyway, it fixed my problem, but opened up a new one. Now Wicd would only connect if I restarted the daemon. It runs virtually identical with the same privileges from boot, but apparently it just doesn't want to work unless I restart it.

Anyway, it's been fun so far and I'm really getting stuck on Fedora.