2007 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Award Winners

DespotEuodia · 02-29-2008, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by utahnix

Distro: openSUSE. Call me weird, but I just don't like Ubuntu. I don't care for Kubuntu either. That's not to say they're bad distros, but I've always been a SUSE fan.

Desktop: Although KDE and GNOME are both great in their own ways, my pick is certainly KDE. GNOME is too simplistic and doesn't give me enough control and configurability. I like the look and feel of KDE.

IM: I've never understood why Pidgin always gets the vote. I prefer Kopete over any IM client (not just on Linux - although Miranda IM would be my IM of choice on Windows). It's clean and has a good balance between features and simplicity.

Raster Graphics: When version 2.4 of the GIMP was released, my opinion about the GIMP changed drastically. Although I prefer Krita's windowing mode over the GIMP's multiple window layout, I prefer GIMP on every other level. That, and GIMP is very stable - Krita is not (none of the KOffice apps are, IMHO).

Vector graphics: I've played with Karbon14, but I have to give my vote to Inkscape. It's interface isn't perfect, IMHO, but it has a good feature set and it's stable. Wish I could edit modern (Adobe CS+) Illustrator EPS/AI files with it, but alas, not yet.

Security: nmap is a must have on any platform, but even more so on a 'nix system.

Office: OpenOffice.org gets my pick. KOffice loads faster on my PC, but its ODF support isn't near close to what OpenOffice.org has, and OpenOffice.org is far more stable and consistent on Linux that KOffice is (full KDE integration in OO.org would be a dream come true!!!). If I could get decent ODF support and a stable program, I think I'd give KOffice more attention.

Just my two cents.

KDE is too much like M$. its bloatware. gnome is (imho) therefore better. although i use Damn Small Linux with fluxbox and JWM, the latter being my preference. configurable, FAST! (cause it doesnt have unnessesary bloatware included) and does all i need it to do.

kona0197 · 02-29-2008, 05:51 PM

Exactly. KDE is far too bloated and will continue getting fatter after version 4 (Vista wannabe..) comes out.

beebelo · 02-29-2008, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by utahnix

Desktop: Although KDE and GNOME are both great in their own ways, my pick is certainly KDE. GNOME is too simplistic and doesn't give me enough control and configurability. I like the look and feel of KDE.

My response for Desktop:
Although KDE and GNOME are both great in their own ways, my pick is certainly GNOME. KDE is too cluttered with menu options that duplicate the same controls and configurabilities. I like the look and feel of GNOME.

)

AceofSpades19 · 02-29-2008, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kona0197

Exactly. KDE is far too bloated and will continue getting fatter after version 4 (Vista wannabe..) comes out.

actually kde 4 runs pretty fast on a pIII with 256 mb of ram, and the only way it looks like vista is that it has a black panel, and big icons, I honestly don't brand everybody that has a black panel someone who wants their computer to look like vista

balaji_imagine · 02-29-2008, 11:42 PM

I expected Eclipse to get more votes...

ManishSinha · 03-01-2008, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kona0197

Exactly. KDE is far too bloated and will continue getting fatter after version 4 (Vista wannabe..) comes out.

I understand that KDE is trying to improve itself but still..... Its trying to copy Vista as I suppose. KDE is a bit slow than GNOME on my 512MB of RAM . Ubuntu Live CD loads faster than Kubuntu Live CD. Got my point?

AceofSpades19 · 03-01-2008, 12:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ManishSinha

I understand that KDE is trying to improve itself but still..... Its trying to copy Vista as I suppose. KDE is a bit slow than GNOME on my 512MB of RAM . Ubuntu Live CD loads faster than Kubuntu Live CD. Got my point?

On my rig with 256 mb of ram, gnome is alot slower then kde, as I said before, not everything that has a black panel is trying to copy vista

kevanf1 · 03-01-2008, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by archtoad6

MEPIS is emphatically NOT a "close derivative of Ubuntu". Your apparent confusion between whether "based on" means "uses the repositories of" or "is derived from" illustrates that the MEPIS community may have been wrong to describe MEPIS as "based on" Ubuntu during the roughly one year period when MEPIS used the Dapper LTS repositories.

Are you aware that MEPIS is older than Ubuntu? Hard to be a derivative of something that hasn't been invented yet, Einstein, Star Trek, & Rocky Horror not withstanding.

<rant>
One of my pet peeves w/ Ubuntu, all their social conscience not withstanding, is that Mark Shuttleworth's fortune has distorted the market place. We cannot tell how much of the *buntus' popularity is due to technical merit & how much is due the same $$ effect that keeps Gates, Balmer, & M$ dominant.
</rant>

<challenge>
BTW, & FWIW, MEPIS seems to have pioneered the -- i.e. they were the 1st to make a -- live install CD; an idea later adopted by Ubuntu & others. Since the only link I can find about this is to an unsupported claim on the ML web site, I would welcome a documented counter-example.
</challenge>

First off may I offer my apologies about my reference to Mepis? Yes, I knew it was firstly derived from Debian. I was of the mistaken understanding that it was (after having changed) still based on Ubuntu. I have quite literally only found out that it has gone back to a bieng more Debian based (can't say I blame them).

No, I don't know quite how old Mepis is but again, yes, I do know it is quite a bit older than Ubuntu

The Shuttleworth effect.... hmm, now that's a whole bigger debate and yes, I do lean towards the rise of Ubuntu being partially down to the massive marketing deployed by Canonical. But, that doesn't mean that the various *buntu distro's are bad. If they introduce more people to Linux then that has to be good. It's up to the other distro's to be better than Ubuntu (or whatever derivative) so that once those new converts are comfortable with Linux they have something more 'meaty' to be able to explore. In the meantime, *buntu is just great for popping on a PC and leaving to simply be there to be used.

The live CD challenge? I'm not 100% sure but I don't think Mepis was the first to offer this way of using Linux. Was Knoppix brought out before Mepis? I know that Knoppix wasn't the first either. Be interesting to find out which it was

kevanf1 · 03-01-2008, 10:18 AM

What's with all the 'KDE is just trying to copy Vista' stuff then guys? The panel colour is irrelevant. Vista does not have to have a black panel, my youngest daughter runs Vista on her new laptop and the panel is blue. It's only eye candy after all and surely, if I wanted to, I could have a black panel running gnome. I have tried gnome together with Xfce, KDE (from version 1.0) JWM, LFuxbox, Blackbox possibly even Jack in the Box (yes, that was a joke) and I always go back to using KDE because that's what I prefer. Me, my personal choice. After all, isn't that what Linux is all about? Mine and yours personal choice. If you like gnome than that's great, I don't have a problem with it, just please don't expect me to use it just as I don't expect you to use KDE if you don't want to.

Could it be that Linux is so good that we, the global Linux community, have to look for silly things to argue over? Such as the nebulous good and bad desktop environments? If that's the case then, well, that's actually rather good

kevanf1 · 03-01-2008, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevanf1

The live CD challenge? I'm not 100% sure but I don't think Mepis was the first to offer this way of using Linux. Was Knoppix brought out before Mepis? I know that Knoppix wasn't the first either. Be interesting to find out which it was

Of course, it was the relatively short lived Yggdrasil Linux that offered the first live Linux CD. KLaus Knopper offered Knoppix in 2003 but there may have been development versions prior to that. In the official releases record Knoppix is listed as being available from Jan 2003 with Mepis coming a few months later. Whoever was first it doesn't matter as they are both excellent distro's IMHO.

cardinals_fan · 03-01-2008, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevanf1

Hmm, were the votes all lumped together for the *buntu distro's? I don't think that's right if it is the case. I know that the arguments will be that it is merely a desktop environment that is different. I disagree now as Kubuntu has a lot of differences to its parent Ubuntu. Plus, if you are going down that route then why not lump in Mepis and Mint as they are close derivatives of Ubuntu too.

Please, as a serious suggestion for next year, can we see the various *buntus have their own rating?

Kevan

The *buntus belong together for one reason - to switch between them, the only packages that must be installed are the DE packages. Install one, and you've got 'em all. Mint, though very similar, is nonetheless a distinct distro - it cannot be installed as a package on a *buntu system. MEPIS, as others have pointed out, is not based off Ubuntu.

cardinals_fan · 03-01-2008, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jevan

I'll agree with that as soon as other distros also become where I can easily install them by downloading from like severs... I have Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubunutu all co-existing on what I guess is Kubuntu because I installed that first (or was it Ubuntu? I honestly don't remember). However, I can't have SUSE or even Mint running on the same install in this way. To me, all of the Ubuntu distros are the same basic thing.

Uh... what are you saying? Just about every distro has packages for other DEs, just install them and you've got the same "co-existence". The *buntus are the same basic thing, but any distro can run multiple DEs.

G13man · 03-01-2008, 11:08 PM

might be nice on the close vote s to list the 1st and 2nd most favorites

divyashree · 03-02-2008, 06:57 AM

is debian used as server widely ,where its majorly used can anyone tell ??

DragonSlayer48DX · 03-02-2008, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevanf1

What's with all the 'KDE is just trying to copy Vista' stuff then guys? The panel colour is irrelevant. Vista does not have to have a black panel, my youngest daughter runs Vista on her new laptop and the panel is blue. It's only eye candy after all and surely, if I wanted to, I could have a black panel running gnome.

Exactly. In fact, I have deep blue panels on top of the Ocean Dream theme, with several underwater reef pics to choose for my background with Gnome.

Quote:

Me, my personal choice. After all, isn't that what Linux is all about? Mine and yours personal choice. If you like gnome than that's great, I don't have a problem with it, just please don't expect me to use it just as I don't expect you to use KDE if you don't want to.

I couldn't agree more.

Quote:

Could it be that Linux is so good that we, the global Linux community, have to look for silly things to argue over? Such as the nebulous good and bad desktop environments? If that's the case then, well, that's actually rather good

Now, there's a thought. Funny how we choose Linux because we can have choices, then argue over which choice is 'best' when no one environment suits everyone's needs or taste.

Cheers