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The Best Linux Distros of 2016

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Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#61

Post by exceptione »

Splendor wrote: post #55
exceptione wrote: post #48

I do not agree with elementary OS as best-looking distro. Imo this award should go to manjaro kde.

I've never heard of manjaro. Would you mind elaborating on why you think it's the best-looking distro?

I wouldn't say it is perfect, but I haven't seen a better looking linux distro.

The main reason is consistent looks. They have chosen to create a very flat ui, thats a good choice for enabling consistency. Flat ui happens to be the design trend nowadays, which makes it also fashionable.

Manjaro still managed to make the icons look distinctive enough to be useful. Further strong points are good spacing, good use of fonts and consistency throughout the whole interface. The file manager is more powerful than the file explorer from mswindows, but the gui is still cleaner.

This video shows some of the looks. http://linuxscoop.com/video/manjaro-15-12-kde

Manjaro offers a pleasant surprise to people coming from windows (like me). I have tried mint, ubuntu, elementary os, and manjaro but I feel manjaro looks like the most modern and advanced desktop.

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#62

Post by some-guy »

digi_owl wrote: post #52
some-guy wrote: post #32

I have finally found my sweet-spot between being a total neckbeard (Arch) and following trends (Ubuntu) by simply starting with a minimal Ubuntu/Fedora/Debian installer and then installing whatever desktop environment I choose (I like MATE because it's non-intrusive and fast enough for me). I usually use less than ~10% of the software that comes pre-loaded with most distros.

Arch, neckbeard? yea right.

I'll concede a bit: the Gentoo neckbeard is indeed longer.

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#63

Post by k__ »

upofadown wrote: post #20

The most interesting recent Linux distro that I have encountered is Void Linux. It's a minimalist rolling update distro. It is not a fork of anything already existing. It is basically a demo for a new package manager called xbps. * http://www.voidlinux.eu/

How does xbps compare to Nix?

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#65

Post by ZenoArrow »

nycticorax wrote: post #57
ZenoArrow wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I love modern. Ubuntus problem is they copied a bunch of Mac-isms for what seems to be no good reason." There is a very good reason for the direction Ubuntu went with Unity. The clue is in the name. The Unity interface is the way it is because it's designed to work on both large screen devices and small screen devices, and with mouse and keyboard and touchscreens. Take a look at the Ubuntu Touch interface, notice…

I agree with you, that's why Canonical did what they did. It's also why Gnome 3 is the way it is, and why Windows 8 was the way it was. But to me, it feels like a huge mistake in all cases. I use my desktop all day. I want an experience tailored to the desktop, not some compromise experience that's not-too-bad on the desktop and not-too-bad on a touch device. All these orgs made this huge bet that you could make a on…

Yes, the Gnome 3 and Windows 8 user interfaces went down this route as well.

Going back to Unity, whilst I have only used it in passing, based on that experience I can't think of a feature that I'd miss from a more 'traditional' desktop interface. The only minor things I found jarring were the online search results in desktop search (which I believe has been disabled in 16.04) and a slightly clunky look to the search results (which is just an implementation detail, could be something that is refined in the future). Is there something you'd want from Unity that it doesn't currently offer?

FWIW, I think the Windows 8 desktop interface was a mistake. There was too much hidden away. It also didn't feel cohesive to me (the jump from metro to desktop and vice versa was too jarring IMO). Metro works really well as a phone UI though (I'm using it now, I think its greatest strength is probably the speed of navigation through the interface).

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#67

Post by nickpsecurity »

nycticorax wrote: post #56
Aldo_MX wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been thoroughly discussed when the website was compromised. https://lwn.net/Articles/676664/ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11149839 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11142986

Yeah, I know about that. Certainly, not a proud moment in Mint's history, but it got resolved quickly. But I'm not going to rule out Mint just because they got hacked once. kernel.org got hacked, after all.

They basically had no effort in their security, no idea how long they were compromised, and couldnt even respond effectively. I was a big fan of Mint usability who reluctantly had to ditch it.

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#68

Post by washadjeffmad »

passivepinetree wrote: post #64

Man, those Elementary OS screenshots look sexy. Has anyone used it? How is it for development work? I'd like to give it a shot; one of the big things holding me back from going all-out on Linux is how beautiful OS X is.

It's certainly simple to use; it has fewer customizable features out of the box than any distro I've ever seen.

I primarily install it on adults' whose children have left home and older people's computers (which are disproportionately devices powerful enough to run Vista but with It runs well on older hardware, has excellent support, and looks nice. Besides Skype's shit Linux support, it's a perfect platform for them to digitally reconnect with family and friends without having to worry about any unnecessary details.

For it's downsides, it's less responsive than OS X, or animations and actions don't feel as tight, and it really doesn't want to be tinkered with. As a general use OS, though, it's pretty complete.

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#69

Post by ZenoArrow »

k__ wrote: post #63
upofadown wrote: post #20

The most interesting recent Linux distro that I have encountered is Void Linux. It's a minimalist rolling update distro. It is not a fork of anything already existing. It is basically a demo for a new package manager called xbps. * http://www.voidlinux.eu/

How does xbps compare to Nix?

Based on the information on the website, xbps has some good features (such as building from source using containers to isolate the build process), but it doesn't have the same type of functional approach as Nix. Void looks like a decent entry in the Arch/Gentoo stable, which means its good for staying on the cutting edge. NixOS is more useful if you're going to be spinning up multiple containers/VMs, which benefits from the stability and consistency of the Nix approach. YMMV.

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#70

Post by passivepinetree »

washadjeffmad wrote: post #68
passivepinetree wrote: post #64

Man, those Elementary OS screenshots look sexy. Has anyone used it? How is it for development work? I'd like to give it a shot; one of the big things holding me back from going all-out on Linux is how beautiful OS X is.

It's certainly simple to use; it has fewer customizable features out of the box than any distro I've ever seen. I primarily install it on adults' whose children have left home and older people's computers (which are disproportionately devices powerful enough to run Vista but with It runs well on older hardware, has excellent support, and looks nice. Besides Skype's shit Linux support, it's a perfect platform for them…

Interesting. Probably a good call not to tell them what OS it is; I've been in that situation before and if you can avoid it, it's definitely better to do so. Thanks for the insight.
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