Forum Home
Press F1
 
Thread ID: 107423 2010-02-15 09:48:00 Recommend a Linux Distribution for me. Sweep (90) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
858759 2010-02-16 06:45:00 Another vote for Debian here. Note that none of the 'mainstream' distros have a toolchain or dev libraries installed by default, but they are almost always available in the repositories.

Out of interest, what kind of software are you writing?

I'd also highly recommend Gentoo, but only if you're happy with a near-vertical learning curve (unless you're already intimately familiar with the innards of a linux-based OS, which based on this thread I'd guess you're not). If you're in the mood for learning though, Gentoo can't be beaten :D.
Erayd (23)
858760 2010-02-16 10:12:00 Thanks for the input peoples. I'll have a go at the debian distro and see how I get on. Sweep (90)
858761 2010-02-16 11:14:00 Thanks for the input peoples. I'll have a go at the debian distro and see how I get on.

Best of luck with it :D. One thing though - if your soundcard doesn't work out of the box, it might be an idea to update the kernel, as the drivers are clearly pretty new.

My understanding is that the driver for this card was merged to mainline in 2.6.31 (so most distros will not have this driver out of the box; 2.6.31 vanilla was only released in September) - as this is fairly recent, you'll need to pull the kernel package from the testing branch (which, for debian, is still very stable, particularly as regards the kernel - testing is *not* the same thing as the unstable or experimental branches). The testing kernel version is currently at 2.6.32+23.

Regarding the install process - if you get lost, just keep bashing enter (although you may want to keep a sharp eye out during the partitioning step to make sure it ends up installing to the right place). The defaults are generally prtty sane, so if you get lost you should end up with a basic, usable system with a Gnome DE.

Edit: Slight advocacy here - go with KDE, and avoid Gnome :thumbs:. Reasons (many of them) are available on request (warning: text wall).
Erayd (23)
858762 2010-02-16 12:04:00 Thanks for that Erayd. I'll scream for help if I need it. :-) Sweep (90)
858763 2010-02-16 19:23:00 Some good info and links here (forums.debian.net) fred_fish (15241)
858764 2010-02-16 19:35:00 I've basically given up with Linux, mainly cos of all the grief getting basic things to work properly. That said, I thought I saw somewhere a couple of weeks ago that the latest Ubuntu supported the X-fi cards Phil B (648)
858765 2010-02-16 19:45:00 Thanks - Bookmarked. Sweep (90)
858766 2010-02-16 21:22:00 ...that the latest Ubuntu supported the X-fi cardsGood to know, although I can't say I'd recommend Ubuntu at all - Canonical seem to place far more value on "oooh, shiny!" than they do on shipping something stable. If it isn't broken out of the box, it will break a few months later after updating it :groan:. Erayd (23)
858767 2010-02-17 01:47:00 Just an update. Debian installed and I'm currently using Iceweasel to post on PressF1.

More stuff to download yet though although it did find my soundcard and printer so that's a plus.
Sweep (90)
858768 2010-02-17 02:09:00 Great stuff :thumbs:.

Give us a yell if you need a hand with anything.
Erayd (23)
1 2 3