[CS-FSLUG] Karmic Koala

[l4c]

Ed Hurst wrote:
> I suppose my hardware is precisely the wrong thing for some distros. Or 
> maybe I'm asking too much.
> 
> On openSUSE 11.2 (64-bit) -- After a week of KDE 4.3, I found it not 
> quite so useful as the 3.x versions. Too many config items were removed, 
> but it was fun watching the Compiz effects. Stability was good. However, 
> there were plenty of little niggling things I just didn't like. The 
> bundled Opera browser kept freezing. When I replaced it with the more 
> generic (Qt3) version from Opera itself, it worked much better. Another 
> problem was sound related. When I plugged in my headphones, I still got 
> sound through the speakers. Google indicated a half-dozen completely 
> different "fixes" and none helped me. Best I could tell, it was 
> something in how SUSE (Alsa) detected the hardware, but I figured it 
> might be something in KDE.
> 
> So I tried the GNOME desktop. No help on the sound issue. Worse, the 
> 64-bit Adobe Flashplayer quit working in all but Seamonkey. I had been 
> testing it in Opera and Firefox, but it refused to run under GNOME; 
> worked okay in KDE. I dunno, but it seems to me Novell invests an awful 
> lot in repackaging stuff with lots of SUSE-specific enhancements, and it 
> breaks stuff. Lots of little stuff on the edge of notice just didn't 
> work right, didn't feel right. Totally subjective, so I can't really 
> judge. Yes, I know it's not yet a full release, but 11.1 felt exactly 
> the same. I'm inclined to think SUSE is moving somewhere I just don't 
> want to go.
> 
> With all the hoopla over Ubuntu Karmic, I gave it a test run. Nice. 
> Everything worked cleanly. And for once, something Debian-based got the 
> fonts right! I've long noticed no matter how I configured it, 
> Debian-based systems always did something to the font rendering which 
> made it fuzzy compared to RPM-based systems and BSD. Maybe I'm the only 
> one, but I could always tell the difference. Not any more. This one was 
> sharp and smooth at the same time.
> 
> So I installed it. I'm hoping I don't get the X server lockups I had 
> with the previous release. I'd like for something to just work and let 
> me keep it.
> 

Try Linux Mint 7.  That's what I have been using lately and I have to 
say it appears to me to be Ubuntu done right.  That being said I have 
not tried Ubuntu 9.10 yet.  Alternatively, if you have issues with most 
other distributions and don't mind doing a little hands on to get things 
going the way you like, do try Slackware.  Take some time getting it the 
way you want it and it'll run rock solid stable and screamingly fast 
forever afterwards.

-- 
-Linc Fessenden

In the Beginning there was nothing, which exploded - Yeah right...