Most stable Linux distro ?

[hungarian]

I have a Windows user who is interested in stability, sick of windows crashing.

Now, the million dollar question is, what distro IS the most stable in your opinion ?

It's a new Linux user so first impressions last as you say...

[waffle2]

Originally posted by hungarian:
I have a Windows user who is interested in stability, sick of windows crashing.
Now, the million dollar question is, what Distro IS the most stable in your opinion ?
It's a new Linux user so first impressions last as you say...

What are his resources?

RAM?
Video Card?
Processor?
HD Space?
Printer?
Does he use a scanner, CD Burner, etc.?

Most stable Distro is Caldera, but he'll need to buy a book on it for Documentation.

Next step up is SuSE 7.0 or 7.1. Their documentation that is included with the software cannot be beat.

waffle2

[hungarian]

It's a younger couple and their hardware is as follows:

ATX Mid Tower 300Watt PSU
SOLTEK SL75KAV-X KT-133A
AMD Duron 700
128MB PC133 Kingmax VERSION 1.2
Videocard TNT II 8MB
CD-ROM Drive

[hungarian]

I just forget to mention they have a 15 GB hard drive, no CD burner or scanner but they want to buy a digital camera later.

Cheers !

[waffle2]

I would suggest SuSE then.
Make sure their hardware is Linux Compatible first! Although I've only had it on my box for a few days, SuSE 7.1 seems VERY stable, but if you want to be sure and there's no compatibility problems, you could do with 7.0

waffle2

[Beowulfs_Ghost]

I say Caldera. It's kind of a no frills distro aimed at business types.

[Daedra]

well Slackware is what i use and its renowned for its Stability

[winnotgoneyet]

There all stable compared to windows!!!

[Gnu/Vince]

Any *BSD or Debian STABLE.

[chimaybleue]

You can choose any free Unix based sys ... My personal pref goes to SuSe, cause it's simple to install and you still have control on everything ... I think Mandrake isn't really a good choice (and I think nobody mentioned it) as it installs what IT wants and not you ! :eek:

[treatment]

Originally posted by hungarian:
I have a Windows user who is interested in stability, sick of windows crashing.

Now, the million dollar question is, what distro IS the most stable in your opinion ?

It's a new Linux user so first impressions last as you say...
First of all, please ask the actual objectives of that Windows-user.

There are alot of factors that causes Windows to crash and switching to GNU/Linux is not necessarily the solution.

Secondly, I'm going to move this to the General-Linux question.

[n2linux]

I'm I the only one who felt that RedHat 6.2 was the most stable?

[11000]

Originally posted by Daedra:
well Slackware is what i use and its renowned for its Stability

I'll second that. Packages are not added to Slackware until they are tested and approved for stability.

:cool: Slackware :cool:

[ScottFree]

I'm running SuSE 7.1 Professional Edition.

Install was seemless and gave me full control over what was installed.

My only complaint was that I'm not crazy about it's HD Partition software, so I did it with Partition Magic instead.

I would deffinatly recomend it.

:cool: SuSE 7.1 :cool:

[twofoolish2b]

:cool: Slackware :cool:

[Daedra]

http://www.slackware.com/grfx/shared/logo.jpg

[Tyr-7BE]

If it's an introductory system, might go with Mandrake...it's very newbie-oriented, very colourful, and wonderful for the home-user workstation. I used it for some time and was impressed. Never did crash on me. The thing about Debian and BSD systems is that the people configuring and installing them have to have some degree of know-how. I've been learning about linux for some time now and I've been hacking away at my Debian system for about 4 days now trying to get it to the level at which Mandrake got it in 40 minutes. Granted, I've saved about 1 GB of bloat, and I now have apt-get, but I wouldn't wish the time I've had with it for anyone! Go Mandrake for a first time system :)

[Tigger]

If stability and security are what you are after, then you have no choice but Slackware.

Check the number of security and/or bug related fixes for Slackware 7.1 versus anything else and you will find that the 'Fab 4' over in the Slack camp are doing a stellar job. You can pretty much count on the fact that if Slackware does have security bugs, then all the other distro's do too cause it will be a widespread bug with the original package.

Once Slack is installed and configured, set the system up to automatically go to GUI and install Webmin for the user. Easy to administer and as stable as GNU/Linux gets!

As far as how easy it is to install, this is the distro I learned on back a few years. Don't forget, I would say that over 90% of the desktop users out there are not even able to install Windows anyway(I mean to the point where all the drivers are current and the system is optimized and secured down as much as possible)

Once you go Slack, you never go back! Sure you might stray and try the others but they just don't measure up to Slack in my opinion!

[reinerm]

Q: Most stable Linux distro ?
:cool: Slackware :cool:

[Krycheck]

For newbies, stability shouldn't be an issue as much as how easy it is to install and configure. Mandrake is definitely a good choice for newbies.

Also, if you do a custom MDK install you can install what you want and shave off 300-400mb off the standard install :D

[ColdPack]

Originally posted by Tyr-7BE:
If it's an introductory system, might go with Mandrake...it's very newbie-oriented, very colourful, and wonderful for the home-user workstation. I used it for some time and was impressed. Never did crash on me. The thing about Debian and BSD systems is that the people configuring and installing them have to have some degree of know-how. I've been learning about linux for some time now and I've been hacking away at my Debian system for about 4 days now trying to get it to the level at which Mandrake got it in 40 minutes. Granted, I've saved about 1 GB of bloat, and I now have apt-get, but I wouldn't wish the time I've had with it for anyone! Go Mandrake for a first time system :)

A young couple sick of Windows crashing may find Mandrake the most appealing transition into Linux.
As for the comments on Debian and having know-how... I just don't get it.
I have no "know-how" and it works just fine.
Debian took longer to install than Mandrake, but was negligible. Within 20 minutes of a completed installation of Debian, I was online, had my e-mail set up and was installing helix-gnome (now "ximian") via apt-get. Much of that in part to reading a little before I jumped in (a days worth of reading) and scanning through the debian and LNO site.
My only previous experience with Linux was Redhat 5.2 and that almost turned me away Linux forever! Thanks to Debian, I've been using Linux for a year now... exclusively. No windoze.
(I must say, I'm enjoying :cool: BeOS :cool: quite a bit, too!)
CP

[Lorithar]

*grins*

Im a slackware fan.

*but*

it took (from never having touched linux to where I am now) almost a year.. 4 seaparate installs. HOURS of *&^&%$#*)_@#$&*(^&@#$&^(&*@$($@#&$^)(&^#$% and several drastic failures before I got here.

Nowadays ... for a REAL newbie ... I wouldn't even know what to install.

[Swapper]

Originally posted by n2linux:
I'm I the only one who felt that RedHat 6.2 was the most stable?

I'll second that, I've run RH 6.2 for a long time and have not had any problems. Before that it was RH 5.2 which was also very stable. In my books RH 6.2 is very solid, I haven't found anything as stable yet.

[Molecule Man]

Mandrake, Caldera, or SuSE would probably be acceptable. If you setup and install it, they should have no problems as you can iron them out first. From what you listed, the hardest thing to get running might be thier printer. And that is not difficult, if you know what you are doing and depending on the Distro.

Also you should make them aware that things won't be like windows. Alot of times you have to make do with work arounds.

[willk]

Compatability issues do not seem to be any major factor any more...mention this to a person who has little or no undertstanding of what you are talking about and that is usually enought to scare them away...
Unless He/She is willing and capable of tackeling some of the more trick items (like getting a scanner or camera) to work..then I say...stick with windows. If one is willing to do some work and learn...go for it...
I do a LOT of tech support...the folks that have major problems with Windows...I don't even want to hear them say "Linux"
But...anyway...


:) Slackware :)

[ifred]

I think others have done a good job explaining the technical reasons why you should use Slackware. One other non-serious reason you should use it is because posting
:cool:Slackware :cool: is addictive.

[Infested Flar]

:) ;) :p :rolleyes: SLACKWARE (http://www.slackware.com) :cool: :eek: :o :D

-flar-

[Infested Flar]

:) ;) :p :rolleyes: SLACKWARE (http://www.slackware.com) :cool: :eek: :o :D

-flar-

[bdg1983]

All Linux distros are more stable than Windblows. I recommend :cool: SuSE :cool: It's a good distro for newbies.

Originally posted by Tigger:
Once you go Slack, you never go back!

I did. Slackware was my first distro and I used it for about a year and I loved it but then I switched to SuSE and I'll never go back to Slack!

Oh, did I mention? :cool: SuSE :cool:

[Lindy]

I have a Windows user who is interested in stability, sick of windows crashing.

Now, the million dollar question is, what distro IS the most stable in your opinion ?

It's a new Linux user so first impressions last as you say...


Any distro of Linux is going to be umteen times more stable than any version of windows. The stability issue between the different distros of Linux is basicly esoteric. I have used various distros of Linux. I started with(believe it or not) slackware 3.3 that a friend of mine gave me.
As a newbie it was a bad trip... Then I plunked down some cash for SuSe 5.2 . At this point I started running Linux more than Windows. Then I installed Redhat 5.2 ... Windows then became far less important. I am now running Mandrake 7.0... Windows?... Oh,thats somthing I use just for games!
As far as your newbie users are concerned I'd point them in the direction of the current v's of either SuSe,Mandrake,or Redhat... The deciding factor here is tech support... take a look at each distro's online support, and go from there, depending on which you like the most. On the other hand this forum beats the hell out of any of the M$ support services that I've used.

[pointreyes]

Originally posted by NGene:
All Linux distros are more stable than Windblows. I recommend :cool: SuSE :cool: It's a good distro for newbies.

I did. Slackware was my first distro and I used it for about a year and I loved it but then I switched to SuSE and I'll never go back to Slack!

Oh, did I mention? :cool: SuSE :cool:

I'm kinda of in the same boat as you. I like Slack but I like SuSE. However, I'm moving on to FreeBSD, so Slack might be replaced with FreeBSD and SuSE will be my Linux distro of choice. The main advantage with SuSE is that it has a stronger presence with multimedia installation. And since the user is thinking about a digital camera, then SuSE will more than likely be ahead of Slack with ease of hook-up (this makes sense because Slack tries harder than most to make a highly stable distro and therefore stays away for the latest greatest software).

SuSE has been the only distro where I did not have to manually change my XFree 4.0.2 XF86Config file. With other distros, I had to run XFree86 -configure and then edit the file. My video card (ati 64Meg Radeon ddr) is not on the list but it is autoconfigured - haven't understood that one yet with XFree.

[Lend273]

I started with Redhat 7, then moved on to SuSe 7.0, then to Libranet Debian. I also tried Storm debian but Libranet is better.
I would start with SuSe for a newbie, then when you feel comfortable move up to Libranet
debian.

Len