My Favorite 5 Live Linux Distros
- Kubuntu- The Ubuntu family are becoming the go to Distro for Linux Novices. With a slick user interface, a wide variety of apps, and a decent installation process, Kubunu would have been my favorite had it actually worked on my machine. Although I had it installed on my Daughter’s laptop, it froze up on mine every time, resenting me with a black screen while the CD happily spun away for eternity everytime.
- SLAX Kill Bill Edition- The first Live CD I had that ran perfectly. Kill Bill has both Wine and Qemu to try to get the Windows programs that you probably already use running. That, and the awesome yellow screen make it worth checking out.( Note:The SLAX homepage is down while SLAX 6 is being added to the site. Download Kill Bill here.)
- Knoppix- The first Live Distro is here primarily for that reason alone. There’s nothing inspiring or unique about Knoppix: It just works. It’s a rather generic distro that has a little of everything, but doesn’t excel at anything.
- Fedora- What I’m using right now, simply because it worked and was released recently. Fedora is a professional package, as it should be backed by Red Hat and SELinux.
And Finally, My favorite Live Disto of the Year:
- Custom Nimble X 2 – As if Linux wasn’t DIY enough, Someone decided that what Linux Users really wanted was a web app that let’s you create your own iso to download. Wait, that’s exactly what I want! Pick and choose apps and images, create a root and user account and hit generate, and you’ve got your own operating system, just like Bill! Only, less ieven nerdier.
Also, You might want to check out Christopher Negus’s Book Live Linux CDs This book walks you through exactly what to expect from a live CD, some major distros not mentioned here, some packages to build your own and examples of Task specific Live Linux distros that he built himself. The Sweet Creamy Center? An Included DVD that holds 12, count ‘em, 12 Distributions. 6 of them bootable from the DVD, and the rest as burnable ISOs.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
1. Mepis – The best ‘just works’ distro.
2. Debian – A huge stable linux for all purpose.
3. Sidux – The best cutting edge software from the debian unstable into a very stable distro.
4. Dreamlinux – The best eye-candy distro.
5. Ubuntu – The best marketing in the linux world
Tasos:
I’ll Have to give ArchLinux a try. Sounds Interesting And I like the “Don’t Panic”.
SpeedyGoo:
I’ll Still Pick Kubuntu over Ubuntu., But I like what I see on Dream Linux. I’m Just worried it’ll kill the Gerbils running my machine.
I like Kubuntu, Knoppix and Nimble too. I tried the Tacos recommendations too. But only PCLOS satisfied me.
I use Sidux in VirtualBox, where I test all the other distro, but debian based Mepis is on my hard disk in my laptop. I never found a distro that need so little tweaking. openSUSE is too bloated for my taste!
[...] February 25th, 2008 var emb_url=”http://www.byzantineroads.info/?p=119″; var emb_title=”More Linux Goodness: Free Word Processors”;So far, the great Linux experiment is going great. I’ve switched from Fedora to PCLinuxOS: The main reason was the native support for my Radeon Card. Thanks, Tasos, for the heads up! [...]
[...] var emb_title=”Linux Distros Updated”;A while back I listed my top five Linux Distros: these Live CDs that I enjoyed playing around with before finally taking the Linux plunge with [...]
I only like Slax from those you mentioned and perhaps Knoppix because its the first livecd I have ever tried but not anymore since it stopped updating. My List is as it follows:
1. ArchLinux. Its my favorite and the one I use. Those who use it know why its the best distro.
2. PCLinuxOS. My second favorite. Very good distro for both begginers and intermediate users. I used for 6 months. Stable and fast with great selection of software in livecd and repositories.
3. Opensuse. It could be my second favorite if it hadnt this sluggish package management. I like the default setup and off-course Yast.
4. Mandriva (formerly Mandrake). Mandriva has a special place in my heart since this was the first distribution I have ever tried and successfully installed. It performs really well even nowadays.
5. I dont really have a fifth distro in my favorites list but I think Sabayon would be perfect if all the packages available were binary for quick installation. However its a very good distro with great selection if software and excellent hardware detection.