On Saturday 26 January 2002 09:30 pm, you wrote: > On Fri, 2002-01-25 at 14:34, Rodd Ahrenstorff wrote: > > I have not seen much talk on this list concerning the "growth" of Linux > > on the home desktop. Specifically I would like to ask; what > > characteristics will a successful distro need to employ? How will the > > newest versions of Linux (ie. Lycoris (Redmond), Elx, Xandros, and OEone) > > fare compared to older favorites? I think most would agree that Mandrake > > and Red Hat hold the majority of desktops for home users, with SuSe, > > Debian, Slack and Caldera bringing up the rear. Will these distros lose > > market share? Do you care? How do the "gurus" feel about the move to > > increase ease of use and the similarities to the Windows "look and feel"? > > And lastly, have others on the list tried these new distros? > > I have used RedHat (from 5.1 through 7.1), Caldera (eDesktop 2.4), and > Mandrake (7.2 through 8.1 presently) all on my ThinkPad at various > times, and with each new release or version I have been more and more > impressed as my hardware was more easily detected and configured at > install time, and as the available configuration tools (mostly GUI) have > improved vastly. > > I am presently looking for a change from Mandrake 8.1, to a more > slimmed-down, power-user distro. I've been thinking maybe Debian, but > I'm not sure if I am ready to take the plunge. Therefore, I am extremely > interested in the comments of those who have tried some of the newer > (and lesser-known) distros like Lycoris, Elx, Gentoo, etc. Each to his own. I like having all the stuff that Mandrake has, and the installation is easy for a relative klutz like me. That said, Gentoo sounds way cool, although probably needs a more sophisticated user than I am, and I'd be lost without a good, easy-to-use X environment. Ditto for Linux From Scratch, although it would be a learning experience . . .