From: unruh@invalid.ca   
      
   On 2012-05-25, Adam  wrote:   
   > Aragorn wrote:   
   >> On Thursday 24 May 2012 01:08, Adam conveyed the following to   
   >> alt.os.linux.mandriva...   
   >   
   >>> We seem to be drifting onto "choosing a distro" here....   
   > [...]   
   >>>> Okay, so you've got room for...   
   >>>>        ?? Mandriva,   
   >>>>        ?? Mageia,   
   >>>>        ?? PCLinuxOS, and   
   >>>>        ?? openSUSE   
   >>>> Those four seem the closest related.   
   >>>   
   >>> Well, it /may/ turn out that the best distro for me isn't related at   
   >>> all, maybe Slackware or FreeBSD or something.   
   >>   
   >> Mind you that FreeBSD is not GNU/Linux.   
   >   
   > I know; I gather that's about as far from Mandriva et al. as one can   
   > get within FOSS *nix.  I just wanted to emphasize that I'm open to   
   > trying something different with a learning curve, /if/ it turns out   
   > to be the best choice for me.   
   >   
   >> I'm assuming that someone who stuck with a particular   
   >> distribution for so long as you have, and as most of us here have, will   
   >> be most comfortable with a distribution that has roughly the same look&   
   >> feel - by which I'm not talking of one's choice of desktop environment,   
   >> but rather in how the distribution is organized and handled - and the   
   >> same kind of reliability.   
   >   
   > I tend to over-research, but this way I can try out other   
   > distros/releases while keeping my current install intact so I can   
   > research any problems I'm having with any of the others. :-)  Since   
   > I have unlimited downloads (so far!), the only cost of getting other   
   > distros is time (about 4 hours for a full DVD) and the small cost of   
   > the DVDs to burn them to.  So far (while running Mandriva 2010.0),   
   > I've downloaded Mandriva 2011, Mageia 2 (official release),   
   > PCLinuxOS 2011.09, openSUSE 12.1, and out of curiosity Slackware   
   > 13.37, CrunchBang 10, and Debian 6.0.5 in progress (8 DVDs!).  I'll   
   > also check out opinions online of all of those.  Offhand, would you   
   > happen to know whether any of them prefer ext3 or ext4 for their   
   > root partitions?  Or is ext4 already pretty much standard already?   
      
   The 4 hours downloading is trivial (you do not have to be there. ) the   
   8-40 hours spent installing it, testing it out, trying to fix the   
   inevitable problems each has is the real expense. If you are   
   unemployed/retired without a social life, perhaps this is a possible use   
   of your time. For most however it is not.   
      
      
   >   
   > Adam   
      
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