Best Desktop Distributions

Note: If you don't like this discussion, you can jump to the end for some The Sandman related humor. After all, a topic visited as much as this one should be... colored a bit, don't you think so?

A few days ago a friend, being new to Linux, asked me about different distributions and that led to a long talk about their merits and failings. So, being new to blog-sphere, I decided to play it safe and write about best desktop distributions. But I also thought that I could do this a little differently. Best as in best for the Linux Desktop. First let us find some criteria for choosing distributions:

1. Considering an usual desktop user uses around 1000-2000 package, the distribution must have over 10000 packages. Let's just say over 9000.
2. It must not be a cosmetic derivative, or a derivative of a derivative of a derivative of a...
3. It must be up-to-date. My criteria for this is two important packages: linux (* > 3.0.6) and libreoffice (* > 3.3). This packages manage to give a good sense of up-to-dateness for the desktop.
4. It must have an active community.
5. It must support both KDE and Gnome 3.
6. It must not be a testing variant.

If I have to defend my criteria a bit (which I should), I must say that a distribution aimed for desktop users must always stay on the top of the Linux discussions and must not sacrifice stability. If people everywhere are eating their keyboards talking about Gnome 3, a desktop distribution must offer it for use. LibreOffice must be up-to-date as it is probably one of the most important applications for the desktop. And it must have relative stability within its own definition, meaning stability as Debian understands stability and stability as Arch understands stability. Lastly, this list is aimed to the somewhat new users who knows about Linux a bit (maybe having used Ubuntu for a six-month-spin) and wants to go exploring. And it is written mainly because I enjoyed the discussion I referred in the first sentence and thought that I would also enjoy summarizing it (I did).

If you think that this six points cannot offer an objective perceptive, we can discuss it. Leave a comment. After all, this is just my opinion.

Depending on the criteria, these are distributions we end up with (sorted by the time I clicked their Wikipedia page) : Linux Mint Debian Edition, Sabayon, Gentoo, Arch, Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE. Only seven. Seems very few but if we are talking about the best desktop distributions, we must not show clemency. Moreover; isn't seven a good, nice, prime number? They must fulfill all six criteria I offered or they are not among the best.

Now a little deeper look into the six distributions. I think that distributions must be further classified by how they are released.

Short-term releases:

These are the distributions that are released by six-month intervals. Ubuntu family of distributions and Fedora belong here. This release format offers very good balance between stability and being up-to-date. But it might sometimes sacrifice stability. Fedora is known to be particularly unstable sometimes. Their short-term usage might also be annoying. As a last comment, their stability is more or less hit-or-miss; mostly hit with Ubuntu, but not so with Fedora.

Long-term releases:

These are, as the name suggest, follows a release circle but one that is longer than six months. openSUSE fits here. It is stable and up-to-date. Actually, only reason I don't recommend it is my own bad experiences with their repositories and;

Rolling releases:

These are my personal favorites. Arch, Sabayon and Gentoo fits here. The main attractions of rolling release are that they always stay up-to-date and once configured, you may forget about configuration. There are no six or eight monthly re-installs or big updates. Not having used Gentoo and Sabayon, I can't talk about their stability (maybe you might want to leave a comment about this if you used them); but Arch is stable. A very new user may not find it so, but for an experienced user there is not much of a problem. All-in-all, rolling releases offer good desktop experiences for the long-term use. Still, for the sake of objectivity, I must say here that openSUSE is probably more stable than these. Be warned: Gentoo is a source distribution.

Mixed releases:

These stands between rolling and fixed releases. Linux Mint Debian Edition fits here. It is rolling, but it stops to roll for a while when it nears the stable releases of Debian Stable. I know that I said the distribution must not be a testing variant but LMDE is a special case. They have created a curious mix between Debian Testing and Ubuntu and they have their own tools. They also release updates in bundles so stability is not a big problem even if it is based on a testing branch.

Now, for some humor:

As we have only seven distributions in our hands, I can't stop thinking about something else that is numbered seven. And if you don't know what The Endless family is, you can stop reading here.

Seven distributions, seven Endless. Let's match them:

Destiny is the Linux Mint Debian Edition. Because it is, well... Debian. A solid argument by itself, isn't it =)

Death is Ubuntu. Because everyone must encounter it someday. Maybe on your own computer, maybe on a virtual machine, maybe supporting someone else. It is the distribution you might know much about without actually even using it yourself.

Dream is Arch. Not because it does not want to change (although it also does not really wants to change) but you can shape it into almost everything Linux can be.

Destruction is openSUSE. Because it is somewhat of a rogue element. With next to nothing derivatives or anything.

Desire/Despair is Sabayon/Gentoo. Because you despair while compiling with Gentoo and desire Sabayon's binaries and then despair for customization of Gentoo and then despa...

Delirium is Fedora. Because it is Fedora. Cutting edge delight turning into delirium.

Thanks for reading all way to the here. See you later!

Are the new user interfaces really problems?

When I wrote about DRM and how it is a big problem, I got a comment saying that the real problem is new user interfaces. I do not agree. They are problematic for now, that much is true; but only as far as the new users are concerned and only for so long.

This past months Linux communities have seen much hate toward new GUIs. Aesthetics aside; their newness together with their widespread use is a big problem, but they also brought a change, something we did not see before. Refreshing, even.

Let us start with the problem. They are new. For someone like me who knows the system well, this is not a problem but what about someone who has just met with Linux? I have some firsthand experience about that situation. As one of the admins of Turkey's most popular Linux forum, I spend almost all my time there solving new users' problems. But the thing is, almost all of the problems are KDE or Gnome related. Forum is mostly about Pardus and Pardus has a strong base system. But KDE, in its complexity, or Gnome, in its newness, are always creating problems. As Pardus is not used widely, it wasn't really a problem for the Linux community at large with its stable Gnome 2. But things are changed. Gnome 3 arrived, also rushing Unity to the front from the netbooks. As I have said before, KDE was already a problem for the new users who doesn't even now what Konsole is for; but now the other safe alternative is no longer there. Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint and all the other distributions new users usually use are no longer bundled with stable interfaces. Here you will probably say that KDE is stable and good, I agree to an extend; but it is only stable as long as you know what you are doing. User interfaces are the face of Linux, for new users they are Linux. A problem in them is a problem in Linux in their eyes. And this hurts Linux very much right now. Gnome 3 and Unity will became stable with time and this will pass but right now it is a big problem. KDE is not for the absolute newbie and all the other alternatives are either too complicated and not-newbie-friendly or as buggy as hell. When KDE becomes the sane alternative for the newbies, we must realize that there is a big problem somewhere.

But I can't believe that anyone in Linux community can say that Gnome 3's and Unity's newness is a problem for the Linux desktop. After all, Linux desktop grows with people who demand change, who demand newness. Even for a veteran user for whom user interfaces are mostly a choice of aesthetics, accessibility and sometimes integration of different parts; change should remain as something desired, something inherent in Linux philosophy. I very much hope that I am not wrong for assuming this.

If we talk about interfaces themselves; I can't speak much for Unity, not having used it. But Gnome 3 is great. It is prone to crashes, it needs css and js editing to look good and to act as dictated by the user, but it is something I've never thought of before. A new desktop metaphor that actually works, what could be wrong with that? You might say that it does not work well but as millions are using it (maybe a exaggeration) one must agree that it does, indeed, work. I am using it comfortably, as many other also do. It is free of distractions and works perfectly with docks if you prefer to use them. Goes very well with Avant Window Navigator, try it. It is very customizable, you can check my Gnome 3 setup here.

All in all; even if the new interfaces are problems right now, I would like to believe that they won't stay long as problems. And with their stability new options will be there for the new comers. New metaphors, something they cannot experience with other operating systems at large. No matter how you look at it, this is not a problem, only an opportunity that is slowly beginning to make itself known. To quote Firefly, "every problem is an opportunity in disguise".

Ubuntu; apparently, a Linux apart from Linux

When I decided to start a blog and write about Linux, I never thought that I would see this. Since this surprised me somewhat, I decided to share it.

Some minutes ago I remembered that I could check how many views I got, did so, and noticed some strange data in Pageviews by Operating Systems part of the stats page. This:

As you can see, Ubuntu stands apart from Linux. Android, I can understand; but Ubuntu? Really?

Now, I must say that I've no idea if this situation is exlusive to Google or can be encountered with other analytics systems too. So; I ask you, do you see this with Wordpress and the others?

Future of the Linux Desktop

With the end of another year inevitable talks of the year of the Linux desktop is emerging once again. But what I've seen so far is all pessimism. I believe that compared to last years there is much improvement in the chances of Linux desktop in some cases. But there is also one big problem, let's list them.

Gaming first; with the rise of indie gaming Linux is a much better place then it was a few years ago. Recent release of Desura and popularity of various indie bundles is testament to this. Moreover, gaming consoles' overtaking of PCs can only benefit Linux. So far, with regards of a year of Linux desktop, changes in gaming only improved Linux's chances.

Secondly usability is still better with Linux. People usually run away from the command line, but it really makes things easier. I admit than it has a long learning process compared to Windows, but when you are there, there is no better usability you can reach as a desktop user.

Last one is a mixed package. On one hand, it is great for Linux desktop; on the other, the biggest problem. The distinction comes from the approaches companies adopted. I am talking about online services, cloud if you will. Services like Google Docs are great, almost all of them can work on Linux. Currents trends are slowly pulling our computers towards a place that is stuck between desktop applications and cloud ones and Linux is perfect for such a situation. But there is one big problem: DRM. It is very easy to see that in recent years there has been a big fall in pirated material, whether they be movies, books or music. Main reason of this is services like Netflix and MOG. And, sadly, unless they use flash or HTML5, they don't work on Linux. Zinio is a problem, Netflix – which uses more than half of USA bandwidth – does not work, other local platforms like Turkey's TiViBu does not work; list goes on. From a desktop user standpoint, this is a very big problem. Adobe Air and Silverlight is the culprit. Silverlight comes from Microsoft, so there is no surprise here and Adobe never had a good relationship with Linux. I think the future of the Linux desktop will be decided in here. If HTML5 wins the battle for the accepted content provider, the year of the Linux desktop may yet arrive; otherwise, I don't have much hope.

Considering all, I believe chances are good. Problems were limitless in the past, today the most heavy problem is the new one, DRM. And online companies are slowly going towards HTML5 solutions. MOG started using it, Spotify released a Linux client, even Netflix are using HTML5 for some situation such as PS3s. Chrome Apps are also a big improvement in cloud and Linux matters.

What do you think will be the result of the DRM problem?