Hello

As it said im looking for a version of Linux that looks good

My Hardware can run 3D Desktop but i also want a good version

thinks

Ubuntu and Fedora 7 both look pretty good

I say try'em both.

Also check out:

http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT7386380154.html

I was going to link you to distrowatch but I am having trouble getting to their site at the moment.

You may be able to pull up their google cache...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en [...] gle+Search

GL

If you want something that looks nice out of the box, give Sabayon Linux a try.

But remember, picking a distribution based on looks is WAY beside the point, since every distribution gives you pretty much total control over functionality and appearances. If you really like one distro, but like the looks of another better, it is possible to configure one to look like the other. Also, give sites like http://gnome-look.org and http://kde-look.org a try for more custom looks.

good luck.

-Zorak

The choice of distribution doesn't matter as much as the choice of the window manager and its theme. There are two major window managers out there- Gnome and KDE. Ubuntu running Gnome will look much like Fedora running Gnome will look much like SUSE running Gnome, etc. There are a bazillion themes out there on http://kde-look.org and http://gnome-look.org as Zorak said.

You will also want to use a hardware-accelerated desktop like Compiz or Beryl. That gives all of the whiz-bang things like windows that dissolve and wobble when you drag them around and such. I kind of like the Alt-arrow key desktops-on-a-cube thing myself. Most every recent distribution supports them, so it's more of picking a distribution and messing with it until you get it to look as you want.

Does anyone think there is a 'latest Linux' that works well out of the box? I wanted to use that has a later kernel (2.6.22.9 or at least, 2.6.22) and was wondering what would be recommended. I guess Ubuntu is moving to Gutsy in October and will use 2.6.22 but how is it using Debian testing or going to Fedora 8? Are those too unpredictable and potentially problematic for a newbie, you think?

Fedora 7 uses 2.6.22.1-xxxxxxx after you update it.

They update very frequently, it is what Fedora does.

Ubuntu can be updated too but I am not sure if you can apt-get the latest kernel from the official Ubuntu apt-get repositories.

You can build it from source of course but that is not recommended.

Is there a specific feature .22 has that you are interested in?

Is it better to just reinstall the newest (stable) version (with most recent kernel), though?

How much of a risk is it to use a 'development' or testing version?

I thought upgrading your distro to a newer kernel or version risks breaking things. I try to keep data in a separate partition in anticipation of reinstalling. I try to do that with Windows as well but we all know how Windows forces you to use 'C' for various programs and files.

There isn't a specific feature of .22 that I can recall right now but I read something not too long ago that interested me in having a kernel > .20.

Fedora 7 and the latest Fedora 7 kernel from the official repositories should never break anything.

The same is true for any other distribution, the distribution's kernel updates should just work.

Problems can arise if you decide to build your own kernel from source or use an unsupported 3rd party kernel.


If you install Fedora 7 and then run yum update to update everything you'll be fine.


You can upgrade to Fedora 8 when it is released by:

running the upgrade process ( 1-2 hours depending on system speed / resources )

installing from scratch / make all new filesystems

install Fedora 8 on top of Fedora 7 overwriting the system file systems but keeping /home intact

Ubuntu / Debian and RedHat / RedHat like distributions work roughly the same way as Fedora but they do not update as frequently.

I've been using Ubuntu since 6.06 (Dapper) and between then and now, all my kernal updates have come in as apart of the automatic updates. I usually have to reconfig my vmware after it as any main kernal changes disrupts vmwares settings (I have a little script that sorts it out). So any ubuntu version should have the latest, stable kernal updates that shares the upstream work from debian testing. Correct me if I am wrong.

I believe you're quite correct.

Except Ubuntu doesn't quite release a new kernel every 2 days like Fedora

I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

They do update very frequently though, much more frequently than RedHat or CentOS.

The frequent updates are usually a good thing except when you have to reinstall the VMWare kernel modules, the proprietary nVidia drivers or other kernel modules by hand.

livna has trouble keeping up with the updates sometimes too ( they provide nVidia, Wi-Fi and NTFS modules ).

For a while, Ubuntu must have had a near daily kernel update, because each morning, I was having to run the Vmware rebuild Seems to have gone back to the usual weekly updates now

I use to complain about frequent updates with Windows crap, but now I'm happy with them because I know they actually fix things and don't slow my system down