Which OS do you think is best?

I'm buying a new computer soon and i'm going to partition the hard drive and install a new OS. The computer is going to have windows installed already and i'm sick of windows. Which one should I choose?

[Prometheum]

gNewSense is one of the best distros in terms of freedom and usability. It isn't perfect for all hardware though; if you have hardware that requires non-free firmware or drivers, you should (buy better hardware and then not) consider using Ubuntu.

Others in this forum will say Fedora, which is also good (but less free than gNewSense). Don't listen to those who say Slackware or Gentoo; those are harder to use than the others, and if you want to go with those you should be prepared for what you're doing.

If you want a BSD-based OS, check out FreeBSD. NetBSD isn't used very much, and OpenBSD people have the maturity and social skills of grade schoolers. FreeBSD is a great OS. (If you must have insane amounts of security, go OpenBSD, but that isn't necessary for most.)

Originally Posted by Prometheum

gNewSense is one of the best distros in terms of freedom and usability. It isn't perfect for all hardware though; if you have hardware that requires non-free firmware or drivers, you should (buy better hardware and then not) consider using Ubuntu.

Others in this forum will say Fedora, which is also good (but less free than gNewSense). Don't listen to those who say Slackware or Gentoo; those are harder to use than the others, and if you want to go with those you should be prepared for what you're doing.

If you want a BSD-based OS, check out FreeBSD. NetBSD isn't used very much, and OpenBSD people have the maturity and social skills of grade schoolers. FreeBSD is a great OS. (If you must have insane amounts of security, go OpenBSD, but that isn't necessary for most.)

You are advising a newbie not to go with Slackware or Gentoo. Then you tell him if he wants a derivative of BSD to go with FreeBSD?

DesktopBSD is a customized FreeBSD installation that aims to be newbie attractive, but it's not dumbproof.
If you want something dumbproof, go with PC-BSD instead.
DesktopBSD is NOT a fork, it's just customized installation and set of configuration files period. Therefore it IS FreeBSD.

NetBSD isn't very much used on common hardware, but's very far from being dead, it just seems to attract more developers than common users/admins.

The best desktop Windows alternative ATM is either OS X or Xorg/Linux. :-)

[Prometheum]

Originally Posted by zeusy

You are advising a newbie not to go with Slackware or Gentoo. Then you tell him if he wants a derivative of BSD to go with FreeBSD?

DesktopBSD is a customized FreeBSD installation that aims to be newbie attractive, but it's not dumbproof.
If you want something dumbproof, go with PC-BSD instead.
DesktopBSD is NOT a fork, it's just customized installation and set of configuration files period. Therefore it IS FreeBSD.

NetBSD isn't very much used on common hardware, but's very far from being dead, it just seems to attract more developers than common users/admins.

The best desktop Windows alternative ATM is either OS X or Xorg/Linux. :-)

Oh, well then. Use that BSD then OP.

(I'm not really a BSD dude.)

I just want something that runs smoother than windows, rarely crashes, and viruses don't affect. I'm sure I could figure out how to use almost any OS, so feel free to throw out almost anything that fits into the description.

[Prometheum]

Originally Posted by axe to the face

I just want something that runs smoother than windows, rarely crashes, and viruses don't affect. I'm sure I could figure out how to use almost any OS, so feel free to throw out almost anything that fits into the description.

We've thrown out most of the main players. My recommendation is gNewSense.

Originally Posted by axe to the face

I just want something that runs smoother than windows, rarely crashes, and viruses don't affect. I'm sure I could figure out how to use almost any OS, so feel free to throw out almost anything that fits into the description.

Those are that aims to be user-friendly:

BSD based:
DesktopBSD (*pure*)
PC-BSD (*dirtier*)

Gnu/Linux:
gNewSense (if you have very common hardware)
Ubuntu (if you have not-so common hardware)
Fedora
Zenwalk

NeXT based:
OS X (you will need new hardware)

Just google those and see which you prefer.
I wounldn't recommand the others mentioned, they will give you a hard time.

Malware (which i assume is what you meant by *virus*),
can affect any system, is less common on Unix system.
It's not unkown of, just not *distributed* the same way.
In other words, don't worry about it on UNIX-like system.
That doesn't mean run every executable you come accross though.

Sounds like i'm a gNewSense man.

dont go with gNewSense, you may as well use debian.

the only reason it was suggested is because Prometheum is the bastard child of RMS.

ubuntu is good. suse is good. fedora is good.

use one of those if your new to linux.

i recommend ubuntu for something that "just works"

Originally Posted by fined_mind

dont go with gNewSense, you may as well use debian.

the only reason it was suggested is because Prometheum is the bastard child of RMS.

ubuntu is good. suse is good. fedora is good.

use one of those if your new to linux.

i recommend ubuntu for something that "just works"

Debian, Ubuntu, gNewSense they're pretty much all the same, you idiot.
Ubuntu is Debain with a new name, few patches, new installer, and few other things as well. gNewSense is pretty much Ubuntu stripped of proprieteray/commercial software.

SuSE isn't Free, OpenSuSE is.