Linux Users: What do you look for in a distro?

Putting together a couple distros again soon, and was looking for some user input. Anything from favorite browser, window manager, desktop environment, text editor, application, etc. Anything you look for or want, or think would be a nice touch in a distro. Also, what package manager do you like, or in other words, what base distro do you prefer? (ie, debian, fedora, arch, etc)

Probably going to put a novice distro together, as well as a couple others, such as a gaming one, etc.

So any input at all will be gladly appreciated.

I look for a OS that is released with some QA, like I have always had good look with Ubuntu and Linux Mint but openSuse 11.4 I had some gpu issues and Fedora 16 ran great but them removing a shut down button kind of bothered me.

Another thing is a good package manager so I like Ubuntu the best, the rpm manager is okay and if you know what you are looking for then you are good but if not some issues may occur.

The one thing I will say openSuse has on them all is Yahst which is truly amazing if you learn how to use it properly.

For U/I Unity for originality, Linux mint MATE for appearance and KDE for appearance and reliability.

As for where the packages come from I am going to give it to Debian, even though Fedora and openSuse come close Debian has better support for 64 Bit applications.

I like Ubuntu. I have found package manager much easier to use than Yahst in SuSE. I do a lot of video editing and have found all Linux distro's lacking in this respect. For this reason I dual boot with windows 7 and use Sony movie studio. Simple process to dual boot, Ubuntu does all the work with no effort. Cinelerra for Linux is about the best Durban choice but its nowhere near as polished as windows editing programs.

in no particular order:

1) install options
2) built in package managers
3) driver/kernel support
4) community support (forums, developers, etc)
5) product life cycle (how often does it get updated)

xzimppledink said:

I like Ubuntu. I have found package manager much easier to use than Yahst in SuSE. I do a lot of video editing and have found all Linux distro's lacking in this respect. For this reason I dual boot with windows 7 and use Sony movie studio. Simple process to dual boot, Ubuntu does all the work with no effort. Cinelerra for Linux is about the best Durban choice but its nowhere near as polished as windows editing programs.

Click to expand...

Have you tried Ubuntu Studio? That sounds like a good distro for you.

tlarkin said:

in no particular order:

1) install options
2) built in package managers
3) driver/kernel support
4) community support (forums, developers, etc)
5) product life cycle (how often does it get updated)

Click to expand...

Package management is going to be left up to the user really. I'm using debian, so you have the choice of using dpkg or apt-get or aptitude from the command line or the software center or gdebi(when needed) for installing stuff w/ a gui.

Kernel: I'm trying my hardest to get the newest kernel 3.X working with my build tools. Assuming I can, that will provide a good bit of more support for hardware.

Community: I'm going to setup a forum, but as far as developers, It's just me unless other people join me later on. Not much I can do there.

Life Cycle: Not sure about this one yet. Leaning towards a annual or bi-annual release. This one is tricky though. Might some how incorporate a easy way to just upgrade with little hassle.

Anyways, I type this as I hopefully am building my current environment for the last time to start testing.

The first thing I look for in a Linux distro is whether or not Bobby made it. If he didn't then it better be damn good or it's not worth trying.

My preferred browser is Chromium and if I didn't always leave my gmail tab open, I'd use Pidgin for IM.