[Mila]

So I'm installing a new operating system on my laptop, and I'm trying to choose which one to install. I'm staying away from Windows and Mac and leaning towards a Linux/Unix/Solaris distro. Unfortunately while many people have many opinions as to which ones are the best, I'm having some difficulty wading through the many Google results to figure out which would be best to suit my needs.

Pretty much, my priorities are:
1. Good support for Java & C++ (.NET) programming and development.
2. Good support for the playback of AVI, MP4, and MP3 files. Flash support is crucial.
3. Wine, or some other way to run native Windows applications.

So far I've looked at OpenSolaris, Ubuntu, and Gentoo. Of these I've liked OpenSolaris the best (though that's relative). Ubuntu seems as though there's a number of hoops you've got to jump through to get all the proprietary file formats working. And Gentoo was just kinda scary.

I don't mind dealing a bit with the underlying OS. I dabbled a bit with RedHat back when it was free, so I've got some experience with Linux. Anyway I'd like to get peoples' feedback on distros and builds and if anyone has a suggestion based on their own experience or whatever, I'd love that too.

Thanks.

Mila

[no2pencil]

Mila, on 16 Dec, 2008 - 12:16 AM, said:

Pretty much, my priorities are:
1. Good support for Java & C++ (.NET) programming and development.
2. Good support for the playback of AVI, MP4, and MP3 files. Flash support is crucial.
3. Wine, or some other way to run native Windows applications.

Pretty much any *nix OS is going to handle these the same, as I understand it. Only the OS itself is different. There is a vast availability of compilers available, gcc & javac are not restricted to any single OS. MP3s have been playing on Linux for as long as I can remember using it, & I just updated my Flash player to version 10. While I don't have any experience with Wine, again, I'm sure if given the tarball, you can make configure install all you like & it should react the same.

I'm pretty sure that Solaris is Unix, it's the new version of Sun OS correct?

I think you'll find more answers to your questions on a Linux system than Solaris, but you might find working with Solaris more rewarding. I don't know. You can grab a live boot disk of each & just try them out. As far as the software in your requirements, they'll probably use the SAME software. Mplayer, lvc player, Xrmms, should be available for all systems, plus there are many other softwares available

[MorphiusFaydal]

If you need C++.NET support, you'll need to either run Windows or run Windows under VMWare or Paralells. Visual Studio is the only compiler for C++.NET, and I don't believe it runs under WINE.

Java and vanilla C++ are fine... No trouble getting them set up.

Media support. I have no trouble on my Ubuntu 8.10 install with media. I had to manually install Flash, but it was easy. And normal media (to the limited extent I've tested) is fine as well. From what I recall a couple versions ago, it's not so much jumping through hoops as a clicking a couple boxes, and putting in a couple lines of text. But I *think* they're past that now.

EDIT:
And I agree with no2pencil - You'll have an easier time with a Linux system than you will with a Solaris or OpenSolaris. (And yes, Solaris and OpenSolaris are the "proper" names of SunOS.. The kernel is SunOS 5.10 and 5.11(testing) for the both of them )

This post has been edited by MorphiusFaydal: 16 December 2008 - 12:32 AM

[GWatt]

Mila, on 16 Dec, 2008 - 12:16 AM, said:

So far I've looked at OpenSolaris, Ubuntu, and Gentoo. Of these I've liked OpenSolaris the best (though that's relative). Ubuntu seems as though there's a number of hoops you've got to jump through to get all the proprietary file formats working. And Gentoo was just kinda scary.

Ubuntu is far easier to use than OpenSolaris.
Solaris is not for everyday desktop use. It's designed to be a server/development platform. Ubuntu is designed around pleasing end users. I don't know who told you that getting non-free stuff to work on Ubuntu is hard. They're not installed by default because of legal issues.
However, AFAIK the Solaris systems don't actually have a package manager, so you have to find someone who's already compiled the binaries, and put them in a nice install script, or compile them yourself.
I haven't used solaris recently so that might have changed.
If you want to use a unix system, and not a linux system, use PC-BSD.

[MorphiusFaydal]

GWatt, on 16 Dec, 2008 - 09:31 AM, said:

If you want to use a unix system, and not a linux system, use PC-BSD.

I prefer FreeBSD myself... No real reason why, I just do.

[GWatt]

I've used that too, however PC-BSD is a little more beginner friendly.

[Mike111]

Fedora 10 is nice, I recommend that.

[homemade-jam]

To get into linux I picked up one of those linux netbooks...loads of the distros have liveCDs so just burn a few and see which ones take your fancy.

Probably best not to start on Slackware iirc.

[no2pencil]

MorphiusFaydal, on 16 Dec, 2008 - 11:06 AM, said:

GWatt, on 16 Dec, 2008 - 09:31 AM, said:

If you want to use a unix system, and not a linux system, use PC-BSD.

I prefer FreeBSD myself... No real reason why, I just do.

I setup FreeBSD on an older 266 mhz laptop. It was ok, but if I had to do it again I would just as soon go with a Linux distro. FreeBSD is great for my servers, but it just seems a bit needy for my attention to use on a daily Desktop/Laptop.

[Tom9729]

Solaris is easy to use... there's just not very many drivers.

Pretty much any Linux distro is going to hassle you about codecs. The nice thing about Ubuntu is that there are a ton of guides on how to install them.

[homemade-jam]

Whilst on the topic, I'm thinking of giving fedora a go...seems to get good reviews, any comments?

[Nykc]

I was happy with the Fedora 10 Live CD I acquired. Not enough to switch from Ubuntu though. Ubuntu has too good a support system for me to give them up yet.

[Tom9729]

Fedora is nice, very up to date and comes with SELinux configured out of the box.

In the past it's had a very poor package management system. I haven't used it in awhile though, so give it a try (it's probably gotten better).

[Louisda16th]

Yup. I love fedora . I've been using it for almost a year now. I'm currently using F10 with KDE 4.1. I started using fedora (and linux for that matter) after bumping into the Fedora Electronics Lab live CD.

[zombie_chan51]

I recommend Fedora, it works for me if i want to write code for c++.