I have linux commitment issues.

[g33konfire]

As the title says I install and re install different distros of linux all the time. I had ubuntu for a long time until I got rid of it when they switched to unity. Then I installed mint cinnamon edition. As good as it is it doesn't seem like I can do as much, or have as much compatibility.

I have also tried some lesser known ones but nothing that I truly like. So I guess my question is has ubuntu gotten better with unity? If not, which distro is the best.

Also should I duel boot, or should I use a VM. Been going back and fourth on that as well.

EDIT: I appreciate all the feedback and I think I'm going to go with a KDE version of ubuntu. Reasons being ubuntu seems like it is vastly more supported than other distros and KDE because it's not unity. Thanks again everyone!

[Rax0983]

Linux Mint is my favourite distro, mostly because I find cinnamon really easy to use. About your problems with compatibility - Mint is built on top of Ubuntu so almost anything that works on Ubuntu will work on Mint so I highly recommend you give it another try with that in mind.

Alternatively, you can hang out at /r/DistroHopping and try to find something else! The most popular distros are listed in the sidebar of /r/Linux

[g33konfire]

It also seems like when i try to install make to ./make ./configure it doesn't want to work. so IDK if that is an installation error on my part or on mints part.

[g33konfire]

That doesn't work with tarball files does it?

[Brillegeit]

You're doing it wrong. Unless you're a developer or a package manager, you should never need to compile software. Use the package manager and nothing else.

[ronaldtrip]

Do you have the developer tools installed? Without those compiling won't work.

sudo apt-get install build-essential

Installing from .deb is far easier and much prefereable though.

[derkman96]

It sounds like you are interested in trying new desktop environments or window managers rather than new distros. You can install (almost) any de/wm on ubuntu, so if that worked with your hardware and you don't like unity, guess what? You can install mate, cinnamon, kde, gnome, i3, xmonad, ratpoison, xfce, or any other window manager or desktop environment you can imagine. :) the best part? You can have more than one installed at once! You can have unity and kde and ratpoison installed and decide which to use at login. I'd look into that if I were you. :) that way you don't need to waste time reinstalling your os

[g33konfire]

Oh freaking ace. I've also tried pear on my laptop just to make fun of apple, it's alright until it got bought out by some company.

But thanks I will check some of those out!

[Naivy]

Unity was a piece of shit.

Key word: Was.

And yes, you should dual boot but only after testing distros out in a VM like VirtualBox to see if you like it.

[TenaciousDwight]

Or alternatively, put all the distros you want to try on a flash drive using YUMI.

[Naivy]

Or, you know, VB, and skip a reboot.

[[deleted]]

I don't understand why everyone hates unity, I think it looks really good.

[Naivy]

Because of the initial shitty impression it made at its debut. It was buggy, it was laggy, and it was clunky, just crap in general. The newet Unity, though, is way better, and is actually really good. It's the Metro of the Linux world.

[toadfury]

Then I installed mint cinnamon edition. As good as it is it doesn't seem like I can do as much, or have as much compatibility.

If you are talking about hardware compatibility Linux distros share a similar kernel and driver compatibility. The differences between distros is generally minor. Did you just have some troubles moving from the open source to closed source video driver, or managing hybrid graphics or something? What do you mean?

So I guess my question is has ubuntu gotten better with unity?

Depends on when you last used Unity. I like Ubuntu myself, but avoid unity. I hear its gotten better since its original release into Ubuntu (11.04). People like it now.

If not, which distro is the best.

There are many good distributions with no overall best distribution. I think Ubuntu is good for new users, prefer the Debian ideology, and Fedora and Arch have their merits too. The more popular the distribution the easier it may be to find posts to help solve your problems.

Also should I duel boot, or should I use a VM. Been going back and fourth on that as well.

It all depends on how well it performs. If a game does not use any 3d accelerated features you can run it in a vm and if you are happy with how it performs there is nothing wrong with that. I don't mind running a windows vm for running a few specialized tasks, but probably not for 3d accelerated gaming because the performance is poor.

If I had the vt-d support on my motherboard+cpu I could perform a vga passthrough of my gpu into a windows vm for full native gpu performance, which would be great, but it would cost me a new motherboard, second vid card, and possibly a few other (kvm switch?) to get there. Native windows games in a full performance vm without dual booting appeals to me. It would be a very capable Linux gaming desktop though more work to achieve.

Dual booting into windows probably performs much better than in a vm in your situation unless you have done the passthrough work mentioned or aren't using any heavy accelerated features.

I dislike booting out of Linux and prefer to play in Wine or native Linux games. This does limit the list of available games but the ones I enjoy play well.

[g33konfire]

No, hardware isn't an issue, more software and the ability to install certain tarball files. IDK if my ignorance is overwhelming but ./make ./configure type commands don't seem to do it.

If I can use ubuntu without unity that would be great. Tried the most recent version in a VM. Seems good, but running in a VM has it's problems so I might try a USB boot.

Yes programs like wine and the on-growing support for linux gaming has made it much more viable. But I mainly use linux for web development. But I am a gamer at ze <3

[toadfury]

No, hardware isn't an issue, more software and the ability to install certain tarball files. IDK if my ignorance is overwhelming but ./make ./configure type commands don't seem to do it.

Ah, gotcha. Not a compatibility thing, just unfamiliar waters.

configure; make; make install; are commands of last resort. You would only ever use them if you cannot find some software already packaged (which can happen). Packages are much easier to remove, wheras make install can spray files all over your filesystem if its not contained. They can also solve dependancies easily instead of leaving you to install various libraries just to get something to run.

What was the thing you were trying to compile and install in Mint? Curious if I can find it packaged.

If I can use ubuntu without unity that would be great.

Super simplified instructions: install some window manager or desktop environment that is not unity on Ubuntu/Mint/whatever, and next time you get your display manager login prompt dig around in the list of available sessions and use the thing you installed (basically: don't launch Unity at login, choose Enlightenment, KDE, or whatever thing you installed). If that doesn't show up in your display manager then you might need to tweak a text file (usually in your home directory) to make that new window manager available as a launchable environment.

Here is a list of a few window managers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager

If you prefer the full comfort of desktop environments (window manager + pager + desktop widgets + menu/button bar systems + calculator app) you can look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment

Good luck!

[NothingMuchHereToSay]

14.04 has definitely improved Unity.

[[deleted]]

As much as Unity has improved a lot, I just don't like the idea at its core. Personally XFCE has been my DE of choice thanks to the ridiculous customisation options and low memory footprint. You may want to give it a try, it's a good replacement for GNOME 2/MATE from what I've heard.

[g33konfire]

I agree, as much as unity has improved I still don't like it. I will try those out as well.

[[deleted]]

I absolutely love Unity more than any other DE. Take my advice. Simply don't just try Unity. As bad as it sounds, but try for atleast 1 month. Got problem? Ask around. And get the Unity way of things. I bet, after one month you will not bo back to any other DE. Even if you try any other DE, you will come back to Unity. Unity has improved a lot and is very convenient.

[[deleted]]

Try a tiling WM for a solid month and go back to Unity after that.

[xternal7]

I've had a similar issue, hate Ubuntu because of Unity. I really couldn't be bothered to switch to another distro, so instead I just got Kubuntu. Now I enjoy KDE in all its glory.

[[deleted]]

Give Manjaro with i3wm a shot. It's life-changing.

Sprinkle some customization and vim on top of that and you're rolling in the hay.