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Hi! I've been shopping around for a new distro, and I'm starting to feel like I can't get one with all the features I want. Every new disto I try feels like I have to give up something to get something else (I know how obvious that sounds, but stay with me on this). These are the absolute requirements: - Stable. I wont use a system that crashes or hangs excessively. -Attractive. I'm a total sucker for the bells and whistles. KDE or Gnome, 3d- desktop, easy theme manager - I give all my friends that speech about "workflow" and "ease of use," but we all know the truth. -Open to proprietary software. I have an Nvidia card, HP printer-scanner, and love youtube, music and video. I know that there are open substitutes for flash, java, and most drivers, and that one can install proprietary software on any system, but there are some distros and communities that are fundamentally supportive or antagonistic of it. -Easy to update/ configure. I hate adding and removing software from a terminal. I need intelligent search tools and vast repositories. -Compatibility with NTFS. Most distros are, but there are still some that have troubles. These are preferred characteristics: -Preconfigured. If all the software and drivers I need come on the system, then I don't have to worry about problems that sometimes arise when adding them. If my ntfs volumes automount, then I don't have to manually edit my fstab, etc. -64bit. I have a 64 bit CPU, I want a 64bit OS. But only if it runs at least as well as a 32bit system. -Ease of Navigation. I don't like desktop shortcuts, so I want a menu that organizes my activities well. openSUSE and Mint are good examples. The control center should have every task related to my hardware, visual and audio, drives, devices, encodings, and OS /WM settings in one place, intelligently organized. -Easy repository system. The system should automatically choose a/ some default repository/ies and keep them updated unless I tell it otherwise. I am very interested in openSUSE's online search tool that eliminates these problems altogether, although I've gotten mixed results using it. -Responsive and supportive community. Some communities respond to queries very quickly, but are not well informed, or are unwilling to explain things thoroughly. Some communities are knowledgeable, patient, and thorough, but may take over a week to respond. Some communities have it all. -Realtime Audio tools. I use my PC for many different audio tasks, and would really like to be able to do things like record my master stereo mix, record during playback, and playback from multiple sources. Applications: -Firefox -Audacity -media manager (rythmbox, banshee, etc.) -wide variety of media codecs -Virtualbox (WinXP) <--- ugh. But I do need it. -Gimp -OpenOffice.org SO... What do you think? Is there a distro that has it all? Can I have style AND substance (AND high end audio)? postscript: Adam and Jamie DID manage to get animal dung to a high gloss, so maybe there's hope for M$... Nah, probably not.

Of course it's true that every distro will be fully customizable, otherwise it wouldn't be linux! I am more concerned with the differences that DO exist, namely: Stability, menu and task organization, openness to proprietary software (within the community), and audio support. In particular, I've had troubles configuring audio for high-end use on certain distros more than others. I've done quite a bit of searching and experimentation, but I want to make sure that I'm not overlooking a distro that could be a great fit. As far as making my own distro... lets give it some more time. I've only been using Linux for a couple years now, and there's still more that I don't know than what I do. Eventually, I would love to make one, though :) [Modified by: Last_Dino on February 10, 2009 04:57 PM]