FeedsThe Distro I'd like to use
I'm a distrohopper, and have been for a long time. There have been days in which I've installed at least five different distributions to try. Always to return to the moment's least frustrating Linux distribution. Béranger, I fully understand the often bitter tone of your posts.
Many people don't seem to understand me, and for long i couldn't think of a way to explain what kind of Linux distribution I'd like to use. I think I've now found out that way:
My ideal distro is comfortable like Ubuntu, but as speedy as CRUX. It's without the bloaty feeling OpenSuSE gives, but still as slick as Mac OS X. Stable as a rock like RedHat Enterprise Linux, but free like CentOS. Cutting edge software like Fedora, but few bugs like Debian. Fresh like Mint, but single-distro like Mandriva (hmm, and single-edition as well). Simple to hack like Slackware, but with powerful package management like Debian.
Keeping it fresh
If the above doesn't make it hard enough, when I read in RSS feeds that the new [fill in arbitrary piece of software] is out, and how fantastic it is, I don't want to wait half a year to be able to use it. Now, I get that for example GNOME is an integral part of the system, and as such can not be updated that easily without breaking stuff. So I'll be forgiving about integral system parts. But what about end-of-the-stack software like Pidgin, Evolution, Firefox, Thunderbird, The Gimp, etc.?
Although Fedora seems to deliver this kind of updates, I think they update too many system-critical components like the kernel.
No distro is perfect. For now I'm running Ubuntu 8.10, and accept the compromises.
Ideas
I happen to have some basic ideas about the design of a decent linux distribution as well (Note that this is aimed at desktops, for servers I'd recommend a whole different system)
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Seperate "core" and "packages". Comprise a minimal operating system, graphical environment, drivers and a minimal Desktop environment which during a release cycle is only updated with bug/security fixes. Look at FreeBSD which has ports/packages seperated from the system.
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Update the "packages" during release. Look at shrug Windows. When the new WinAmp is released; people want to install and use it. A clear depencency chain would of course be required for this.
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Release a new system (including packages) once a year. A release half a year is too much in my opinion, and not really necessary once you update end-of-stack software.
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Give people one release to update to the next (so one release is maintained two years).
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Fix bugs during a release. And not just security bugs. Often I experience bugs, and they don't get fixed for the current release. "It'll be fixed in the next release". Unacceptable.
Other thoughts
These are some thoughts which pop into my head occasionally, mostly these are more global issues, not distribution-specific.
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Standard package format across distributions. I know opinions differ. I know it's a hard goal. I also know harder things have been done, and my guess is that if this happens, the Linux world will have far stronger offerings.
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Why is Linux released as a kernel? Would it make compatibility across distributions easier if Linux was released as a complete minimal base system? Let's call it the Linux Standard Base ;-)
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Make choices easier. What version of Ubuntu is my father going to pick? Ubuntu or Kubuntu? x86 or x86_64? 'The latest version' or 'LTS'? Ubuntu probably offers the least options, but it's already too much for "normal" people.
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Why are there 500+ distributions of Linux not enough, while about as much people use just one distribution of Mac OS, and much more people use just one distribution of Windows? (some people even seem happy with it :-S)
Do it yourself
I've started developing my own distribution a couple of times. Unfortunately, next to a full-time job it isn't doable for a single person who wants to have a life beyond the computer. Also, with five hundred plus currently available Linux distributions, you'd think there's something acceptable to find.
Recommendations welcome
But I've probably tried the distribution you'll mention. I also fully understand people who think 'stop whining', but I just think Linux distributions, and the software they contain have the potential to be much better than they currently are. And that's a shame.
