Switching To Linux: Expectations and Criteria

Chapter 6.Now that we have established how we are going to set up each machine in Virtualbox and what distributions we are going to install, it is time to take a look a what my expectations are for each distribution. Because I included a wide range of possibilities, it would be unfair to compare them through a general set of parameters. Arch Linux for example is a do-it-yourself distribution and can hardly be compared with the installation comfort of a graphical installer.

This article tries to describe what I expect during the installation and what criteria I will judge by once the installation is finished. This gives me the opportunity to test all different distributions fairly. To that end, I will not use a points system, I will just take in account how good a certain distribution fulfills a certain expectation. So if a feature is not in the distribution, this will have no impact on my eventual choice.

So, if a distribution delivers what it promises, it will get a positive mark, if it does not the severity of the shortcoming will be judged.

Here is the list of demands:

During Installation

• Am I able to chose the correct keyboard settings?
• Can I partition the hard disk myself (to make a separate /home partition to store documents)?
• Can I set Timezone and location?
• Can I decide what packages are installed?
• How long does the installation take?
• Are there any remarkable features? Is there anything missing?

Post Installation

• What does it do: layout, theme, start menu,… Are there any strange things, hard to find options or display errors?
• Are all the settings I chose during installation applied correctly?
• Does it work? No crashes, errors, other configuration not done by the setup?
• Are there any updates to install? If so, how many? Can I install all updates at once?
• Does adding / removing a program work?
• Can I get a clear picture what is installed?