One of the best ways of growing a strong community now a days is to start a forum. There are a plethora of forums for Unix and Linux and new ones are coming up all the time. Out of all these, a small section of them have risen to the top by virtue of their dedication and some good luck. Last updated on December 28th 2007
Below are a collection of popular Linux/Unix forums which I found to enjoy a strong community backing.
- Linux Questions.org - One of the foremost Linux forums which has a very strong community following. I may add that it is one of the most active Linux/Unix forums I have come across in recent times.
- Ubuntu Forums - This is yet another forum which is dedicated to a flavor of Linux albeit a very popular one namely Ubuntu.
- Gentoo Forums - This is the official Gentoo forum which enjoy a huge fan following. Gentoo is a flavor of Linux which prides itself in allowing the user (that is you) in configuring each and every aspect of Linux at the time of installation. The gentoo site also hosts a very good forum which apart from being a knowledge resource for Gentoo users is also sure to help the non-gentoo Linux enthusiast.
- Freespire Forums - The official Freespire forum. Freespire is a community-driven, Linux-based operating system that combines the best that free, open source software has to offer (community driven, freely distributed, open source code, etc.), but also provides users the choice of including proprietary codecs, drivers and applications as they see fit.
- Linux Forums.org - Claims to have over 90,000 members and 400,000 posts related to GNU/Linux
- HowToForge.com - This is a site which provides detailed guides on all things related to Open Source and Free Software with a strong leaning towards GNU/Linux. It also has a vibrant forum.
- SuSE Forums - A forum dedicated to discussing problems related to SuSE Linux.
- Arch Linux Forums - This is the official Arch Linux forum which provides help in solving a variety of problems related to this particular Linux distribution. [**New**]
- Debian Forums - I couldn't find an official Debian forum. The closest I could find was this one which discusses all problems arising in Debian Linux. It has a good collection of posts.
- LinuxSolved.com - This is a forum which provides help in solving a variety of Linux related problems which includes troubleshooting, configuration tips, howto's and Faq's. It claims to have well over 7000 posts spanning over 2000 topics to its credit. [**New**]
- forums1.itrc.hp.com - This is the gathering place for IT Professionals to solve problems, exchange ideas, and learn lessons from fellow peers who also use the HP IT Resource Center. Managed by Hewlett-Packard, HP engineers participate in all of these forums to share their advice, however, HP does not guarantee a response as these forums are intended as a peer-to-peer resource.
- BSD Forums - A forum dedicated to BSDs
- Unix Forums - A forum with a strong bias for different Unices such as Solaris, HP-UX and AIX. But it features a collection of posts related to Linux too. `
- Open Solaris Forum - This is the official Open Solaris forum. `
- Kernel trap Forum - KernelTrap is a web community devoted to sharing the latest in kernel development news. Their forum has a small number of quality posts on Linux and Unix kernel.
Note to readers: When ever I come across interesting websites related to Linux, I usually bookmark them for future reference. Over a period of time, I have built up an eclectic collection of links related to GNU/Linux or Unix which provide good information. Earlier, I had featured a slice of those links on the right hand column of this blog. I couldn't feature all the links there due to lack of space. Now, with a revamp of the site design, I decided to move them to their own individual pages. This post is the start of a number of such posts.
This article will be updated as and when I come across interesting forums.
7 comments:
Being a gentoo user who has immensely benefitted from the high degree and quality of help available on the gentoo forums, I find it sad that it dint find a mention here :( Yes, Gentoo _might_ be in the eyes of most for not the novices, but solutions to many problems that one comes across all distros are well documented in the gentoo forums (and the gentoo wiki too).
I would recommend to take a look at the numbers of http://forums.gentoo.org/ ( http://forums.gentoo.org/statistics.php ) ...
kb, Zsolt;
Thanks for bringing it up. I wonder how I missed listing Gentoo forums. Even I have gained immensely from the posts at gentoo. The error has been corrected.
I'm not a Gentoo user, but I agree about the Gentoo forums and especially the Gentoo Wiki being a great source of information and how-to's. It's no accident that the Gentoo Wiki comes up frequently in Google search results when I'm trying to find a solution to a problem I'm having.
Ravi, might you consider using a social bookmarking service like del.icio.us to organize and share your Linux links?
Among Debian users, forums are not that famous. Users receive help through various mailing lists (http://lists.debian.org) such as debian-user (http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/) etc., If you absolutely need a forum interface, see http://forums.debian.net/ , but be warned that not many experts visit forums. They still stick to mailing lists only...
About mailing lists: It is because the way mailing lists are archived that people like them. Software like GNU Mailman packages up all mails per month as an mbox file, which you can open with your favorite program (pine/mutt, grep -P, and so on). Forums however force you to use a - perhaps crappy - search function.
Hi,
Try Linux Mint. And, the Forum there.
Spread your wings. I develop more than most with Linux.
I keep wondering why people are slaves to M$ or the expensive MAC stuff.
Consider adding Linux Mint to your choices.
JJMacey
Phoenix, Arizona
www.jjmacey.net
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