Linux Distro Help

edited December 2004 in Software
seeing how it is im a linux n00b and no nothing about linux,

i was wondering what would be a good distro for me to use, i wanna try linux on this pc, to see how i like it and keep it if i do
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Comments

  • I don't know a good distro, but just stay away from shit like Mandrake and Redhat / Fedora core.

    Might want to try SuSE Professional Edition though.
  • SuSE pro is very user friendly without dumbing it down. I would start with that, and work your way over to freeBSD.
  • Winboy wrote:
    seeing how it is im a linux n00b and no nothing about linux,

    i was wondering what would be a good distro for me to use, i wanna try linux on this pc, to see how i like it and keep it if i do

    Okay...a nice starter distro: Mandrake 9.2 (10 is total crap)

    I happen to prefer Fedora Core, and Red Hat over other distros. HOWEVER....that is just my opinion.

    If you were totally crazy...I would tell you to install Slackware as your starter distro, but in a VM ofcourse. I tried SW once. It was interesting and certainly powerful, but it was not for me.
  • I highly sugest against Redhat or Mandrake.
  • SuSE 9.2 Pro
  • I think Mandrake 10 is excellent for n00bs.
  • Mandrake 10 is the beswt choice, it has everything there planned out for you. Mandrake Linux 10 also has server capibilities right out of the box. There is also plenty of games for entertainment, and mucchh mmmuccchh more!
  • SuSe is good the version i got wasw easy to install
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  • For general desktop use I've loved SuSE. I used 9 and 9.1, I'm not sure about 9.2, I don't think I've tried it. If you can get Red Hat 9 that might worth a try.

    -Q
  • DONT get SuSe personal, it has waaay too many missing dependacies..
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  • Strange, I didn't get them too often...

    -Q
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  • the personal version which is like 1 disc
  • Humorous? maybe. Carrying a point? Certainly looks like it. That (The point you were seemingly trying to make) was what I was referring to.

    -Q
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  • SuSE - use the FTP install to get Pro.

    I would recommend Ubuntu, seeing as it's the newest and is already really good. The default desktop is GNOME, a nice departure from the standard KDE.
  • Tomchu wrote:
    If you must go with Linux, try SuSE. If you really want a n00b OS, go with Mandrake/Redhat (Fedora), but be prepared to be discouraged at its performance.


    "Discouraged at its performance"

    Uh.. You have gotten something wrong... Mandrake is not all of a n00b OS, and how is it's performance bad. I have gotten Mandrake 10 faster than Window sXP Pro w/o themes, and alot of other stuff. (The processor is a 755Mhz Cele
  • and how is it's performance bad. I have gotten Mandrake 10 faster than Window sXP Pro w/o themes, and alot of other stuff. (The processor is a 755Mhz Cele

    Single user mode is not for daily use. ;)
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  • Tomchu wrote:
    Tomchu wrote:
    If you must go with Linux, try SuSE. If you really want a n00b OS, go with Mandrake/Redhat (Fedora), but be prepared to be discouraged at its performance.


    "Discouraged at its performance"

    Uh.. You have gotten something wrong... Mandrake is not all of a n00b OS, and how is it's performance bad. I have gotten Mandrake 10 faster than Window sXP Pro w/o themes, and alot of other stuff. (The processor is a 755Mhz Cele

    All modern Linux distributions are fat and slow. SuSE happens to be one of the faster ones. Ubuntu is also not bad. Mandrake, which is just a newbified and extra-bloated Redhat, is the slowest of them all. They *all* chug and feel like molasses, even on my fastest systems. Yes, I recompile a slim kernel and turn off the unneeded services, yadda yadda yadda -- they're still slow.
    Maybe you should just use it as it is. w/o tweaking it and live with it.
  • Before testing any of these distros and wrecking the mbr of your hard disk, try a live cd such as knoppix.

    www.knoppix.org

    try looking it up first, comes with loads and loads of software, en mi opinion the best linux live cd
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  • Zenithus wrote:
    Before testing any of these distros and wrecking the mbr of your hard disk, try a live cd such as knoppix.

    www.knoppix.org

    try looking it up first, comes with loads and loads of software, en mi opinion the best linux live cd

    SuSE has live CD's. I've used both though and they're nice.

    Tom: Haha, so true
  • so does gentoo and mandrake, and probably more if you look around
  • Tomchu wrote:
    jcmoor wrote:
    Tomchu wrote:
    Tomchu wrote:
    If you must go with Linux, try SuSE. If you really want a n00b OS, go with Mandrake/Redhat (Fedora), but be prepared to be discouraged at its performance.


    "Discouraged at its performance"

    Uh.. You have gotten something wrong... Mandrake is not all of a n00b OS, and how is it's performance bad. I have gotten Mandrake 10 faster than Window sXP Pro w/o themes, and alot of other stuff. (The processor is a 755Mhz Cele

    All modern Linux distributions are fat and slow. SuSE happens to be one of the faster ones. Ubuntu is also not bad. Mandrake, which is just a newbified and extra-bloated Redhat, is the slowest of them all. They *all* chug and feel like molasses, even on my fastest systems. Yes, I recompile a slim kernel and turn off the unneeded services, yadda yadda yadda -- they're still slow.
    Maybe you should just use it as it is. w/o tweaking it and live with it.

    LOL

    Or I could use a real OS, like Windows XP/Server 2003 or FreeBSD.

    Linux is a "real" OS....

    Just not (in your opinion) the greatest.
  • OK, this all depends on what you want and need. When I frist started to play with Linux it was head over heels. Took me a week to install. Then I got fed up with it and moved to windows. Over the years when I got beter detials about computer hardware linux became easyer to config and install. Heres a list of distros you I would advise.

    Redhat / Fedora - Easy to install and finds most hardware. (Fedora's kernel is the latest beta Linux kernel that still has some bugs for the latest hardware)

    Slackware - Needs some knowlage of hardware but easy to install. I would use slack9.1, has better support.

    All distros of linux are the same but have diffrent software packages and uses diffrent ways to install it. All you need to look for is a distro that is easy to setup. All of the commands are the same and uses pretty much the same X-Win managers. To be on the safe side before you install Linux isto write down the I/O and IRQ settings for your video, sound, ethernet/modem and maybe USB.

    If you need hardware drivers then try www.driverguide.com and the member login is "temp" and the password is "512".

    On further note I would stick with Kernel 2.4.22 since it seems popular then the rest and most drivers are built for 2.4.22. A lot of drivers are moving to the 2.6.x kernel but not enough.
  • TCPMeta wrote:
    OK, this all depends on what you want and need. When I frist started to play with Linux it was head over heels. Took me a week to install. Then I got fed up with it and moved to windows. Over the years when I got beter detials about computer hardware linux became easyer to config and install. Heres a list of distros you I would advise.

    Redhat / Fedora - Easy to install and finds most hardware. (Fedora's kernel is the latest beta Linux kernel that still has some bugs for the latest hardware)

    Slackware - Needs some knowlage of hardware but easy to install. I would use slack9.1, has better support.

    All distros of linux are the same but have diffrent software packages and uses diffrent ways to install it. All you need to look for is a distro that is easy to setup. All of the commands are the same and uses pretty much the same X-Win managers. To be on the safe side before you install Linux isto write down the I/O and IRQ settings for your video, sound, ethernet/modem and maybe USB.

    If you need hardware drivers then try www.driverguide.com and the member login is "temp" and the password is "512".

    On further note I would stick with Kernel 2.4.22 since it seems popular then the rest and most drivers are built for 2.4.22. A lot of drivers are moving to the 2.6.x kernel but not enough.
    Yeah, that really annoys the crap outta me when 3 month old distro's are using a 6-12 month old kernel wehen there is a newer one availible.
  • Maybe for compatibility?
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