The Best Version Of Linux For Somone New?

[gangsta_zar 0]

I am probably going to switch over to Linux soon, but I am wondering what the best version of Linux for me would be. Preferably something fairly user friendly that doesn't take years of experience to use properly and also something that supports all (or most) windows hardware and software. I know there are hundreds of different versions of Linux, i'm just looking for a few of the most user friendly ones!Thanks!

[miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG 0]

Try reading the reviews at http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ - they might lead you to the right direction.

Otherwise I think you should go for one among Mandrake, Gentoo, Ubuntu, SuSe & KNOPPIX - they're the one's which are deemed more user friendly and geared towards new users.. There might be some other distros too but am not so sure.. I'm happy with Fedora Core and Redhat Enterprise.. never even take a second look at the other distros ..

[musichere 0]

I know I am probably the last person you want to hear linux advice from, but if you want software/hardware support and compatibility, the way to go is http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ is an absolutely free people-power distriburtion and has the most packages of any distribution.Haven't tried it myself but it's supposed to be very solid.

[qwijibow 0]

therwise I think you should go for one among Mandrake, Gentoo, Ubuntu, SuSe & KNOPPIX - they're the one's which are deemed more user friendly and geared towards new users..

i would ery strongly advise againsed Gentoo as a first Linux distro !

For hardware... Linux support for wireless network cards and pci modems is patchy, lookup compatability before you buy any of these.

for software... just no.
Gnu/Linux runs GNU/Linux software.
you can sometimes emulate certain windows applications like office, but the emulator is far from complete.

part of migrating to linux is also migrating all your software.

no more windows media player, no more internet explorer, no more Ms Paint.
instread you use the *nix equivilents.

[jonypawks 0]

I love Gentoo but I'm definitely going to have to recommend that you try something else for your first distro. I recommend trying Ubuntu, very easy to setup and it uses debian packages so you have plenty of options there.

[k221405241470 0]

I use SuSE at home and if you're a NewBie try it for personal use, I use it also for work but you have to work a while, after using SuSE is realy impossibile to use another distro 'njoy

[Dyth 0]

Xandros was absolutely a breeze. Ubuntu actually sends you their CDs (installation and live) for FREE. WOW. SuSE wasn't too amazing. I recommend against Debian and Gentoo. You can always try the live cds and emulators, too. Check Google for "DSL Qemu".

[tillus 0]

well, at my opinion suse is one of the best distributions, but a little bit expansive (prof. edition around 70$).debian is very complicated for beginners, but a powerful system - I recommend mandrake, fedora or knoppix.

[coder2000 0]

I don't think that gentoo is a distro I would recommend for new users. Something like Ubuntu, Mandrake or Fedora. Those are the easiest to setup and use. Knoppix is another good one for beginners.

[wwheeler 0]

My personal favorite is mandrake for the Newbs, that or linspire (Formerly Lindows....)

You can find mandrake here.

you can find Linspire here.


The only drawbacks to downloading is that it takes so frigging long. You are downloading a CD image that is about 675 MB, so it takes a while...

Another option is to go to a refutable computer store (MicroCenter, And sometimes BestBuy has some distros.) and buy them for very cheap....

[qwijibow 0]

When i started out on linux, i only had a 56k modem, and i downloaded Fedora core 1 and 2, slackware, and 2 different versions of knoppix.11 CD's total ! anyways, places to buy Linux cd's....1) best place of all.. from the distro's web site. Help the cause :)2) cheapest place of all ...ebayBuying linux is surprisingly cheap, You can usually find some kid on ebay who has a fast internet connection, and downloads and sell's linux distro's for £2 for a bit of extra pocket money.

[chaosx2x 0]

if u are approaching to linux i think Mandrake distro is the best, but debian is the top.personally i love a floppy distro of linux, it's named mulinux, i'll tested it on very olds computer and i think it's a very cool version :Danyone know mulinux?

[Giniu 0]

I agree... for realy beginning Mandrake is good, it is easy and most menu-driven with easy instalation in many languages... but when you will look around inside, you would probably want to switch to something that is most powerfull... there are of course mentioned earlier Gentoo and Debian, but don't you forgot Slackware?? I'm Slackware user for 7 years now... I't is mature, powerfull, clasic and fast distribution that gives you large control over your system with small effort... it is also well documented over the web... I can recomend it as "second distro" - just after trying Mandrake... don't try Gentoo/Debian/Slackware too early - you can scare yourself and make worst thing - give up linux!

[thedevil 0]

I suggest you to start from Knoppix... you need no installation and you are ready to learn the basics of Linux direct from the CD...
Most of the windows features are supported and you will feel at home with knoppix...

Get knoppix from
http://www.knoppix.org/

get it now and know it now

[iGuest 3]

gangsta_zar,Try before you decide (on installing) there are many Live CDs, Operating Systems you can boot from CD without touching your hard drive. You can pretty much get any OS running off a Live CD, I remember when I created a Red Hat 9 Live CD, the guys who use to work on it, stopped at RH7. I basically just did it to learn about it, and the impressive compression they used which could make 2-3GBs of programs run off a 700MB CDR.So get yourself a Live CD, SuSe has one, nice gui, file structure, not something I would use.Ubuntu, has a Live CD too, never really tested it out, so can't say much about it.Debian, well, so far this distribution has given me so much hassle, I pretty much had to configure it from ground up using only a console because it lacked so much and was far behind the other distributions when it came to their kernel.Knoppix, is a Live CD based off of Debian, latest version was quite nice, and this disc becomes a great recovery CD.Fedora, well what can I say, I simply can't be persuaded to switch from it, we've had so much time getting acquinted with one another from RH5 to RH9 then onto FC1 to FC3 and it's never let me down and I will be definitely getting FC4 when it's out of testing. Fedora is kind of like how Mozilla is, in terms of how it's created, basically Fedora creates an OS that Red Hat Enterprise Edition is based off, Mozilla creates a browser in which Netscape bases itself off.Then there's Gentoo, but I wouldn't recommend it till you're very comfortable with Linux, this is probably by far one of the best you could get as everything is left up to you to configure and compile and install.Slackware, quite close to Unix-ways, haven't tested it out lately, but it was pretty much a distribution that we could exploit easily, not very cool.Mandrake, Based off Red Hat, it was suppose to make Linux easy for Windows users to switch over to, although I'm not sure what it's really like as I've never tried it.My friend created a distribution, Live CD, which catered to the Average Joe, although, I don't have a link or know what name he's given it.Then there's a lot more distributions that I have no clues about, but either way, you've got to learn Linux, don't try to get away with not learning much, like you do on Windows, they are trying for security and bugfree code, Microsoft are trying for more customers, release dates on time (or sent out buggy, fix later) and gains for their shareholders, there's a big difference in what they aim for.MC