Which distro should I burn?

[dgravenor]

Hello to all, Im new. Hopefully I can get this one question out of the way before I go searching through the faq's.

I would like to know which distribution I should get. I will need a word processor, mp3 player, web browser, email, news, media player, and html editor. That is all that I would use this linux system for (you guys are like "duh"). I will not be playing games on this system, mainly just word processing, web browsing, and building web pages. I am also a Linux newbie. I have a good head on my shoulders, so if I learned the language I could do more stuff, but right now I know squat.

I would like to know what would be the best distribution would be for my needs, so I can download it and go through the steps that I will need to do so that I can install it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

PS: What got me motivated to switch from 98se to Linux would be this article on the release of XP:
XP's Flaws (http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2819126,00.html)

[scanez]

Ah the daily which distro question...

Try a search of the forums, this question has been asked at least once a day for a while now.

Mandrake is usually considered to be the most newbie-friendly, but it does come with a lot of games and other software which it doesn't seem you want. RedHat is also pretty newbie-friendly and doesn't come with all that stuff by default. Slackware and Debian have minimal installs with only what you want but have steeper learning curves.

My advice, try out a few and decide for yourself.

Have fun
SC

[X_console]

Hello to all, Im new. Hopefully I can get this one question out of the way before I go searching through the faq's.

Actually, you should be searching through the FAQ's first before asking this question. :)

If you don't care much for tinkering with your system, you should probably go with RedHat.

[dgravenor]

I meant FAQ's for install, as I heard the steps for installing the different distributions are a bit different...I searched linuxnewbie.org for the NHF's, but they gave me more info on how to install than what to choose before installing...

:)

[inkedmn]

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/distros/distronhf.html

[dgravenor]

lol thanks for pointing me in the right direction :)

[paulb]

Originally posted by dgravenor:
<STRONG>
I am also a Linux newbie. I have a good head on my shoulders, so if I learned the language I could do more stuff, but right now I know squat.
</STRONG>

What language?

[slacker_x]

Originally posted by scanez:
<STRONG>Ah the daily which distro question...</STRONG>

I wish it was only daily
:rolleyes:

[dgravenor]

why dont you guys get someone to make a sticky thread whose title is "the daily q: which distro should I use?"

[X_console]

Based on experience, it doesn't matter if it's a JavaScript popup window that tells people to go read the Distro NHF, because people will just post their question anyway.

We're not being mean or anything, but you have to understand, it does get a bit annoying when you have three or more "What distro should I use" threads on one page. The people here are very tolerant of newbies, so feel free to ask questions without the fear of being flamed. It's encouraged of course that you try to search around for an answer first by looking through previous posts, but if you really can't find an answer, ask away.

Good luck with your installation.

[bdg1983]

Originally posted by dgravenor:
<STRONG>why dont you guys get someone to make a sticky thread whose title is "the daily q: which distro should I use?"</STRONG>

Why don't you do the research yourself. After all it's YOUR hardware and not OURS that YOU will be installing Linux on.

So many suggest i.e. Mandrake for someone only to find it will not install on THEIR hardware.

Do the research. List out your hardware (on paper, not here), what you want in a distro and visit all the distro's website.

Do Google searches, LNO searches etc., to find out what problems you might expect when installing on similar hardware.

Now if you want to buy a new car, I'll tell you which one to purchase, right down to the color I think you should get.

[dgravenor]

sorry chief, for _making_ you respond to my thread causing you so much grief, and having to write your response with so much sarcasm.

Aside from that, I can see how it can get annoying. I did search quickly through the newbie help files, and I didn't find that one article that I was pointed to, which I am greatful for. I posted what I wanted it to do, cause way back when, I wanted to get a copy of linux, and I couldn't do this or that on it for some reason (I didn't have time to figure Linux out). I decided to post a quickie here, after browsing the first page of threads and not seeing this topic. I thought that this being a Linux newbie newsgroup, I could get the information from people who actually have tried the products and find out what they think of it, instead of what the manufacturer thinks of their own product.

sorry for bein a n00b

[ 25 October 2001: Message edited by: dgravenor ]

[scanez]

Originally posted by dgravenor:
<STRONG>sorry chief, for _making_ you respond to my thread causing you so much grief, and having to write your response with so much sarcasm.

Aside from that, I can see how it can get annoying. I did search quickly through the newbie help files, and I didn't find that one article that I was pointed to, which I am greatful for. I posted what I wanted it to do, cause way back when, I wanted to get a copy of linux, and I couldn't do this or that on it for some reason (I didn't have time to figure Linux out). I decided to post a quickie here, after browsing the first page of threads and not seeing this topic. I thought that this being a Linux newbie newsgroup, I could get the information from people who actually have tried the products and find out what they think of it, instead of what the manufacturer thinks of their own product.

sorry for bein a n00b

[ 25 October 2001: Message edited by: dgravenor ]</STRONG>
No one's attacking you for being a newbie. It is just really annoying to see the same question over and over again, especially when such a question has no definite answer and often leads to distro wars. The best advice is to decide for yourself.

SC

[enzo250gto]

What's the deal with people getting upset over post? Isn't that the purpose of a forum? So the same question has been asked 5, 10 times, who cares. Each case if different and half the times the answers suck on the previous list of posts.

[bdg1983]

No one's attacking you for being a newbie. It is just really annoying to see the same question over and over again, especially when such a question has no definite answer and often leads to distro wars. The best advice is to decide for yourself.

Exactly

What's the deal with people getting upset over post? Isn't that the purpose of a forum? So the same question has been asked 5, 10 times, who cares. Each case if different and half the times the answers suck on the previous list of posts.


We care. There's no definite answer to what is the best distro for YOUR needs. Do the research yourself.

What happens if everyone recommends Mandrake 8.1? You spend time downloading the cd's or even purchase the retail package only to find out it will not even install on your hardware. Will you blame us?

Do the research. That's the reason most if not all distros have hardware compatability lists on their websites.

Forget what I've said. Get Caldera's OpenLinux Workstation 3.1 and also get their supplemental opensource software cd. It will work no matter what hardware you have.

[Derango]

Originally posted by enzo250gto:
<STRONG>What's the deal with people getting upset over post? Isn't that the purpose of a forum? So the same question has been asked 5, 10 times, who cares. Each case if different and half the times the answers suck on the previous list of posts.</STRONG>

Also, this particular question has been asked a lot more than 5-10 times. Its a daily thing around here, and usualy, the answers are always the same. I don't have any problems if someone wants to do somthing exotic (read unusual) with their linux install and was wondering what the best distro for that task was, but these "Hi! I'm new! What Distro?" Threads get tiresome after a while, considering that you can usualy find another one if you look down the post page a bit.

I don't have anything aginst you in particular, I just wish some people would just look down before posting.

[bdg1983]

Originally posted by enzo250gto:
<STRONG>What's the deal with people getting upset over post? Isn't that the purpose of a forum? So the same question has been asked 5, 10 times, who cares. Each case if different and half the times the answers suck on the previous list of posts.</STRONG>

If half the previous answers in the other posts 'suck', then why do you think posting the same question again will make any difference? You'll just get the same old answers.

Do what all the newbies here have found to be the best for someone starting out. Get either Mandrake 8.1 or Redhat 7.2. Personally I find Caldera's OpenLinux Workstation 3.1 to be the best. At least for me it does. That's how I can spend so much time here at LNO. I never have to fix anything. Everything always works and seldom breaks. All my devices were detected and configured properly. Xine works for playing dvd's. XCDRoast works for my cdrw. Sound works. My LS-120 works. My resolution on my 19" is 1600x1200 at 16bit. Even my free Cuecat scanner works with Caldera.

I've upgraded to X4.1, KDE 2.2.1 and while I'm currently using the 2.4.12 kernel, I will be compiling the 2.4.13 kernel today.

What more can you ask for?

Do what everyone suggests. Get Mandrake or Redhat and then start reading all the prior threads on how to fix this and that. I guess that's the best way to learn Linux and why Mandrake is always suggested for newbies. Your always fixing things so you learn in the process. ;) ;)

[wreckd]

burn them all! it's sorta like pokemon: gotta catc^H^H^H^H try them all.

you'll hafta find your own thing. your own thing might change, so try more distributions after you get somewhat comfortable with linux. don't plan on keeping your first (or second, or third...) installation long.....make sure /home is on a seperate filesystem so you can back up things you did and like without worrying about losing them during a reinstall.

my own thing was redhat at work...typical. then briefly mandrake, then slackware, then debian.

[Syngin]

Perhaps a note regarding this question should be added to the account registration information?

[Strike]

Yes, the "which distro" question is asked often and yes it would be ideal if people would research the plentiful information on the web first, but I don't think the policy on it is going to change here so if you don't want to provide an answer, just don't.

[kuber]

Be compassionate. There is no use in getting your panties in a bunch everytime this q comes up.
This is 'linuxnewbie.org', afterall. Perhaps some of you should go to an admin board or something. Christ.
What is the point of this board if people get *****ed about for posting a newbie q?

[bdg1983]

Most of the newbie responses will be

Ohhh Get Mine Get Mine

While the more experienced will tell you to do the damn research yourself and see what best suits your needs and your hardware.