general linux help needed

[littleDriel]

Whoa, you guys are totally hard to follow when you know NOTHING.

Ok, my story, I hate windows, its a totaly pos and im tired of trying to make it work. All i ever do with my pooter is game, surf and use office like products, and I know linux can do all of this, my question is, which linux should i choose?

I have a friend who uses freeBSD for an mp3 server i think, another who swears Mandrake is best for newbies, and a third who swears by slackware and wine to emulate windows. But trying to read up on everything is impossible, or even find short understandable description of difference has been frustrating.

so can anyone give me a hint?

(some hardware specs: 750thunderbird (abit kt-7a mobo), 192mb ram, 20gig hd, 16mb tnt card, etc)


thanks!

[bdg1983]

Since this is one of the most popular questions asked here and usually on a daily basis, I will just suggest what most will...

Mandrake 8.0 is apparently the easiest for a newbie and your hardware (thanks for posting your specs) will be able to handle the newer version.

You could always try Caldera's OpenLinux Workstation 3.1 as I use. Very impressive.

Go for Mandrake as there are quite a few here that use the product and it would be of benefit to yourself for support.

Did I mention Caldera's OpenLinux Workstation 3.1?

[teeitup]

There is no BEST distro.
Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

Most users here have tried numerous distros before deciding on one.

Mandrake and Slackware are both good. Since you have friends that use these pick one of them. You can learn together, ask questions of each other, and learn it together.

Jump in!

Remember if you don't get frustrated with it from time to time you're not trying hard enough.

Good Luck,

[bdg1983]

Originally posted by teeitup:
<STRONG>There is no BEST distro.
Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

Most users here have tried numerous distros before deciding on one.

Mandrake and Slackware are both good. Since you have friends that use these pick one of them. You can learn together, ask questions of each other, and learn it together.

Jump in!

Remember if you don't get frustrated with it from time to time you're not trying hard enough.

Good Luck,</STRONG>

I could not agree anymore with what teeitup posted.

It all depends on your hardware and how well certain distros/versions install. Some can have nothing but success with Mandrake 8 on their system while others could have nightmares.

Just do some research on what you are considering and check the HCL against your hardware.

Just because someone has had a bad experience with a certain distro does not necessarily mean you will.

You be the judge.

[wurmy]

i myself have really only used mandrake. i tried installing redhat once but i think i had bad cds. ive done an isntall of mandrake twice now, both times have given me a bit of trouble but it was actually a really good learning experience (but i think they were mainly my fault).
mandrake has a really nice x-windows layout so if youre used to windows it will be very easy to get accustomed to it. and you can use the bash shell while in the GUI so you can learn how to really use all the commands while still using a very easy to learn interface. all in all, i agree with most of the previous posts about mandrake being the easiest to start out with.


wurmy

[Rob 'Feztaa' Park]

In my experience, Mandrake is really great for Newbies. The way I see it, it's easier to learn linux if you have a working install of it; trying to install linux with no previous experience is really tricky (so I guess it's sort of a catch-22). The thing with mandrake, though, is that it is really good at detecting your hardware and making everything work out of the box. That way, you can get learn a bit without getting your hands too dirty. Then, once you've learned more about linux, and have a good knowledge base about it, you can move on to distributions that have a less-automated installation process :)

[bdg1983]

Originally posted by Rob 'Feztaa' Park:
<STRONG>In my experience, Mandrake is really great for Newbies. The way I see it, it's easier to learn linux if you have a working install of it; trying to install linux with no previous experience is really tricky (so I guess it's sort of a catch-22). The thing with mandrake, though, is that it is really good at detecting your hardware and making everything work out of the box. That way, you can get learn a bit without getting your hands too dirty. Then, once you've learned more about linux, and have a good knowledge base about it, you can move on to distributions that have a less-automated installation process :)</STRONG>

Ahhhh, but you've never tried Caldera. The install is very easy and usually all the hardware detection is done for you.

A few here have taken my suggestion and given Caldera a try. They've been very pleased with the results.

You never know until you try. If you have a highspeed connection, then why not give it a try?

I'm using Workstation 3.1 as I type and I would never consider changing. I will install others using VMWare, but the main one is always Caldera (the only Linux at Comdex this year).

Caldera OpenLinux 3.1
upgraded to
KDE 2.2
2.4.9 kernel
X 4.1

smooooth...

[PimpHolic]

i took mdwatt's advice and installed caldera and im very pleased with it, great distro and a nice easy install. currently im trying out slackware but i would also recommend openlinxu workstation 3.1

[Tyr-7BE]

Looking at your situation, go with Mandrake.

[The Ghost Of Ille Pugil]

You may want to check out this nhf:

Distribution NHF (http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/distros/distronhf.html)
It gives a general discription of the major distros. HTH

[ 29 August 2001: Message edited by: The Ghost Of Ille Pugil ]

[Breetie]

Currently I am using Mandrake 8.0, and haven't really had any trouble out of it that was the distro's fault (like, my last brain-fart was re-mapping all the permissions in the /usr partition to a single user--heh...I know. I know. That was the last time I had to wipe my drive and start over. See? I'm learning!) Anyways, I have Mandrake, have used RedHat 7.x and have actually SEEN Debian on a machine, once, but clearly my distro experience is severely limited. Seems to me, though, that they ALL use the same kernel--or very-nearly--right? Each one is as configurable as the next, isn't it? I've heard (i.e. seen) the flame-wars (also called distro-wars), and though each has good points and not-so-good points, I would think, based off the same backbone, that you will get pretty much parallel performance from each. Mandrake WAS easy, but then I have seven + years experience in installing software/OS's of many different types, so it seemed simple enough. I am aware of partitioning and file-system param's and such, so Mandrake was a snap. I've heard Debian, FreeBSD, Stampede and certain versions of RedHat are not quite as automated, and do require some prior background knowledge of Linux to configure them correctly for your particular system (for example...I *STILL* do not know the specifics of doing something as 'simple' as compiling/updating the kernel for my system). I'm still searching through the threads, and some of the archive to see if the details for it and when it's necessary are outlined. If I don't find it, I'll have to ask, but anyway...
Where was I?
Oh yes! Mandrake! Very nice! But then, it's the only one I've installed and used from the outset, so my opinion is very tunnel-visioned. I've been eyeing Stampede, lately, though...

[Psycho]

Don't forget RedHat for the newbie friendly distros. It's coming along nicely with 7.1

In 7.0 the compiler was broken, by the way.

--glenn

[wreckd]

<STRONG>All i ever do with my pooter is game, surf and use office like products, and I know linux can do all of this, my question is, which linux should i choose?</STRONG>

i think you should back up to the sentence above. gaming, and office products are a particular problem i see. these are probably the weakest spots in linux to date. gaming is so, so but you'll have to wait longer if the games ever get ported from windows...personally i only boot to my windows partition when i want to play some new game, and i'm not much of a gamer these days. for office apps i've done ok with the koffice suite so far and ximian's someday package looks very promising. however, i don't think you'll be able to share the things you create very easily with msOffice users which can be a serious downside. wine is problematic at best and not for the faint of heart or new to linux.

i hate to be the one to say it but linux is not the best thing for everyone just yet. i run openbsd and debian exclusively (...except occasionally for games ;)) and love them both but i'm a computer engineering student and can get away with that....no documents that i have to pass around the office or anything like that. even surfing is sometime less than breath-taking. the browser choice, while getting better, is still a little shabby. mozilla is so-so....opera and flash anyone?

just something to consider. at any rate you should give linux a try (mandrake is a nice intro but then get debian!), just don't expect it to be some panacea for all your computer woes. windows may lack in stability but linux currently lacks functionality in certain areas.
&lt;/soapbox&gt; ;)