I can't help but post..........Slackware a hard distro.......... (LOL!!! {I'm really laughing out loud}) but maybe for some people, but sure you can say that it takes forever to install gentoo maybe (which I have done) but no one ever can say it takes forever to install slack. It takes me less than probly 3 minutes to get it started. And others....... suse mandy etc..... they are the ones that take forever, making sure that their control over you is complete from the beginning.

this is not a distro bash, in fact, I've loved every distro I've tried, but I don't have enough HD space to run 'em all.

(I couldn't resist posting my laughter, sorry)

slackwarebilly

HOLY jesu are you kidding?
Slackware was my 7th or 8th distro and I found it rather annoying No real package support but a crap load of control. Honesty I reccomend any thing from RedHat and Fedora as a begginer Distro but when you want Power Speed Control and Package Management go to Debian Sarge (or the latest) To prove this point:
A friend of mine is a complete Linux He has a Dell Inspiron something or other. 3.2 gHz Proc 512 MB ram and runs Fedora Core 4. He loves it easy to use and he hasnt seen real speed yet so doesnt get annoyed by it... However when I start walking him through some configuration stuffs and I'm waiting and getting annoyed I tell him 'Hell man I'll help yah get going in Debian Sarge' but as i reflect I'm thankful he refuses because while Debian is Power Speed Control and Package Management in a great 300 MB cd and a Fast internet Connection Its not incredibly easy to get going perfectly. I have... check my signature... using Debian Sarge with a few unstable packages and KDE 3.4 Not only does it boot faster loads apps faster and smoother. Its almost half the speed of my friends laptop running FC4.
Case& point:
Fedora for 's
Debian and Slackware and others for Advanced users.

Ok, i must be going mad! i'm sure you're suggesting that Ubuntu is difficult but that can't be the case surely?

I've ran with Mandrake 9.0, 10.1, Suse 9.0 (AMD64), Fedora 3,Slackware 10, Debian and Ubuntu and i found Ubuntu to be the most simple to configure and get the OS i was after, (i was a Mandrake lover before Ubuntu but now use Ubuntu as my main distro). I actually have a seperate hard drive for installing distros to play with.

I will say that i installed Ubuntu and then Kubuntu as well because i prefer KDE and i think that KDE would be the best choice for people new to Linux from Windoze.

Also, i found the Synaptic package manager in Ubuntu to be (in my opinion) miles better than the RPM used in Mandrake, Fedora e.t.c. Once you've enabled the extra repositories you've got more software than you could want with (in my experience) no dependency problems.

Something that also helps with Ubuntu is here:-http://www.mrbass.org/linux/ubuntu/
the zip file installed Flash, win32codecs, Acrobat and lots of other stuff, and all i had to do was click ok! Can't get easier. I can now watch my DVD collection and any .wmv files without a hitch, even my ATI GFX card 3D works now. Its' the first distro which i've managed to get all these things working, and it was easy!

When you ask for people's opinions, that's exactly what you get; their opinions. As always, opinions are highly subjective.

If you don't like the opinion, disregard it. If you don't want the opinion, don't ask for it.

In my opinion (lol), there are no "hard" distros.

Slackware was my first distro, and I've never looked back. As has been said, peoples' opinions are just that -- opinions. I had very little problem with Slackware, and when I did, I loved having to research how to solve the issue, but that could just be my personality. I love the hands-on wizard-less functionality of the distro, and there's never a lack of support.

But that's just me

As a newbie, I actually found Slackware to be easier than RH or Mandrake. And now I only slack. Guess it's just me.

People get to really love the distro that they use, and they suggest it to others.... (I haven't read all three pages of the thread, by the way) I don't get why ubuntu is called a difficult disto.. It's one of the easiest.... There's automatix, too..

And oh yeah, slackware was the first distro I could actually use.. Not debian or red hat... slackware.

I think starting with a distro that will teach you something is a good idea. Back when I started with linux I started with mandrake (mandriva). Though mandrake was a great distro I went from hand holding to hand holding. So when I decided it was time to try something I would learn on I switched to slack. Now when I went to slack it was a challenge because I had no knowledge of anything to do with the command line. I would tell anyone starting to dive right into a "harder" distro just so yes the learning curve is steep but at the same time you ARE learning something. I mean really would I have been able to go from mandriva to gentoo? I kinda doubt it.

Just my 2 cents!

This is a good thread and the question really needs to be addressed. I,too, am amazed why some distros are recommended to newcomers.

I can understand one's fervor for their flavour but scaring off a newcomer with an involved install is not the way to get recruits for your distro. When this newcomer gets stuck and asks a stupid question because he/she is totally lost someone invariably says "Go back to Windows", " Read the manual", " Google the answer" or "Find the search button".

There should be a list of distros posted with a sign saying "Newbies start here".

That list should be something like:

Knoppix
Mepis
PCLinuxOS
Xandros
SuSE
Mandriva

After that, I might recommend Ubuntu/ Kubuntu (that's what I use right now, but it scared me off in the beginning).

Even later, you can try Gentoo, Slackware, and Linux from Scratch.

But why go with personal recommendations when you can just direct a newbie to the Linux Distribution Chooser?

yea ubuntu should be called n00buntu , as a n00b i found it pretty easy and with a community that has around 8million users, your guranteed to get help

Woohoo! A two year old thread lives again!

My thought exactly LOL

thanks, reverse, for pointing out that I was about to respond to a victim of "thread necromancy" haha

You'd think so, but that usually isn't the case. I'd say most of it's userbase comes straight from windows. Don't believe me? Go read through some of the polls on their forums.