If you ask me, I'd tell you that On install My machine worked like it should, my gfx, sound, and NIC were all detected properly. The only yhing that didn't work out of the 'box' was my TV tuner card and 3d acceleration, but only because The install left out a few lines in the /etc/X11/XF86Config file...

The funny thing is, all around me people with redhat or mandrake (I love mandrake :) have been having trouble, even the hard core techies have, mostly because of the belife that every one want's the latest version of every thing all the time... Like the GCC compiler... I can't belive How many people will tell you that your software is broken, if it crashes. When lately its because of Optimization bugs in the compiler... (which Debian never shipped, even in Unstable/Cid)

Okay, I'm not a holy avenger of any distro, but I just had to drop some pennies.

I think the agreement is that if you want quick and dirty: Mandrake or RedHat; and if you want long and really messy: Slackware or Debian. Again I'll re-iterate the slogan: hey as long as your running linux.

With that said, if your running Novell machines, your probably already familiar with some flavor of *nix and don't need the candy coating of Mandrake or Redhat. I'd recommend Slack. Yeah, the learning curve for Joe Recovering Window$-User is brutal, but you're already past that and should have no real problem.

I'm still searching for the best distro, but I guess it says something for Slack that I've got it on the majority of my machines.

-Cheers,

Finegan

I'm running an elderly 486 laptop with no network connections at all; I get the impression that most of you are RedHat freaks, but is it the best for my system?

Personally I think all this argument about which distro is better than another is STOOPID. Its all Linux.. its all open source. You can take any one version and make it EXACTLY like any other version. Arguing over which one is better is silly, a waste of time, and creates polarity amongst Linux enthusiasts, a group who touts collaboration, cooperation and like-mindedness as its roots. Quite hypocritical if you ask me.

With your 486, you should be able to run any version of Linux. You might be limited as to how many services you can run simultaneously or your graphics or harddrive space might also be older and limited. The best question you can ask yourself is do you want to learn to USE Linux or do you want to learn to the GUTS of it. I don't understand why so many zealots look down on folks that just want to USE Linux. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with just installing it, and running it as a plain old user? Those are the kind of people Linux needs more than any other!

Anyway, I will get off my soapbox and tell you that Redhat, Mandrake, Suse, and Caldera are known for being easier for the beginner and Debian and Slackware are known for being not so easy for the beginner. All are very good.

the best for newbies