Newbie looking for easiest distro to learn?
 

I had tried linux years ago, but I was unable to have the patience to learn it. I would like to try again. I tried Mandrake Linux back then, but noticed their website doesnt appear to work anymore ( redirect ).
I wanted to know, what distro is now good for the first time linux newbie wanting to learn linux?
Hopefully one that has good documentation for those installing it.
I may be installing it on a laptop with a Promise Raid array ( software raid I believe, it is a Sager 8790 laptop ) and would like to get a distro that will work with the raid array doing a duel boot with my presently installed WinXP Pro install ( I have partition magic for duel installs that I have used with Windows duel installs ).

Any help / advice is greatly appreciated as I would like to migrate away from windows to linux, once I feel comfortable in it.

Hi,

I personally uses SuSE Linux and have found it very intuitive ... but for the brand new person Mandriva is probably the best one to start with. Many of the distros are new user friendly.

THe only thing is, you have to be willing to learn and to have patience. Checking boards like this one can help a great deal.

BTW ... Mandrake Linux is now called Mandriva due to a merger and other issues ...

Is there a place to download Mandriva for free from?

Thx

Go to http://mandrivalinux.com and from there you can download the 3-cd distro.

PCLinuxOS
SUSE
Xandros
Linspire
Mandriva

To name a few of the easier ones. The above are all easy to install and easy to get started using, plus they all have a large number of apps.

A little harder would be :
Ubuntu
MEPIS
Fedora

The easiest way to get started is by using a few LiveCDs:
Of the distros listed above the following have LiveCDS:
PCLinuxOS
Ubuntu
MEPIS

Knoppix and Kanotix are great LiveCDs to play around with.
For more LiveCDs visit: FrozenTech's LiveCD List

telling you the truth..... SLACKWARE is the easiest distro out there... thrust me...

just perform full install , reboot , log in, type 'startx' & you're done :-)

Yes, but slackware might also prove to be frustrating if a newbie is looking for features they are used to and ease of installation of new software.

IMO Slackware is one of the most feature-incomplete or non-existant for a newb. Now that Fedora has become a side-project for Redhat, Mandriva is really your best bet if you want a relatively easy go of it and you have an interest in learning Linux well. If you are only interested in getting Linux up and running and could care less how it works, you may opt for Lycoris, Xandros or Linspire.

Good luck.

Agreed,

I was disappointed when Redhat went the Fedora route. SLackware is a good solid distro but harder to use for someone who is just thinking about or beginning the switch.

My first exposure to Linux was in the late 90's and I have tried many. many different packages including Slack, Mandrake (Mandriva), Linxpire, REdhat (fedora) and I still prefer SuSE.

You and me both. While Redhat is entitled to do what they like and especially if it makes good business sense, I was disappointed. It seemed to me that Redhat the company had no desire to directly support hobbyist's and enterprise's free use of Redhat Linux. Surely, they didn't want to spend much time (if any at all to be honest) on something that would not produce any money (at least not immediately).

To be fair though, Redhat has spent quite a bit on money and resources when it comes to Fedora. They provide salaries for some of the developers as well as the hard-wired resources like bandwidth for Fedora's download servers. In a way, they are far more generous than other companies out there but surely they realized they were going to have cut a few lines -- especially the channels that weren't bringing the bottom line up. Now, I hope that Mandriva doesn't go this route but I fear they inevitably will. Please... someone post something quickly that will quell these fears for me ;).

Unfortunately Mandriva seems to be headed the same route. SuSE looks perilously close to something similar as well.

At least they all still allow free downloads.

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