It's time for me to switch to Linux, i'm sick of Microsoft's b/s. What is the best distribution for me, I don't want a load of programs and such. I want the most minimal and fastest distribution with a GUI.

mugstar>
Excellent reply, except I'd add:

1. Read the stickies
2. Read the FAQs
3. Search and read the threads covering the 10,329,298,218 other times someone asked this question

Seriously! "which distro is for me" is like asking "which car should I buy?" when you didn't specify:

* is your goal economy or performance or hauling capability>
* How skilled of a driver are you?
* is it for the track or the road?
* etc.

Why, thank you!

LinuxISO is another good source for many of the most popular distros -- J.W.

For what it's worth, the best distro to use initially is often the one that is also used by someone you know, and can pop over for a beer and give you a hand when things go awry.

If you don't know anyone with enough Linux experience, then give Mandriva or Ubuntu a go (if you want a hard disk installation), or any of the "live" distros, such as Knoppix, if you just want to try it out without having to commit to partitioning and so on.

Good luck !

Cheers,

mj

I hate to be captain obvious, but I think you answered your own question... You say you want the most minimal and fastest distribution with a gui. While this can be argued, why dont you start by looking for a distribution that meets your requirements. If you are not sure where to go next try these...

1) www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/
2) http://eedok.voidofmind.com/linux/chooser.html
3) www.distrowatch.com


Without knowing you, it will be hard for anyone to pick the best distro for you. Sure we could all it here and suggest them for you, but in the end, only you will know which one is the best. Find a couple that meet your requirement and try them all. Only then will you know which one is best for you.

Welcome to LQ.

Netizen

Call it a pet-peeve, but I always get annoyed when someone says something like "I'm tired of microsoft's b/s".

You need some kind of scale to rate things by and if you haven't ever tried linux, then what are you using to provide any scale? Microsoft is b/s compared to what? What do you have experience with that is so much better than windows?

You might have to eat your own words if you decide that you can't use linux for some reason...

If you insist on being hardcore though, I recommend gentoo linux. Its quick, fast, and minimal and will teach you a lot.

It's a pet peeve for me, too, but for different reasons. I think you can be tired of BS without knowing anything else. For example, these stupid activation codes and registration keys that come with Microsoft's software--I found those a total pain in the butt before I knew anything else. That's like saying there's no way an abused wife can know she's being abused and it hurts. It's possible that's the only kind of relationship she could have known, but it's also possible that she could know only that and still know it's an abusive relationship.

That said, what annoys me most, and maybe this is something separate, is people seeing no redemptive qualities in Windows and calling Windows Windbloze, Windoze, Window$ and whatnot. That's a really quick way to injure your credibility--name-calling.

aysiu,

I am corrected by you. Microsoft does force some things with their products that are pretty annoying. If you use microsoft you are agreeing to expose your rights and privacies to microsoft's own definition of them.

Those things have nothing to do with how well made their products are made and are purely bad business.

Good point. Actually Microsoft Office and Windows XP are great products. IE was, too, in the mid-90s.