I wanted to try Linux.

UBUNTU 7.04 has been highly praised so I thought that would be the one to try.

I was wrong ...

My machine:-
AMD A62 duel core processor,
2GB RAM,
ASUS Crosshair mobo,
nVidea Gforce 8800GTX graphics card,
four SATA and one IDE drives,
a Sony duel layer DVD writer.

First error report: no 'apic' found, whatever that is.
Fixed it with 'noapic'

Second error (the killer) cannot start X Windows.

I managed a text-only installation - not good enough.

So, here I am, seeking advice on which versions of Linux would install on my machine without beating my poor, shriveled brain into sawdust.

Which distro should I get?

Julian (-_-)

Ok, if you managed to get through and actually install it then it's just a matter of addressing the issue at hand.

It's probably just a problem with the nVidia driver. Go to the directory /etc/X11 and do sudo nano xorg.conf

Find the line that describes your video card and see what driver is listed. It should be "nv". If it is and it's not working, change it to "vesa". That will at least get you into X and you can fix the problem from there.

Hi, masonm (-_-)

Thank you for your suggestion and for responding at all.
I shall do as you say as soon as I can find the time (bit hectic at the moment).

I'd still rather find a version of Linux that knows what it is doing and can handle slight discrepancies without crashing to a halt.

I mean, the 'noapic' solution should have been an anticipated contingency.
And not recognizing a graphics card should have automatically triggered the selection of a default vesa display.

It all seems a bit unfinished and undeserving of its praise.
Is UBUNTU really the best?

A slightly disappointed Julian ((.)(.))

Ubuntu is not the "Best". There is no "best" distro. I personally think Ubuntu is good, but horrible at the same time. I could go on for paragraphs about why I don't like Ubuntu, but why should I? When I have previously done it, no one has listened.

Anyway, if you are looking for the "best" disto, go to http://www.distrowatch.com and try every distro in their Major Distrobutions list. You'll find your favorite, which would be the "best" in your opinion.

I use Fedora 7 and I installed my nVidia driver by doing this:

My card works perfectly! Not that I hate or dislike Ubuntu (I actually have it installed on my laptop), but I prefer Fedora and Red Hat based distros....

-custangro

You have to keep in mind that it's virtually impossible to design a distro that will work by default with every possible combination of hardware out there. The developers do the best they can, but there is no perfect distro. For that matter you could have a bad download and/or burn.

If you're unsure about Ubuntu try SimplyMepis and see how it does for you. Warren does a pretty good job with his distro.

Also, check out Suse as well.

You have tons of options, just find one that feels right to you, just know that none of them are perfect.

I'm so glad there were only a handful of distros available 12 years ago when I had to pick one. I would be totally lost as to which one to choose if I started with Linux now.

And you still have not made a decision Your profile shows 4 distros

Well, I use Fedora because I chose Red Hat after Yggdrasil stopped distributing Linux. I have to support those others for work.

There's nothing that says you have to only use one distro.

Take the distro quiz which has given great suggestions for a distro.

So true!

Look at me. These are the ones that I'm currently ussing: Fedora...CentOS...Ubuntu....Solaris. At one point I had Linspire...but I didn't like it....hey...I might even Try Some BSD. You don't know your favorite until you try a whole bunch... I favor the Red Hat based ones myself... but that's just me!


custangro

Hi. I'm a fellow newbie and I tried a lot of distros before settling on ubuntu. I'd a few problems as well - but they were caused by nvidia, not the OS.

I posted a thread, got the help I needed (thanks masonm and forrest!) and I'm well pleased with ubuntu.

The way I size up a distro is simple:

1. Is it easy to get onto the internet?
2. Can I get printing in less than two minutes?

Neither was a problem. My only problem was nvidia drivers.

ubuntu ticks the boxes. And there's a lot of help for newbies like me on linuxquestions if you're stuck.

I went through the whole "what's the best distro" stuff as well. Try them all because in Linux there's something for everyone.

Knoppix is good (my son's a huge fan now) and Puppy Linux is brilliant because you can put it onto a USB stick or CD and write your sessions back to the same CD every shutdown.

Remember, I'm a newbie and there's lots of people on linuxquestions who like getting down and dirty in the terminal. I don't. I'm a GUI type, but I'm slowly finding my feet.

If you're looking for a really user-friendly Windows replacement, I'd stick with ubuntu for a while before looking anywhere else.

The only reason I use Vista anymore is to do digital video editing.

Thank you for all your comments, guys :-)
I am persuaded that sticking with UBUNTU is, after all, the smart thing to do ...

Your new friend,

Julian (-_-)

<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>

I used to recommend SuSE for its ease of use for new users and plentiful GUI system administration tools, but I've really been impressed with Ubuntu this past year. I think it's a great distro for those beginning to use linux, or for non-power users.

Welcome to the world of open-source software!