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Old 11-07-2003, 05:13 PM   #1
HitmanIP7
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Easiest distro for a Linux newbie?


Ive recently installed Red Hat 8.0 on a spare machine to try it out. But I have to say I dont really like it. So I was thinking about trying a different distro.

So what would be the best distro to try?

I came across a few places selling Linux CD's (such as Use Linux and Cheep Linux), are they trust worthy?
 
Old 11-07-2003, 05:15 PM   #2
nrunge
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What was it that you didnt like about Red Hat? What are you looking for particularly?
 
Old 11-07-2003, 06:09 PM   #3
J.W.
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Dude - try a bunch of them, then decide for yourself which one is "best". A good central source is: http://www.linuxiso.org/ -- J.W.
 
Old 11-07-2003, 08:41 PM   #4
nrunge
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Its not like it costs you anything :] But honestly here is my mini-history of Linux:

Slackware (too hardcore..damn dependency issues)
Mandrake/Redhat (easy to install...but what is all this crap anyway?)
Knoppix (Well this is cool but it just isnt enough)
Debian (well this is definatly not fun to setup but wait a sec...mmmmm....apt, Sold!)

Nobody right off the bat could have told me that distro "x" was the one for me.
 
Old 11-07-2003, 08:41 PM   #5
slakmagik
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I'm guessing he doesn't have DSL and would have a hard time trying a bunch of them. Agreed with nrunge - gotta say what you did and didn't like to get any valuable response. If you *almost* liked RH, try Mandrake. If you hated it, try Slack or Gentoo. But by 'easiest', I'm guessing getting RH set up was a bit too complex? Then you're probably (never used RH or most of the distros I'm about to name) limited to Mandrake or one of the Debian-Derivatives-for-Desktops-and-Dollars like Lindows or Lycoris or whatever.
 
Old 11-07-2003, 09:44 PM   #6
nrunge
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I have to say that I dont beleive in the idea of using Redhat or Mandrake to "ease" your way into linux. It will let you know if you want to run it at all but I dont think that it "prepares" you for installing Gentoo, Debian, Slackware (the only distros that I consider still support the original ideals that make linux so appealing). I know that using redhat and mandrake did not make Debian any easier to install, the first couple installs are always going to be a bit rough but once you learn how you will be glad you put forth effort. Between message boards, googling, man pages and IRC you will find an abundance of informative knowledgeable resources. Thats how I learned.
 
Old 11-08-2003, 01:00 AM   #7
tearinox
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yes, read a lot is the only cure to learning linux (and computers for that matter) but dont you dare go back to the dark side on us

but as for my input in the distro, i used mandrake at first, got slack now and luvin it. But ill have to try the others
 
Old 11-08-2003, 04:12 PM   #8
HitmanIP7
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I found installing Red Hat easy, after I read a bit about it.

I know that people are gonna laugh at me for this, but I want one which is a bit more like Windows.

It seems like everything is allot harder to do. Such as installing programs. Why cant you have a simple setup file which you double click? And the dependencies everything seems to need before it will install or work is stupid. You go to install a program, but then you have to install like five other things just to get it to work. It makes it harder, and less fun.

But I guess that all of the distros are similar?

It was a bit of a stupid question I guess.

I only have dialup, so I cant really download different distros to try. So to try different ones I would need to buy them.
 
Old 11-08-2003, 04:36 PM   #9
duerra
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Mandrake would be the most Windows-like Linux distro - in terms of the look and feel. I don't know how it is in terms of dependencies.
 
Old 11-08-2003, 04:48 PM   #10
thegreatgatsby
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SuSE is good
I haven't had any dependency problems yet - it checks them for you - have been at it 2 months now
 
Old 11-08-2003, 05:43 PM   #11
Ant71
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Yeah I installed SuSE too and it's great (got a copy from Ebay). The only thing I had problems with is that it didn't boot directly from CD and I had to create the Boot and Module discs, but it was well worth it
 
Old 11-08-2003, 05:49 PM   #12
286
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I think Mandrark should be a good choice.
 
Old 11-09-2003, 05:05 AM   #13
HitmanIP7
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Okay, I will have a look at SuSE and Mandrarke.

I was trying to get into Linux again because I wanted to try MythTV, but its a bit confusing.

Last edited by HitmanIP7; 11-09-2003 at 05:32 AM.
 
Old 11-09-2003, 05:29 AM   #14
linuxfond
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MDK - everything is fine and easy so far, except for "temporary" problem with setting up a wireless network.
Printers - no problem
Digital camera - no problem (it never worked under Windzox even with their drivers!)
DVD, CD, MP3 - no problem
Office work - great
Publishing - great

Look-and-feel - great, just choose what you like - WindowMaker, KDE, Gnome, IceWM...
 
  


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