Linux Mint - {Ubuntu-based -very easy in the sense that all codecs are already installed.} - Is like Ubuntu.

Mepis is also very good.

PClinuxOS - is not Debian-based, but is very easy to use as well - not as fond of the look though.

All of these would be easier for newbie than Debian.

The wiki and install guides or howto guides on their forum :Ubuntu forums are very good. Give it a try. I use linux Mint which in essence is Ubuntu remastered and tweaked. There may be more additionally positive enhancements that are very good for newbie users;But you still have alot of options to tinker.

...

I tried Linux Mint yesterday. From
http://linuxmint.com/download.php
I selected the liveDVD "KDE Community Edition BETA 044". Maybe that was a bad choice.

On two of the three computers I tried, it hung (after starting X but before KDE finished initializing). On the third it eventually finished initializing KDE (so slowly it went into screen saver mode before it finished). But the display memory was messed up (lots of blinking artifacts, and they moved around and increased as I used things).

All three of those computers came up OK in a one-year-old copy of the Knoppix liveDVD (though Knoppix could read files from the NTFS partition on only one of the three). The one with 64 bit addressing came up OK in a 64 bit Mepis liveCD (which could read files from the NTFS partition, where Knoppix couldn't).

Even on the computer where Linux Mint worked, even if you ignore the display problems, it didn't seem at all newbie friendly.

The help information available during boot is typical (terrible) Linux help info: Disorganized, verbose, and lacking usable information (details are mentioned in ways a newbie can't understand. Nothing is explained. The most important info is left out entirely).

Their web site is also a difficult place to find any useful help.

The KDE menu structure once it's running is harder to navigate than other packages. The lack of understandable structure (which program is in which submenu) in the KDE is one of the newbie vicious aspects of all of these distributions. But it is worse in Linux Mint.

I guess a liveDVD is fundamentally better for an (ex windows) newbie than the standard downloadable Debian minimal install CD (that makes you install Debian before you find out compatibility or usability). But other than that one aspect, I found Linux Mint consistently worse than standard Debian.

For the original question of this thread, I think the Mepis liveCD is the clear winner: It is available as 64-bit. It is easy to try (full features except for speed) before installing. It has much better documentation, both on the web site and on the CD. It seems to be nearly as good as Knoppix (better than other distributions) at managing to use strange hardware with no manual tweaking. It is a little more newbie friendly in its initial configuration of KDE and in its boot system.

Since you are a pro you might want to consider RH or Suse since they are whats mostly used in companies.You never know when the knowledge might come in handy.

Please observe that I personally don't use either one.

i think it depends on what kind of person you are.

i use slackware because its preferable to me, to have to look through man pages, ask questions on LQ's, search the net for answers, than have to use a preconfigured linux distro. they dont do things my way, and its my way or the highway

it would have been so much easier for me in many respects to just use a preconf system, because its taken me a long (LONG!) time to get to a point now with slack that i can link the basics of the system together, perform basic admin, basics of shell scripting, and get an allround birdseye view of slack, but the hardwork has started paying off and i can now start to implement the new ideas i think of to make my system custom fit me. ofcourse i still need help from my friends on the LQ forums from time to time, but that just makes the experience even richer. if i had used a preconfigured system, i would probably just gone out and got layed lol.

What does anyone think of Arch?

Indigo

I think you are underestimating how deep the water you are getting into goes. Until you get your sea legs stick with the more common distros Fedora, Suse, Ubuntu , Redhat, among others. Windows people hate to hear this but an experienced windows sys admin is just an average Linux sys admin. The distros that are mentioned earlier in the thread are all fine but a windows sys admin jumping into one of these is a little like a street racer jumping into a F1 race car. They may both have four wheels and a throttle, but they are not the same thing. I am more than a little concerned that if you go this route you will be overwhelmed and just give up. I have seen it many, many, times. So, please try one of the more common distros first, get a good feel for linux (a year of good work) and then if you want to learn more, get into the more advanced distros.

The point of using RedHat or Suse is a good one. A lot of employers do not consider it real linux experience unless it is one of these two distros. Keep in mind that Centos is RedHat with the logos removed and is free to download.

Good Luck
Lazlow

+1 for Slackware

It is simplicity itself and you have full control over the system. The slackware forum here is the official slackware forum so you will always find help if you need it.

Maybe... maybe not.

I was able to get Gentoo up and working on my test box.
I was able to get Arch working tonight on my test box -- though having a bit of an issue configuring autofs. Then again not sure I like KDE... but thought it would be good to give it a try.

I have been using Debian (minimal install w/ Gnome parts installed - but not gnome-desktop) for about four months now.

I am not looking to get hired as a Linux guru -- it will be my hobby for now. I will stay a Windows Sys Admin at work (though I may run a Linux box as I am now).

I used to game 20 hours a week -- and that time will be used to learn Linux, Python and C now... not really a question of giving up since my goal at this point is to have fun.

I do appreciate the warning though -- it is valid for 99.9% of the humans I suspect... I am just an odd duck I think.

sounds like slack to me, indigo theres a saying 'once you go slack, you never go back', ive been using it for a few years now, and couldnt imagine using anything else.

Hi,

indigo196, you seem to be someone who would fit with a distribution like Slackware. You like to investigate and read through information to get to a goal. Just because you use M$ doesn't mean you won't fair with another OS or tool. I look at the OS as a tool not a religion!

Some zealots will say you must wash yourself of the dreaded M$. I too had to support M$ while I was still in the work force. I used Unix at the time but had to support M$ within the labs. Linux was a new breath of fresh air for me. Free!

As for you being a odd duck, only you and your associates can tell.

Linux is like friends, each has a personality, race and traits that we treasure as time passes. We gain friends and loose them all the time. Some become very close to us and we will do just about anything to assist them. The more we work with them the more we know about them.

So have some fun!

Just go here for completely unbiased distro advice

Totally OT but why you push LinuxForums instead of LQ?

I would suggest trying the classic distros on your own. we can all give you our recommendations for what in our opinion is best, but YOU need to choose the Distro that works for YOU.

My preference is to stick with the mainstream distros. Most of the other distros are variations of these four.

Debian, Fedora/Redhat, Slackware, Suse

Theres a million and one other variants out there, but tried and true is what works for me. After working with all the above, Debian is my choice of distro, It works the way I like, the package management, balance of automation and hands on configuration, etc..

But we are all looking for something that suits the way we work as individuals.. if we weren't concerned about that we would all be sheep running Vista Super PenUltimate Platinum Premium Media DRM Edition right ?

If you really want to learn the guts of the OS, and are somewhat of a sadist.. LFS (Linux from Scratch) is the most recommended option. But I'd make sure I had a decent base in Linux before even heading down that route.

best of luck in your search

Say what?? I am confused - first of all: what has that website to do with LinuxForums?
Are they affiliated or something?
What is LinuxForums?

Sorry - got to plead ignorance on that one but I'll check it out.

Way I look at it it's just a completely personally biased website that has distro reviews that are fun to read but also coincide with some of the things I thought of some of the distros there.

Not that I would ever resort to the kind of language there.

For a newbie, Slackware is extremely hard to get to grips with, but id recommend you try it. I learnt on zipslack, years backm then graduated to bigslack, and finally (back then) Slackware 6 or 7 (my mind forgets, it was a while back). It will teach you linux as it should be taught.

If not try Fedora, its newbie friendly.