need help choosing a distro

Homer69 · 11-03-2005, 03:56 PM

Hi, i am completely new to linux but i have installed linspire on a spare partition on my hard drive, it seems to be working ok but i need a distro which is almost completely point and click ( like windows ) for now anyway, because i cannot get my head around installing software in linux. I also dont want to pay subcription to things like cnr warehouse etc. i just want to download, click and install then use, is this possible in linux because i am really p****d off with ms windows.

>minimalist< · 11-03-2005, 04:11 PM

Mandrake or Mandriva now is very user-friendly, most software can be installed from RPMs by just pointing and clicking. It's also very easy to install, I'd say easier than windows. Be advised though, a lot of software for linux must be installed at the command line, unless you have a friend build an rpm for you.

Homer69 · 11-03-2005, 04:40 PM

ok thanks that narrows the search a little but more suggestions make the final decision easier, please remember i am a complete newbie, i have installed linspire but am getting very frustrated trying to install software such as limewire for example

Xena · 11-03-2005, 05:01 PM

Mandrake 10.1 is my suggestion. Go to www.linuxiso.org and grab the images.

Cogar · 11-03-2005, 05:24 PM

Checking out the "chooser" at the site below will give you a decent "thumbnail" view of the different distributions. It guides you through a series of questions regarding what is important to you.

http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

Homer69 · 11-03-2005, 05:36 PM

again thankyou very much, i have been up all night trawling the internet and the decision i have reached is.......................... between ubuntu and Mepis ???????
dont know which one, i might try both.....

DeusExLinux · 11-03-2005, 05:56 PM

Try both
Don't limit yourself to one distro
They all have their plusses and minuses.. I used about 6 before I decided on Arch (I wouldn't recommend heading head-long into Arch, but you can always do it... it's NOT point and click, but I found I liked that better)

There wouldn't be about 1,200,343,432,625,233,433.52333 distros avaliable if people didn't all have a personal choice for each of them.

I urge you to try as many as possible.. I have a spare partition that I use to install new distros that look interesting!

Fritz_Monroe · 11-03-2005, 06:48 PM

SimplyMepis is another good newbie distro. There's a book called Point and Click Linux that covers Mepis, so you may want to look into that as well.

F_M

mcmillan · 11-03-2005, 09:46 PM

If you're hoping for just point and click ubuntu may not be the best option. A lot of the configuration takes some use of the command line, though there's pretty good instructions on www.ubuntuguide.org That is still for th old version, I believe the new one has it installed. However I think it's good to use for learning how to do some of this stuff. It's possible to have a basic functioning system without much trouble, but there's good instructions for learning more.

Twistedlizzard · 11-04-2005, 04:44 AM

I found Suse 9.1 to be a great distro... I had no Linux experience at all and managed to install and configure it for my HP notebook... including the special keys using lineak. Been using it for months now with no hassles.

arre · 11-04-2005, 08:22 AM

I use slack and i'm lovin it

Slackware is a very stable and simple OS, you do need to know what you are doing, but hell, once you installed it you run kde and you got everything you want up and running. The package managementsystem is very easy too...

Just visit the site

www.slackware.com

Fritz_Monroe · 11-04-2005, 08:29 AM

I agree that Slackware is a great distro. That became my newbie distro of choice because I wanted to learn about Linux. It definately makes you do your homework, but as arre said, once you get it set up and configured the way you like, it will run for months.

linuxdemos.com · 11-04-2005, 12:58 PM

Xandros OCE 3 is a great distro and contains a great mix of programs for the newbie to have a crack at.

bighooked · 11-04-2005, 01:57 PM

Howdy,

You might want to consider trying Kubuntu, which is the graphical "cousin" of ubuntu. I switched to Kubuntu 5.04 from Mandriva 10.2 professional (successor to Mandrake) after a mishap with the email program that nobody seemed to know how to fix. I have had no problems with Kubuntu. Its installation routine is a breeze for anyone. I am no expert by any means. But if I had to rate Mandrake and Kubuntu for ease of overall use, Kubuntu would win hands down.

Good luck,

Bighooked

Fritz_Monroe · 11-04-2005, 02:03 PM

I've never used Ubuntu or Kubuntu so may be wrong on this, but I thought the main difference was that Kubuntu used KDE vs. Ubuntu that uses Gnome.

Either way, I've heard great things about the Ubuntu family. There's even a education based version that allows you to set up a terminal server environment.

I'll be using Ubuntu to test out a laptop in the next couple weeks. There's a live edition of each of their distros, so give them a try and see if they fit your requirements.