Hi experts,

I am very new to linux and Ijust read some magazines on some basic installation, surfing internet, etc......linux guidelines. I would like to know what linux distribution should I use ?

Also wanna know does linux need antivirus software / firewall ? what do people use usually ? symantec ? nod32 ?

I am really new to it, hope my questions will not offend you all.

thanks

Welcome to LQ.

This sort of question is asked all the time. Try searching and reading the distro reviews section:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/reviews/index.php

Modern linux kernels use iptables for a firewall and if you are looking for antivirus products then clamav is probably the best: http://www.clamav.net

Hi TheSleeper81,

If your not sure about Linux (or GNU/Linux as it should be called) then you might want to download a LiveCD, a LiveCD is a CD which you can place in your CD-Rom drive and boot from when you switch on you computer.
I would personal recommend Ubuntu LiveCD, but almost 99% of the community have positive view on Knoppix.

Generaly speaking Linux DOES NOT need antivirus software, most viruses are aimed at Mircosoft based products (the two main reasons are a lot of "geeks" dislioke MS and its also the most used platform)

With regards to a firewall, you dont really need one of these either but most distrobutions will supply one. Please remember if you just a bog standard Linux desktop user, you general have to worries about 1% of the things your average Windows user worries about.

apt/symantec ? Yes thats good, but any packerage will do, all distobutions have them SuSE has YaST, Mandrake has urpmi, REDHAT/Fedora has yum (and also up2date, which i personaly dont rate) Ubuntu and other debian based distrobutions (including debian itself, of course ) use apt/symantec.

Too be honest i prefer portage for Gentoo, however I wouldnt recommend installing Gentoo if your still unsure about linux (it can be a royal pain at first, but once you running, your in love with it )

Any other queries just post

GlenX

Hi TheSleeper81

I have looked the various distributions on this (and other sites) and have discovered 2 distros are good for Windows migrators. I use Fedora Core2 currently but am looking to move after a few issues I cant seem to resolve. (could be me or a hardware issue, I dont know.) These seem to address the problems I am experiencing.

Suse 9.2 Personal and Mandrake 10.x seem to have very few problems for normal usage, only power users report shortcomings (eg the lack make and gcc, stuff *most* of us dont need) so, I suggest one of those. Suse is the one I am leaning towards as my local BLUG (Bathurst Linux Users Group) uses and recomends it.

Please also note that they are full installs, not like the "run from CD" versions GlenX recomeneded. These will give you an idea of what Linux is about and how it looks and probably run just fine, but I am not sure about the longevity of use most of us are after (this is just IMHO).

Firewall, just use the ipTables built into the Kernel (2.4 and later i believe) but I use Firestarter, a GUI tool that configures it just fine. See http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/117766/65/ for more info. However many of the distros have a builtin config tool, I just prefer and trust Firestarter. Note if the above link is broken try punching "sourceforge" into your google (or whatever web bot you use)

Antivirus, never used one, never been crippled but having said that noone in the opensource community writes stuff that is not useful/needed so maybe the clamav mentioned previously will be of use for you.
I personaly dont recieve many emails that I either dont know the sender, orits froma mailing list. I also never open an attachment that is not described by my personal friend that sent it. But that is just me.

Good luck on your new Linux adventure. And remember, no matter what flavour you choose, they are all chocolate, mmmmm.

Regards
Allan