I was running red hat on my laptop but am now going to try SuSE and ubuntu to see which i prefer. this may sound like a very daft question but what exactly are the differences going to be? what will i notice in terms of functionality?
also i am aware of kde and gnome and a lot of people have preference of these. again what are the main 'real' differences?

First the distros. It is a good idea to know just what is the same. If two kernels are the same release, you have the same code since this is centrally controlled.

What tends to be different is the applications and tools sent with the different distros. You can look at release notes to see what release of each application is in the distro.

As for tools, this is one area of greater variance. Each distro maker may include things like wizards to configure system components. Mandriva is a good example of this type of distro. Others like Slackware provide almost no tools. Slackers like to configure things using editors on the config files directly.

Updating the system and installing applications is another area of major difference. Red Hat built the code for RPM packing installation, update and removal. Mandriva has its own similar version called URPMI. Slackware ( as far as I know ) does not have a package manager. You have to compile the source files to get the binary files to install. You have to decide which way you want to do it.

As for the desktops, KDE is said to be the most windoze like. It has a start button, desktop etc.

Gnome I have had little experience with, so I will not comment any further.

Best thing to do is install both (if you have the disk space) and see which one you like best. It is truly a personal choice.

cheers for response m8

i thought that i could download everything (tools, apps etc) anyway? how many versions of the kernel are there? i know that it is ofte updated but dont know how many there are at one time so to speak

www.kernel.org

there's always 1 stable release for each version. The most popular is 2.6.* for most users but 2.4.* is still the default for some distros because of it's stability. 2.6.* is probably the best for most desktop users. My advice is to stick with the kernel you have until you have experimented and are confident with compiling *and* installing a newer one.

Tuttle has summed up the kernel question.

The simple answer is yes. My comments were trying to answer your original question on differences. I tried to hilight the areas you may want to consider for each distr you look at.

Various tools and apps will come with each distro. What makes them different is the type of tool ( they tend to be built by the people putting the distro together. The release of each app can also vary.

Linux is different than other OS's in that each distro is put together with a different set of objectives. There is a lot of overlap though.

My advise ( just my worth ) is pick one of the main stream distros that has a good package manager. Install it and build your experience. There are lots of threads asking 'which one should I pick'. It is a matter of preference.

I can't let this comment stand.
Slackware DOES have a package manager called pkgtool that installs specially formatted .tgz files.

Some advice:

Don't try to learn everything all at once. There are subtle differences between distros---and even more subtles ones between kernels---that will make NO difference to you at the beginning.

At the outset, you will be learning the new features of the various GUIs, you will learn how Linux deals with files, devices, etc.---and you will be learning (or re-learning) to appreciate and use the command-line interface (CLI).

Pick a free distro and random and dive in.

Yes,but something like apt takes care of depencies. Things are just more hands on with Slackware. Part of it's charm.

To the original question. I use Mepis occassionaly which is debian like Ubuntu. My opinion fwiw:

Suse is a mature distro with excellent configuration tools. It seems to get the little things right. I haven't been able to get fonts looking as nice as Suse's with other distros.(This may be just due to a lack of knowledge on my part). Package management is a bit of a pain to setup. Not to bad though.

With Ubuntu you get to use debian repositories. This is a good thing. If gnome doesn't appeal to you there is Kubuntu. The user community seems to be very active.

Have you checked the review section of this site? Ubuntu and Suse both seem like good choices. Maybe go with the one that plays nice with your hardware?

The default install of Debian with the Desktop Environment will install Gnome and KDE. when you login to the system you can choose your session Gnome KDE windowmaker, fluxbox, etc whatever you have installed.. easy way to check out different desktop environments.

In my opinion it had already fallen!

Every "distributor" starts with the same basic source-code: the Linux kernel; the glibc libraries; the coreutils; the XWindows or XOrg windowing system; window-managers; desktops such as KDE and/or Gnome.

The difference, and [i]vive' la difference,[/b] is what each one of them does with it.

Each distributor targets a particular audience and tries to make "Linux" as easy to use as possible. Some distributors try to make Linux as advanced as possible. Each one of them sets a particular target-user in their sights and tries to provide them something "incredibly great."

Okay, then, there's your answer. If you're trying to learn Linux, try several diffrent distros. Ideally, have two or more machines at your disposal and periodically destroy one of them. That is how you learn.

That is an interesting question which requires an interesting answer. Check out this article to clarify your doubts about which distro is ideal one.

http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2005/1...-them-all.html