Greetings I have mandrake linux 9.0 and I’m having problems with it but that’s another story.

my question now is what is the best linux Distribution for learning the detail of computers so to be able to program and fix programs. something that will get you to know a great deal of source code and more

also the Distribution of linux needs to be able to support these programs like win4lin or vmware so I can put XP on it also

thank you.

I dont know much about linux but I can tell you that all you need to understand details is a vision of architectural design, not a specific os. For this i can point you to a book named computer systems by Stan Warford from Pepperdine university. details can be found at http://computersystems.jbpub.com/


Good luck!!

Debian. I'm running it right now with a vmware desktop of 2K for my webpage testing under IE. Works like a charm.

Oh and apt-get owns you.

The installer is not as 'easy' as Mandrake and others, although though it's probably worth learning.

If not, I reccomend using a debian based distro. Once you've had apt-get, you'll never go back.

As a platform for learning to program just about any distro will do. You generally won't want to mess with the source code of the system, and even if you do that is not how you learn. Start by getting a system up with gcc, get a book/website and start studying. Once you get a hang of coding in your language of choice, then work your way up to tinkering with the different existing applications.

That said my vote is Slackware, simple and unobtrusive. Debian is also a viable option, you will surely be doing a lot of compiling from source!!

hey,
very fine !!!
every one in linux seems happy with his distro!!
I use redhat i find it very nice !
mephisto thinks slack very good, because it runs slack,
same thing for soleil-raid with his debian.

In this case I can say, you can use any, they are good.

for the newbie : redhat or mandrake are better because more easy to install

bela

If there was a single "best distro" it's not very likely all the other's would exist, now would it

Give em a try and see what you think is the "Best Distro", that's the best answer you'll get on a question like this.

Cool

i have been changing distros of Linux more often that i change my socks (and i aint dirty) and I can't settle between RedHat 8 and Mandrake 9.
I am currently back with RedHat 8 cus i got the RedHat bible and cus I want to end up working with Linux.

I don't understand why everyone has to change linux distros so often. I personally have been using linux [haven't had a chance to sit down with it fully yet] for about 5 days and i am in love. I just wish that i can learn perl and maybe some other languages so i can better myself at linux. I am using Red Hat 8.0 and i think that the OS is beautiful. I can't wait to set up my ftp and http server and just let my box sit in the corner while i RADMIN to it every now and then. Linux rules.

I have been reduced to an "it"!!

For a newbie coming from Windows I used to say Redhat for a server, Mandrake for a workstation. But it has been a couple of versions since I used either and I don't want to recommend something I have never seen. (I intend to pick up the next version of RH and Mandrake and see how they look.)

If you don't want to learn posix shell, one of the next-gen wave are also an option, i.e. Lycoris, Xandros, et al..

ha ha ha, I read that but just assumed it was referring to the computer.

I'd assume "he" but have been wrong before.



Cool

Last time I checked... yep definitely "he."

Any distro and all distros will let you learn these skills.

Just don't try to install Gentoo on a slow machine (eg my pii 233mhz) nearly a week of compiling....But to put in my two cents, Redhat and Mandrake are easiest for the new to linux, but spend a bit of time with them and you'll have no trouble installing and trying out new distro's it's almost fun to install the more difficult to install linux distro's and then seeing them run, makes you feel like you've learned and accomplished something, (some distro's you really HAVE accomplished something may I add.) But MOST distro's linux can teach you just as well, however as they've said before, Redhat and Mandrake are likely the easiest for you to get WORKING, but on that same coin, the harder it is to get working the more you'll learn about configuration, (which you'll end up at some point having to learn anyhow) but that could be frustrating, so just go about it how you think is best for you.
-robf

i started out with Red Hat. Then tried other distors: Mandrake, Debian, OpenLinux,
TurboLinux Slackware FreeBSD. i'm now using slackware on my dell latitude cp laptop (and all is working fine :P). I like it a lot and i try to do most out of it in my spare time.

slackware is the best!!!!!