Hey .. im a n00b , and I found RH9 to be really cool, but I havent expierinced any other versions, I was just wondering what most peoples personal preference for linux is ? whats the best for what? thanks ...

depends on what you want to use it for. Seriously. you will get slackware, debian, fedora (which you might like- its like RH) suse etc etc etc (till the cows come home) users telling you why their distro of choice is the best, but such debates are pointless.

check out:
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/ and http://eedok.voidofmind.com/linux/chooser.html
to find a distro that is right for you.

Welcome to LQ!

titanium_geek

OK awesome . im off to bed now .. ill check it in the morning b4 school .. .thx

Thx much, I checked the links, one tells me that ubuntu is a really good match . the other says that Mandriva is a good choice, should I just download a live cd and try them out first ? or is there one that might be a better choice for a n00b ?

mandriva and ubuntu are both good choices. Ubuntu is a one cd download and has a great debian like package system *hello upgrade!* - mandriva also has a good software installer, called urpmi. Ubuntu also has a live CD. (yay!)

I would suggest picking one and going with it, both are good and newbie friendly. The important thing is sticking to it. Don't flip flop, pick one, work on it for at least a month (live CD is nice to try before you buy erm, install) and then think about switching.

good luck with linux and your studies.

titanium_geek

YEaaaa .. i just had a friend come over today and install debian.. hes going to finish the installations and setup tomm. .. everything should work out good . .and i wont flip flop .. .ill check it out for a while .. and learn what i can .. thx

wow, thats throwing yourself into the deep end- "debian eats newbies for breakfast" however, if you can stick to it and learn the darn thing, then you will love it. However, be warned that it is one of the "harder" linuxs. If you care, that is.

titanium_geek

Wow, , he never told me that , he just told me he could fix it , but im up for a challenge hopefully i havnt bit off more than i can chew, I'll eventually learn it .. just might take longer ...whats so difficult about it? does it have a completely different interface or somethin? what makes it harder than normal? .. thx

I dunno, it just takes a bit more thought process. if he really means ubuntu/knoppix/mepis/other debian based/ you should be fine.

Debian has gnome, kde, and the CLI like all other distros, but there is just something with the configing that's tough. If he sets it up for you you should be fine.

titanium_geek

yea.. he started setting it up for me, but it had to download the windows or something . which was taking two and a half hours .. and it was late already,.. he told me it should start up fine .. which it didnt and im getting errors, but thats a different problem all together and he should be coming by here tomm. and fix it , and make sure everything is set up the way it needs to be ... PS .. i really appreciate your concern and i am quite thankful for your help .....

Hey neat, recommended the distro I'm using to me.

If you have a friend setting up debian for you, but you still want to learn by yourself, I recommend you both use "screen" !

It's a program to use many shells in one commands prompt, but if you and you're friend are both connected to the net, he can help you remotely (with ssh for example) on some config-files.
If you both have screen installed he can start a screen-session, connect via ssh to your machine and you can join HIS screen session and watch what he is doing/typing. It's great for learning to use the CLI and he can help you without having to come over.
You can also use VNC to remotely control a computer with graphics support (in a WM e.g.) much like the remote control known from Windows. You can even remote control between windows und linux.

But if you're friend comes over regularily to help you, make sure you do most of the typing and configs to get to know linux. It's better than just let him fix it without having an idea what he has done.

I was also "thrown" into Debian, though I always Dual-booted, but once you know where which config file for a certain purpose is and get used to the common commands you'll be learning fast. But make sure you don't rely too much on a WM, especially not one like KDE or gnome which does most of the stuff for you. Try to work with the command line as much as possible. For example I have a very minimalistic WM which just makes my aterm (xterm/eterm) look better and has a little menu with some shortcuts as well as a few dockapps for system info, that's it, everything else is donne through aterms.

Thanks for the help, although I found that this kid doesnt know very much about linux, I'm going to have another friend show me through linux, since the one who was helping me doesnt know how to correctly use a computer, somehow he installed Debian into four partitions, didnt even finish installing and expected me to finish it, I think that i might get Ubuntu or slacker... but currently I installed Windows Vista (longhorn) over debian, so when i get a new hard drive I'll pick it up again, its very difficult to work with so im not going to give up like most do.

It's absolutely not uncommon to install linux on several partitions.
Here's how I installed mine (on 5 partitions):
1) /boot (100mb)
2) swap
3) Root-Partition (about 1.5gb)
4) Usr-Partition (3gb)
5) home (5gb)

so if this "kid" tried to install it on multiple partitions it doesn't mean he knows linux little, but more the contrary.

Also, what do you mean by "didn't even finish install" ?
After debian is installed it normally leaves you with a base system, the rest is installed through its package manager Apt. So it's possible you have a fully installed debian, but not yet stuff you might want (e.g. a window manager or other software).

But it's perhaps better you start with an "easier" distro first, though debian is quite easy, once installed, because of it's ingenious package manager. You'd still have to hand-edit some config files though.
So if you want to learn linux well, have spare time and don't get easily frustrated, stick with Debian. If you wnt a running system with apps for all your needs quickly, choose an easier one or a live-cd linux which you can install on HDD.
Slack would be hard for you I think (harder than Debian), but Ubuntu would be a good choice to start, or: Suse, Mepis, Knoppix (and its derivates), ...

actually debian was harder than slackware (for me at least)

four partitons is normal, even beneficial- it sounds like you are a little windows acustomed. Many almost windows gurus find linux tough.

Yeah, LiveCD's are great. Knoppix is good. Ubuntu is good.

titanium_geek