I've been trying out fedora core 4 and also knoppix recently.

I have to say, I've appreciated the greater range of software that came as standard with knoppix, and prefer the KDE environment.

However, I don't know the difference between all these distros.


Anybody have any suggestions?

(If you're wondering why this is in the fedora discussion group, I didn't know where else to put it)
Thanks

Im fairly new to linux too. I have tryed out many distos and all of them are good.

The thing is, each distro has its own main purpose.

Mandriva = Useability
Debain = Freeness
Slackware = Simplicity
Ubuntu = The User
Damn small linux = Coolness and usefulness

etc

I have come to like fedora core 4. Not sure why though it is fully compatible with my system, the installation is seriously easy to do, generaly a great OS. But i depends what you intend to do with your system.

Hope this helps

I like kde too, change your desktop to kde.

As a normal user, you can run "switchesk kde" to make KDE the default desktop. To change it globally edit /etc/sysconfig/desktop and change DESKTOP="GNOME" to DESKTOP="KDE".

/g

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Linux-Distributions and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

What's the best distribution?

The one that works for you and meets all of your needs.

Try browsing DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.

Or Searching the forum, this question gets asked on almost a daily basis.

What is the difference between Linux distros?

LinuxQuestions.org - What is the real difference among all these Linux distributions? - where Linux users come for help

Perfect Reign - Articles

Everyone has their own opinion about which is best. The best is the one that you can use with few problems, that also meets all of the needs you have.

Ask a hundred Linux users which is best and you will get a 100 different answers.

My opinion (and others will be different) is that the best distro for beginners is PCLinuxOS.

Its features are:

1. It is installable from a Live CD, you can see the desktop and test your hardware before you install.

2. It has a KDE desktop, but others are available for download from its software repos. It has a great graphic designer called Jose Rangels, check out some of his wallpapers at http://kde-look.org

3. It is one of the easiest to install provided hardware is compatible. Good hardware detection means that it's not too hard to get your peripherals working.

4. Stuff like Real Player within Firefox, and a whole host of Media Players, come as standard, as well as Peer-to-peer software.

5. It uses systems called HAL, DBUS and UDEV, which of course means nothing. However these systems ensure that when you plug in a memory stick, the computer sets it up for you to use, and you get the opportunity to safely unmount (write behind buffered data) before pulling it out. Also CDs, DVDs, etc.

6. It has an easy-to-use program, Synaptic, for Adding, Removing and Updating Software packages.

7. It has a WIKI, a mailing list, a Chat site, and a forum, where you can sort out any problems.

Whilst it is easy enough for beginners, it is powerful enough for older hands, too.

In the unlikely event that it cannot get your hardware right, I would then choose MEPIS. This is also a LiveCD, with a KDE desktop, but its hardware detection is different and due to that and other things, may pick up something that PCLOS cannot (and the reverse is also true).

Homepage: http://www.pclinuxonline.com/pclos

Beginner's Guide: http://www.pclinuxonline.com/wiki

http://eedok.voidofmind.com/linux/chooser.html
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php

Davecs is right on the money.

Thank you, all.


There were just a few things I didn't like about Fedora: have been having problems with the permissions when it comes to things like who can mount USB disks or CD's, etc: I can only do this as root and I've found no documentation on how to change this.

Also sorting out permissions for USB's / CD's: even when they are mounted when I'm in root and try to change who can e.g. write to the USB, when I put ticks in the boxes in the graphical interface, it unticks them a few seconds later! All very bizaare.

Though I do suppose it is one of the easier ones to install, and more simple to run, so people tell me.

The other main thing I was interested in was the amount of software that came with it: not enough in Fedora, I think, given installing is such a pain. It's nice when things like XMMS come with the distro.

(Fedora didn't even have a plugin to play MP3s though), and couldn't recognise my soundcard. KNOPPIX seemed to handle it though.



Hope PCLinuxOS and MEPIS can; I will try them soon.

Thanks again.

PCLInuxOS includes all the normal browser plugins like Java, Flash, and multimedia support. So you should have no problems listening to mp3s.

MEPIS also includes multimedia support along with the browsr plugins.

PCLinuxOS is based on Mandrake and a has a decent amount of software available.

MEPIS is based on Debian and has an unbelievable amount of software available.

Both use Synaptic, a graphical package manager.