Which distribution??
 

Which distribution is the easiest for a guy coming from Win8
background? I plan to install it on a separate HD. Thanks for any and all replies.

This is my dualbooter. I won't recommend unless you say to.

This question is almost as easy to answer as the question: Which flavor of icecream is the best for someone used to yoghurt.
It depends, I would give Linux Mint or Zorin OS a try if you want something that is closer to Windows, if you are willing to look at your options and maybe learn a bit or two, Linux has several desktop environments that you can try, all with a different paradigm and using style, most of them highly customizable (maybe have a look into the screenshot section).

TobiSGD is right, but I'm going out on a limb and recommend Mint.

Since you're using Windows 8, you should do a little research into Windows Secure Boot and Linux.

This article might be a good starting point: http://www.howtogeek.com/149254/if-i...install-linux/

As Tobi says, it usually depends on your taste in GUIs. There are distros suited to particular tasks — Doudou for children, AntiX for tiny, ancient computers — but most are suitable for most things. It's generally best to use a distro with its default GUI, as that's the one with the most users and so the best debugged.

Mint is very user-friendly and has two defaults: Mate (plainer) and Cinnamon (fancier).
PCLinuxOS is also nice, with a friendly community, and that defaults to KDE (all the eye-candy the heart could desire).

I'd get the disk images for these and see which you prefer.

I personally use Linux Mint, I'd say it's definitely worth a try. :)

Real men don't eat quiche or use any distro that's easy to setup. Gentoo and Linux From Scratch or you're a pansie. :p Linux Mint sounds like a fruity cocktail. :o

Linux Mint will be Good for You.
Also, as you are installing on a separate HD try ubuntu.

Thanks for all the advice, since I will be installing on a separate HD will try Ubuntu.

I would take a look at distrowatch.com and see how each distro differ - only you know what is important for you. I chose openSUSE as my first distro because it had good KDE, YAST, big community and corporate backing, and i was satisfied. Only you know what will satisfy you.

+1

I use Debian because it has everything and the kitchen sink in it's repos, it's simplistic design, and because the apt suite, while IMO one of the slower package managers around, is AMAZINGLY complete, and fairly simple to use.

I used openSUSE as my #2 currently because it's a great implementation of KDE, incredibly quick to install and get up and running, and easy to manage.

Very well said! :hattip:

In addition to what has already been mentioned, try this nice distribution chooser quiz - http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

No matter what I try it seems I always go back to Slackware. Not the easiest, not the most user-friendly but to my mind the most reliable. Maybe it's because I've been using it for like 20 years, when you got a stack of floppies to install it. Now it's a stack of CDs, lol. I tried others like Ubuntu and although it works well, some of the applications (browsers esp.) available didn't do this or that (Unicode font support for example).

As it happens I just bought a new box with Window 8/Vista on it (I hate it so bad) and I'm planning to add a second drive for Linux. Does anyone have specific advice about distros for the quad core 64 bit Intel processor? Usually I find some stuff doesn't work over driver issues. It would be nice to have a 100% this time.

Linux Distribution recommendation
 

Thanks for your reply and suggestion, I'm sure you are an expert on Linux and the many distributions. I plan to have Linux on a separate HD along with Win8. I tried it last week and never could figure out how to boot to LINUX. Of course I can always boot to BIOS and select the boot drive, either Win8 or Linux.

Thanks for your reply.

I went from Ubuntu to Debian to... just about every OS under the sun... then settled on Fedora for my home desktop. It's all about finding your sweet spot: Functions you want, handles your hardware without too much fuss (unless you like a challenge), up to date enough for your needs, stable enough for your taste, and styled such that you can stand to look at it.

Much as I don't like Ubuntu these days, I still think it's a fine place to start. Probably the most important thing about the first linux distro you deal with is having a strait-forward installer. (One place where I think Fedora fails. Anaconda is a real mess.) Ubuntu and Mint deliver this where a lot of other distros (even ones that are new-user-friendly) don't.