This old timer would like to request some input from the Forum regarding which application Linux is best for Home & Office usage. Eventually would like to replace current MS XP with a Linux OS. It seems that there are many variations of Linux?? This is going to be my first experience with a Linux OS so any assistance, input or suggestions that the Forum can give would be very much appreciated. Being a senior I hope that I was able to cover this matter accurately to our Forum? Thank you all for taking the time to read request.

pepperwood, you will get lots of opinions about which one to use, i suggest getting a few of the more user friendly distributions to try out and judge for yourself which one suits you best, ubuntu & mandriva come to mind but i suggest just reading a few others comments that will soon follow mine before coming to a conclusion...

I would recomend Xandros, its really user friendly and designed to be used by people coming from windows
http://www.xandros.com/products/home..._download.html

Also,
Ubuntu is good, a little bit more advance, but the version with KDE desktop environment (Kubuntu) is known to be a bit buggy
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/download/

i am suprised more people have not replied, also another good resource for comparing distributions of Linux is http://www.distrowatch.com/

You can try the distribution chooser, it's not perfect but might give you a clue on which distributions to take a closer look (for example on distrowatch.com):

http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

Slackware !! www.slackware.com for a real experience !! ( not really friendly in some aspects but ... a real unix-like !)

for a user friendly unix like i think the best is mandrake, but i don't really know because i don't use it !!!

This is a bit like asking what car to buy (Answer: One that you like and which meets your needs.)

We need to know your skill level and uses for your computer.

What apps do you use most?--eg web, e-mail, word-processing, photos
Do you have some level of command-line skill (unix or dos)
Are you intimidated by partitioning and poking around in configuration files?

Without more info, the only advice I will offer is to start with a distro you don't have to pay for: Ubuntu, Fedora Core, SUSE 10, etc.

I think you've gotten some good advice so far. Xandros and Ubuntu are excellent starting choices.

Xandros
Pros:
Xandros is more Windows-similar. They have a free version (Open Circulation), and it has great hardware detection and is incredibly easy to install and start using. I know, I just did it last night. You can easily install it in parallel to your Windows installation (dual-booting) while making the transition. Xandros is Debian-based and has a tool to fetch the software they make available (easy to use and works well), and many of the tools you need to get started are already available. The KDE-based environment looks sharp and is very responsive.

Cons:
They insert several hooks to get you to buy their normal version. This is of course very much okay, but you have to be aware that despite the Open Circulation version, a well-enabled Xandros is going to be a paid-for version. There are several things that are held back in the free version, such as limited CD-burning speed and restrictions on what you can download from their servers. Furthermore, I wasn't happy with the way the fonts looked on the laptop I installed it on: the anti-aliasing made things look blurry (this isn't true for example with Ubuntu).

Ubuntu
Pros:
Like Xandros, Ubuntu has awesome hardware detection and is incredibly easy to install and start using. I did it easily on the first try on the same laptop (my wife's) in parallel to Windows XP, and it just plain worked. Ubuntu also has a Live version so you can evaluate how it looks and feels without installing. Although my experience with Ubuntu and Xandros is limited, I have the feeling that Ubuntu gives you much more leeway in freedom of choice. Certainly it has many, many, many more applications available to you. (The distribution is truly free and doesn't limit you like Xandros wants to.) Ubuntu allows you to avoid the command line as much as possible, and has a very useful and easy-to-follow online user's guide (that you can also download for offline reference), which makes management of software easy and powerful.

Cons:
The Live version is slow; even slower than most other Live Linux versions I've used. Ubuntu once installed doesn't feel very slow, but although the laptop is a 2.2GHz machine it didn't feel quite as snappy as some other distros, and especially not as snappy as the Xandros KDE. Also, you are going to be using Gnome (a good thing in my opinion, I'm having a great time exploring gDesklets today), but in that sense the choice is made for you. I assume you can easily install a lighter windows manager such as XCFE4 or IceWM, but then much of the ease-of-use built into the Ubuntu Gnome interface will be missing.


A word on Home & Office use: this is basically covered by most Linux distros that can be configured for the desktop. I personally like Debian-based distros because of the ease of use of software management. Xandros and Ubuntu will both cover your bases here: Xandros comes with OpenOffice 1.1, Firefox, Thunderbird, etc. and Ubuntu comes with OpenOffice 2.0, Firefox, Thunderbird, etc.

Try one or both of these distros and see if you don't like them from the get-go.

i would suggest suse 10.0 or fedora core 4, they'r quite user friendly and very common used, so a lot of people can give you support on the net.
Suse has some very good support forums.

Because they are free: just try some and check it out yourself, it's the best way to make a choice.

Most old timers have no patience at all thats why I would reccomend Suse. Mandriva is nice also but very buggy and will drive you nutz. Or if you really want to jump on the bandwagon distrowatch always has Ubuntu at the top spot.

There's also fedora, however I will say that my mom is 53 years old and I talked her through installing Ubuntu over the telephone.

I will suggest that you try a couple of liveCd's just to get a feel for linux. But most of all please read the installation documentation that all of these distros offer, it will help you a great deal before you begin this wonderful change over to linux.


Peace V

If you have NO patience, I would not recommend being the "mother' of ANY Linux box. User, yes...
My wife epitomizes the user with zero patience on computers, but she uses Linux with no issues as long as I act as the admin.

Actually it was pretty easy. I have an extra computer I use to test different distros on, so I popped in a hard drive and did the install along with her and told her what to do at each step. Many install documentation is as good as this.


Peace V

I would reccomend Fedora Core 4...I am learing about it in class and it seems good for personal usage.

www.distrowatch.com


try them all!