i am planning on getting linux. I dont know which brand to get. are they all the same except price?

actually they are all free too.. if you have a burner and fast download.. or download via ftp..

if your just starting out.. go with mandrake.. its easier to install than windows.

are all linux's the same - i mean in terms of features and stuff?
and do they all have the same commands?

linux is linux.. a distro is a company who distributes linux with similiar and different packages. but most are the same as far as functionality. the only difference you will see is how each is installed and what they come with..

u said i could download from ftp....well what ftp site do i connenct to and how long will it take to download (approxamatly)

That depends on how much of it you download and which version you get.

Getting the whole of SuSE might takes a while - they have to spread it out over seven CDs, most of which you will never need.

I generally use Debian, it isn't the most user friendly distro to get to grips with, but using it teaches you a lot and gives you lots of control over how the system is configured.

A minimal install of Debian is about 25MB, but that is very minimal.

http://www.debian.org/releases/stabl...nstall.en.html

if you have a burner, you can get about any distro in iso form from www.linuxiso.org

what does iso form mean?

iso is a cd format.. when you burn it, its kind of like having the cd itself sort of say.

just started the MANDRAKE download. Forget that!!! 650 mega bytes!!!

the proper download version of mandrake is about 1900Mb. It seems you really do want to take the time find out exactly *what* linux is, what a distribution is, and why you want one. look around, and ask specific questions as and when you have them.

You can also get an idea what is what at distrowatch.org, then you can pick up several distros from cheapbytes.com and similar places for around $5 each, and see which you prefer.

I'd say start with redhat or mandrake if you've never touched Linux. Give several a try, only you will know which appeals to you.

i have downloaded red at 7.2, slackware 8.0, mandrake 8.2. i also have suse 7.2. i thought slackware was a little toughter to install and the other 3 which i thought was about the same in difficulty to install. slackware does not come with a lot of software, too bad it didn,t, got to installl it which is sort of tough for some. which one do i like the best, i like em all, they all have nice features, but it is really tough to single one out, mandrake may have the latest as far as drivers, etc, but suse 8.0 is out. red hat 7.2 , had tough time install sound drivers for the santa cruz card. mandrake plays my santa cruz very good.