New To Linux
 

Hey everyone I am new to Linux I heard everyone talking about it for a while and now I would like to try it. I just don't know with what distro to start with. Any one have any ideas. Or what distro you started with?

Well, what do you want to use it for?
Personally I have only ever used RedHat and CygWin
RedHat is stable, nicely intergrated and it works out of the box (If a little sluggish on older systems)
Right now I'm triple-booting Windoze 98 (and Windoze XP Pro.) and RedHat 9.0 with BlackBox Window Manager/X File Manager/Opera
It works for me and it's quite easy to set up.

I myself would recommend someone new to linux to use redhat to start as it offers good support for the new user and long time user alike. The only problem I have with redhat is of security. By default redhat seems to have every service imaginable running after installation. Redhat is a good choice for the newbie wanting to learn linux and have an easy install.

I would personally recommend Mandrake Linux as being the easiest for a new user to understand however SuSE Linux isn't bad either. Above all try, if you have problems, struggle on and in the end the rewards will be worth it (plus you can always ask).

My top three for the new user would be:

1. Mandrake
2. SuSE
3. Red Hat

I started with Red Hat, but it seems to me that they are moving away from the new user to corporate and enterprise users. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but for a newbie, you want ease of installation and configuration.

Steve

Thanks guys. I will look into that, I was looking into installing red hat because a friend has it and I could always get a quick answer out of him. So thanks for the feed back. :D

When it comes to general configuration RedHat and Mandrake are fairly similar so your friend's advice should work in most instances under Mandrake Linux as well.

iv found Mandrake really really easy to use for a lot of things, and i think it might be a great start. There are also a massive amount of rpms designed for Mandrake (or so im told)

RedHat is nice as well, although it has run slower for me. Also had mega dependancy problems with some files

Both are good for getting your feet wet though. The beauty of Linux is that its free, so if you dont have a good experience with one distro, just install another :)

everything is easy
depends on how u look at it
i started with redhat and thought it was cool

Mandrake is the easiest Distro for the beginner.

I also recommend you download Redhat Linux ....but first Have you ever played with any unix type operating system?If not..first I would like you to download DamSmallLinux--> damnsmalllinux.org just for you to see if you like how it works.Then if you like it then go on and download Redhat Linux.