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Old 01-07-2011, 04:52 PM   #1
WhoFlungDo
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New to Linux - Which One?


I am a Network Admin and have been for several years. It has come time (finally) to dive into Linux. We have several web servers (all CentOS) which I would eventually need to have under my belt. But I am not sure CentOS is the linux version I need to start out in. My hope is that within a year I will be performing some basic tasks on the live servers (ie: adding email accounts, runing resource reports, etc...). What Linux distribution should I start out with? Is there a general progression? ie Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS??

Again, I am new to Linux. Thanks for your assistance.
 
Old 01-07-2011, 04:55 PM   #2
brianL
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Dual-boot. Install Centos to help with your work, and try a few different distros for fun and variety.
 
Old 01-07-2011, 05:23 PM   #3
snowday
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CentOS is a great server distro for a tech-saavy Linux beginner such as yourself. I say this for two reasons: first because it is what your workplace requires, and second because it is extremely well-documented (the CentOS wiki is outstanding, plus you can use just about any Red Hat Enterprise Linux materials as well, such as Michael Jang's "RHCE Linux Study Guide").

That's assuming you'll be using CentOS as a server to practice your admin skills. If on the other hand you are looking for a general-purpose desktop/laptop distristribution to "get your feet wet" with web surfing, multimedia, games, etc., then there's certainly nothing wrong with CentOS, however you might also consider Fedora, which has the same "guts" as RHEL/CentOS, but has a faster development pace, providing the latest kernel, hardware drivers, applications, etc. every 6 months.

The Debian/Ubuntu/Mint family is also very popular, but because it uses a different package management system (DEB instead of RPM), you'd have a slight learning curve switching to CentOS in the future.

You'll probably also get a few votes for Slackware here on these forums.
 
Old 01-07-2011, 05:59 PM   #4
darkduck
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I would agree with Snowpine. If you have CentOS to work with, then either try this one (not user-friendly actually) or try Fedora.
I've tried both so far. Please refer to my blog (link in my signature).
 
Old 01-08-2011, 09:56 AM   #5
WhoFlungDo
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Thank you all for your input. I plan to put together a sandbox computer at the office to mess around with. I will install a few distros on there and see what happens !! I am sure you will hear more from me in the coming days and weeks. Thanks for your input.
 
Old 01-08-2011, 11:32 AM   #6
John VV
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CentOS is good BUT not so good for a everyday home system
I ran fedora 4 to 11 and cent
now OpenSUSE 11.3 is my everyday system and CentOS is for running the spacecraft imaging i do in ISIS3

Cent/RHEL is GREAT for the server or the Lab or Office
BUT is a bit limited for home use -- media is "fun" you almost need to build everything from source
the current mplayer in the cent repo is built without some fonts and some videos with subtitles crash it
there are a BUNCH of conflicting rpms for the player -- Basicly it is a big MESS on cent
mplayer currently conflicts with about 1/2 of the cent-plus repo ( i need to check that it might be the std repo)



so use CentOS/rhel at home when you NEED to use it but use fedora or Mint or SUSE as your everyday system
 
  


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