Which Distro?
 

Right now, I am dual-booting Ubuntu on my family computer. Just recently, I bought a new AMD Athlon 64 3000+ w/ a 160 Gig HD and a gig of RAM, and I want to dual-boot another distro. I want something that I, a complete newbie, can learn on, but I don't want to miss out on the whole Linux experience, so no kiddie-Linux. What do you guys recomend?

The Fedora Core Project supports 64 bit processors. I personally don't have a 64 bit system, so I don't know how it runs, but I'm currently running FC3 i386 and I love it. I don't think I'd ever use a different distro. They release a new version about every 6 month and the FC4 is supposed to be released on June 6! These quick, new releases allow you to keep up with all the other kids.

I don't know if you'd consider this a kiddie distro or not, but I've learned all my experiences on it.

By kiddie-distro, I mean a dumbed down version that really down't give you the full Linux experience. I really am a newbie, so I don't know any examples to give, so sorry.

slackware is a great choice, especially if one of your main objectives is to learn more:

http://www.slackware.com

the 64-bit third-party slackware port really sucks at the moment and i can't recommend it... but if you don't mind using the official 32-bit slackware on your box i'd say go for slackware, it's a great learning experience and lots of fun... there's some slack documentation here at LQ which you might wanna look at...

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Slackware

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/...e-Introduction

if you have any questions about slackware just ask, i'd be happy to try and clear any doubts you might have...

IMO, there is no such thing as a kiddie-distro..
Even in Mandrake, you can still use command-line.

But Slackware or Gentoo will give you the pain and pleasure you need :D :D
I'm linux-kidding now : no, you will learn a lot..
But if you want the extreme pain try Linux From Scratch.
You will build your distro from a to z.

I am a complete newbie, so I don't want something that even Linux veterans have a lot of trouble with.

If you want to learn *nix, get Slackware. Learn how to
properly configure and admin your system before you
try LFS -- which is really not for someone just starting
in *nix, unless you're an extreme masochist -- same
goes for Gentoo. Why spend your time compiling every
single thing from source, as you will with Gentoo or
LFS, when Slack has binaries, and they work very well
with Slackware. Compile from source the extra stuff
once you get a running system...

so forget LFS and Gentoo and try Slackware!!

=)

How difficult is Slackware compared to Ubuntu or Debian?

Nobody can answer that for Lyko except you...

That's really a hypothetical question based upon the user.
My experience -- I first tried RedHat 9.0 and it really stunk.
Then I tried Debian -- good distro, but apt-get didn't satisfy
my desires, because there are just too many different guys
maintaining them, and they don't always work. So then I
went to Slackware.

For me, the install is a breeze! Takes me about 15 - 20 mins.
to get the whole distro installed. Then it takes a lot of time
and reading to tweak things, and configure to my taste.

But now I have a system which I control, and when something
doesn't work the way I want, I can read and learn and fix it.

Just install it and try. Don't depend upon a new OS for your
production machine, or your only hobby or whatever, until
you learn how to use it.

If you had been driving around the country in a car, and you
suddenly found an airplane on your property, you wouldn't
just jump in the plane and fly it! You'd have to learn how the
thing works, and how to use it, first. Same with these Linux
distributions.

You've been given some links. Download the first two Slack
iso files, and the md5 sums. Check your files, burn the CDs,
put the first one in your drive and read Slackware-HOWTO
and some of this other information you've been given and
then jump in with both feet. Only thing I'd change about the
Slackware-HOWTO is use cfdisk rather than fdisk.

That sounds good. I will download Slackware, and give it a try. What about Fedora? I have gotten a few recommendations towards that. Right now, I am settled on Slackware, but it will take me a day or two to set up my new computer, so I have some time to make up my mind.

With Slack, you'll have no graphical configuration tools. You'll have to learn to edit config files with a text editor.

This is not so difficult, so I think you should try it. When I switched to Slack, I learned in 2 weeks much more than I had learned in 2 years using Mandrake.

Go for slack. You'll be able to compile a kernel by the time you'd still be a beginner with most other distros.

Alternative : VectorLinux (slackware-based). I haven't tried it.

For a comparison of some major distros, see
http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

Fedora is from the RedHat company. I think it is really their
testing distribution, and that they abandoned the desktop
users in favor of the enterprise market. That company is
out to make money with Linux, which they have every
right to do, but that philosophy IMO is contrary to the
purpose of Linux, and requires that they tailor their
products to what sells best, rather than what performs
best...

Also use Google <Linux> if you don't already know about it,
for some refined Linux search results.

I went to that site you gave me, Ben, and it sure does make Slackware out as a real hardcore system. I don't mind learning, but man, is this going to be hell to get good with?