BEST Linux for newbies?
 

Okay... I know this is sort of a generic question, coz I know different flavours of Linux are catered according to different people's needs. But what is the best Linux distribution, available for download, thats best catered for the newbie? Something that's not difficult to get working and will give me a proper, general feel for Linux?

mandrake or redhat will fit that descriptor

I'd say Mandrake, its easier to set up than RH in my view.

Id definitely say Redhat over Mandrake, Redhat is the most popular newbie distro ever and I do think most used newbie distro ever as well but not 100% sure

Mandrake 9.1, it's easy to use, setup and looks great.

Although there's LOADS of GUI's for setting stuff up make an effort to learn how to use the command line and don't rely on the GUI's. You'll get WAY more out of linux that way.

Move onto another distro such as Gentoo, Debian or Slackware ASAP.

Hope this helps.

Mandrake 9.1 is a good choice for a new Linux user.

You can check out all the major Linux distributions and more at Distrowatch.

Click here to go to Distrowatch

Kind of depends on what you want-- In my opninion there are two newbie linux users:

1. The one who really wants to learn Linux. In that case, Mandrake and Red Hat are good choices.
2. The one who just wants a replacement for Windows. In that case, go for Lycoris, or Lindows (but Lindows will cost you money... :rolleyes: )

Just my opinion though...

jamd linux

think of it as redhat 9.0 lite. very much catered to a noob but you can still learn in it.

trinity

For that option, may I perchance suggest Slackware?

:D

It's really easy to install if you happen to have all easy-cheesy hardware bits, and if not.. well, you'll learn A LOT. But in any case, Slackware gets you closer to truly learning about Linux, much more so than either RedHat or Mandrake. That said... for true newbies who really just want to try out Linux I'd say go with Mandrake. It has one of the easiest installs I've ever come across (well, installing Mac OS X 10.2 was easier, but you get my drift ;) ).

-zsejk

i'm using ALT (www.altlinux.org) It's multilanguage-newbie :D friendly (English, French, German, Russian, Hebrew, Ukranian, Belorussian) ...

Of course :D

But hey, I believe it is safer to use MDK/RH first, for a couple of weeks, to safely get to know the command prompt and so on.

You dont plundge your child into the ocean to learn him how to swim, now do you? :p

SuSE 8.0 was really easy for me to navigate gui-wise. I have old, slow hardware & a voodoo card - but all works fine.

I think Knoppix Linux is easy for newbie.
It's only one CD !

Dunno... I might.

:D

-zsejk

# Linux Distribution links:
A Beginner's Guide to Choosing a Linux Distribution
Reasons to Choose or Not Choose Linux
LWN distro list
elinux Linux Distributions

Ubuntu or PCLinuxOS (PCLOS). If you're spending money, then Xandros.

I have observed that various posters to this forum have started with just about every version under the sun.
Normally you want to look for a major distribution that has good community support that is compatable with your hardware.
Personally I rank Suse and Mandriva as somewhat equal (I prefer Suse) with Fedora as a third. Distributions such as Ubutu, Xandros, and Linspire are possibilities as are many others.
Take some time to learn about linux on a version that works for you before hopping around a lot.

Instead of just finding an easy distro to use does anyone know were I can find all the commands and what they do/ how to use them.

Yes. Right here.

Slight improvement for your link: http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/linux/cmd/

If you wanna learn linux hardcore you should read "RUTE User's Tutorial and Exposition" (just google it), it's a little long, but it makes for a great starting point.

Oh, and ubuntu is really friendly towards newbies, I recommend it highly.

You need a distro with flash videos
http://rhinoweb.us/

and support for dummies
http://tmxxine.com/Wikka/wikka.php?wakka=PuppyLinux

;)

For me, I had use Suse, Slackware, Mandrake and RedHat. So, from my point of view, Mandrake is the easy one to install. Slackware is not difficult once you know what to do :)

Xandros
 

What do you think about Xandros ? I`m new in linux also. And i want to use linux and windows at the same time...

I'm using xubuntu and it's really nice ;) the instalation is just adorable :D

the first linux i use is looplinux, a linux which alive in fat partition.
because it is based on slackware and i want to expertise my linux knowledge
i moving to slackware by rent the cd's.

it is incredibly gimme a great vision about linux, i become a unixist
then i meet freeBSD ... (3.x version i think) and download the minimum (very
minimum) package to download. Install it .. enjoy it ... and so on so far.
but sometimes i got a lack support from freeBSD, it is about hardware support.

next i hunt for a linux which i can download the minimal system only (without
fancy utilities) ... just system able to boot and minimal console requirements
just like freeBSD's.

hunting - hunting is never end till i found lunatix, love it but the software is
out of date. Upgrading is to complicated, so it is deprecated.

with a brave and guts ... i moving to build my own linux based on linux from scratch
i made it ... modify to fit i need ... ah ... tada Krybrig Linux is born, but not
yet distributed over internet just from hand to hand.

based on Krybrig ... i has made mini krybrig for a Point of Sale system which only
require 4Mb memory only (with ssh, wi-fi,etc.)

what is the point?
it is doesn't matter which distro you use, just learn it and you'll found what
linux you need is.

ha ha ha ... too much story ... sorry ... if it is useless