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When it comes to deciding which os you use, what would make you lean towards one version of linux over another?
Would you choose fedora core, suse, ubuntu? Which is the best? or if that is a question which does not have an answer, why would you choose one over another? are some better at certain environments?
REPLY
I can understand your dilemna as there are so many distros out there. I regularly download new distros, looking at their ease of use etc. I have found the one outstanding os is Mint linux. This takes a lot of the hassle that ubuntu comes with for a newbie to get into. There is a new Mint linux scheduled to come out on the 20th December. Go into "Distrowatch.com" and then download the ISO onto a CD. Then restart your computer for it to kick in.
One of the best in the past has been Xandros, but the free edition lags behind a lot of the other distributions now.
Try it and see. It uses Ubuntu which is probably the best OS in the marketplace. However,this is ready to run and saves you having to face the problem of tweaking various bits of the system to get it to work properly.
Hope this helps.
ROD GREENWOOD
If you want to learn about Linux then Slackware seems to be the classic. If you want an OS you can just install and use, then Ubuntu/Kubuntu, SUSE, and Fedora seem to be the front-runners.
I'd agree with that, When I changed to Linux, I went with Slackware on the basis that it didn't do most things automatically for me, I had to learn how to do it from the command line, how configure wireless, install programs, update graphics drivers etc.
It was confusing, took a lot of time, had a lot of failures & problems, did a couple of reinstalls to fix problems I couldn't solve by repair, but well worth the time spent.
Once I'd got some experience of that I changed over to Ubuntu to make life easier in that I didn't have to spend as much time solving problems or how to do things, I just wanted to be able to use the system rather than spend time tinkering.
I still keep a Slackware box for tinkering & learning, but my day to day machine is Ubuntu.
The other thing I found best was to go for a Linux only machine, no dual boot, I had other machines so I could fall back on them for use while I was getting things working, I decided that if I had a dual boot setup,if I hit a problem or got disillusioned, I'd end up going back to Windows on that machine which I didn't want to do. If I wanted to change it was all or nothing on that machine.
I used Slackware for a long time, but never got everything to work. Switching to Fedora Core seemed logical, but I found it to be too fussy. Things would break easily etc. When I first installed CentOS-4, I thought it was some kind of joke because of the cheezy graphics etc. Was I ever wrong. This distro is very fast, stable, and well designed. The networking is beautiful. And you can tinker with it without it self-destructing. What more can one ask?
jacook gave you some pretty solid advice. I personally recommend a new user or recent Windows refugees go here, http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/ and get a rough idea where they want to go. Then try every liveCD distro your bandwidth wil let you fetch.
These are all great recommendations. I faced the very same issues and got the very same recommendations. Not much help! So I took a different approach: List all the things you want to do and what features are important to you. I came up with robust set of applications available for easy, idiot proof installation, easy of updating, standard office suite that interops with M$ Office, play all sources of music, basic and usable photo management, easy interop with Windows environment, intuitive learning of the Linux system. Then I just dove in. After about six months of playing around with different distros, I've settled on SuSE 10.2. I've converted 8 of 10 PC's in my home with NO problems and have met all of my requirements. Gook Luck!!
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