Hi guys.

I'm new here so please go easy on me.

I'm finally thinking of getting rid of windows on my 2 computers (Acer 5315 Laptop and self-built oldish desktop) and could do with some recommendations.

What I'm looking for something that will install easily but still give me some control of what i want to install and where i want to put it.

I also want a distro that doesn't hide all the workings away as I want to try fiddling around with the command line and config files later on in order to learn new to configure the system just the way I want but at the same time I want the rest of the family to be able to be able to just switch on the computer and start using it.

Main things the computers are used for at the moment are:

Downloading and Listening to music.
Watching the odd DVD when i cant get the kids of the TV
Word Processing and spreadsheets.
Internet (Email, Web, IRC and online flash based mmorpg)

I've already got the wife to start using open office to get her used to it as i hope to have that installed on Linux.

At the moment I'm thinking about going mandriva or fedora as they seem to have good support and seem to cover most of my requirements but is there any other distro that I should maybe look at ?

I'm leaning towards mandriva, as i tried and liked it back when it was mandrake but felt at the time that it wasn't ready to replace windows.

All opinions appreciated.

Hello flimes, welcome to Linuxquestions.org.

For your needs, I would suggest:

• Fedora: Easy Install & Not totally Obscured.
• Debian: Large repositories, enable you to begin listening to music and browse internet quickly.
• Linux Mint: Large Repositories & Awesome Driver Support - but kinda does everything for you.
• Slackware: you choose what you want, how you want it. Bit complicated but is very good to see inner working of system.
• Sabayon: Good mix of what you want, but might be harder to get everything working right off

For a member of LQ who helps you out, be sure to thank him/her! [Large blue thumbs icon on his/her post.]

Once again, welcome, we are here to help you out. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Enjoy freedom. Enjoy Linux

slackware

Welcome!

Most of the distros have Live CD installation type, which lets you to boot the OS from the CD and try them out.
then decide what fits you more, and just install it. i'm using Fedora and its awesome, you should consider Ubuntu, Slackware and Fedora imo.

Good luck!

I use Ubuntu at home to let my daughter play games on PBS Kids.

At work, I manipulate Ubuntu configuration files solely from the command line via SSH instances. In fact, I rarely sit in front of any of my Ubuntu installations. The ncurses program "aptitude" makes it easy to install and remove software without having to use the Synaptic GUI package manager.

The only reason to use a Fedora based distro would be to learn how to manipulate the configuration files of a RedHat based distro. Debian based distros (e.g. Ubuntu) and RedHat based distros (e.g. Fedora) have some significant policy differences when it comes to configuring some types of software (e.g. Apache). However, if you really want to learn things the RedHat way, you are better of using the latest version of CentOS. It's a free clone of RedHat, and it is much more stable than Fedora. Fedora is really a "bleeding edge" distro, and it can be vary hard to use for a newcomer.

However, if you just want to learn, Ubuntu makes things a lot easier than any other distro I have used.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I've decided to stick slackware on my desktop and fedora and the laptop. This way I can experiment on getting slackware working the way i want and learning about linux configurations while the rest of the family can start using Fedora on the laptop (from what I've read this will be more likely to work without much messing about).

I intend to start installing slackware over christmas holiday week so might be bugging you kind folks with more questions then.

Once again thanks for all your advice.

Ok, good luck, Linux rocks, and most importantly, Merry Christmas (& A Happy New Year (: