I need a few pointers to picking out a Distro. to start with. I have read that a person should try a variety of Distros. to find the right fit. Where do I begin. I am a long time Windows user but I have had a little experience with the command line format. Mainly with DOS and Net-Ware way back when.

Any suggestions will be welcome.

Thanks

DBolan

LiveCds are a great way to start they will give you an idea of what you like without installing them on a hard drive. Knoppix, DamnSmallLinux, and MandrakeLive are a few to start with.

The best suggestion is simply to try several distros, then make up your own mind as to which one feels "right" for you. Different people have different preferences, and there is no single correct answer.

Many of the most popular distros can be found at LinuxISO and of course here at LQ ISO. Have fun! -- J.W.

A good place to start is www.distrowatch.org

If you have a lot of time on your hands then do the shotgun approach otherwize recearch and pick one. Identify your goals. Why do you want to set up a linux system? What will my system do? Do I want to integrate a Windows network? etc... I for example have a Debian box that sits in the dark corner of my house connected to a ups with no monitor, mouse or keyboard. All it does is run a web and ftp server pretty simple. On the desktops I choose Fedora because I migrated from win2k to Fedora at work to Mirror my ISP's web environment and I found from that experience that at home Fedora makes a great distro for the Windows user who wants to migrate to linux. Out of the box you are set up and running with minimal command line operations if any. In any case for each distro you choose your going to have to adapt to that and once you are comfortable with it whats the point in trying another one. Unless of course your a hobbiest like me who has 10 computers lying around the house

Knowing little to nothing about Linux, I picked Fedora. The GUI made the initial migration pretty painless. There were some bugs (in fact there still are), but I like the feel of it. I can pull up the command line in Fedora and it's similar to using the DOS interface in windows. Actually I like it better than DOS. It feels more workable. I picked up the basic commands pretty quickly.

Of course I'm a newbie to this stuff to so my opinion may not warrant a lot of attention.

I've also heard/read good things about Red Hat Enterprise and have considered putting it on another machine to see how it drives. However, being generally cheap by nature I have remained with the free Fedora.

Of course it all ends up like when you pick a new car. You gotta test drive it before you know.

Enjoy