as much as i can i want to learn linux so i can get rid of winhell forever i hate it. taht y i want linux.

I would definitely recommend Slackware as a newbie distro. If you really want to "get rid of win hell" then it would probably be the right choice. Not much of GUI configurators and stuff ... all you do is editing various config files that makes you gain Linux knowledge quite fast ... I know that from my own experience

yea but the configure part in slackware is where i get lost. the computer i linux on is a old k6 amd and i have to run the montoir off a pci card because the agp card is screwed so i dont know some of the igns it asks.

i agree with suse being a 'messy' and not having a very typical linux layout. plus you get used to using yast - which is ok for a newbe, but you will stick with it, and will not move on very quickly.
you will also very likely create a 'fear' for compiling your own kernel...

redhat: i once ran 7.1 - my word - i think this is nearly as 'unique' as suse in the layout!
and also has it's own setup program, for configuring services or hardware.
same fear could appear


if you want to dive into linux and are prepared to spend time with it to learn, gentoo is really tough, but has great howto's, giving you the best step by step instructions just for the install.
however, having a slow computer and wanting to run gentoo is not the best combination!
but you will never think that compiling an app or even your kernel is a scary thing again.
stage 2 install will teach you quite well, and you can be really proud of yourself once you have accomplished that.
stage 3 install is (so i was told) will do a cleaner install compared to stage 2 and is faster too.

debian: i personally run sarge (testing), it is a great system (gentoo is too, but i was running it on my celeron 650 *ops*) the install is really straight forward, and getting gnome or kde to run is not all that hard either. a lot of config is done for you on the install of packages, which is also really helpful for a newbe.
my personal oppinion is before you run ubuntu or xandros which are based on debian, i would stick with the original! (not wanting do offend anybody)

gentoo and debian are installed mainly over the web, which makes things easy if you have a broadband connection. a small issue with redhat (fedora) and suse could be, that you might not bother with updating your system and only install what you get from the cd's - this could become a habit and is not very secure.

A single disk install of Debian is available at http://www.debianpure.com/

You can choose whether you want Gnome or KDE.

ok well i have xandros on my computer right know. But willlget right know Debain but which one should i get. Ad as i know that some are based on debain the packages. So i will go and try it i have seen so many things you can get for it. But which one should i get.

yea i did order like 2months ago and still to this day nothing.

Two months? Wow, you might want to try to re-order. A friend of mine ordered, and received like 20 cd's in like 1.5 months.

As far as SuSe, yes, there is a splash screen on startup, for any dual-boot. A blue and white screen appears, asking you which OS to launch.You can set it to auto-load a certain OS if you don't respond.

The primary downside to Suse is that its 3d Card support sucks, so I keep windows around for gaming.

But anyways, yes, Suse does have a OS selection screen. Its a solid platform, that won't always crash around your head the minute you start installation. Kernal fear is rightly due for any Newbie, because some people can't afford to have their work stopped because they broke their kernal, and can't fix it fast. But, if your daring, Suse will let you in and destroy/rebuild everything, too........

I'm a complete n00b, and Ubuntu was very easy to install.

If you're not looking to become a master of al that is Linux, and just tool around a little, I would recommend Fedora Core, whatever you can get your hands on. My reasons are ease of install, automated package/update management, fairly broad hardware support, and enough pre-packaged apps that you won't have any difficulty getting online on your Linux box to start digging through Linux resources to understand what is going on underneath your GUI.

Another reason that should be stated and stand alone (and which will probably pull a few flames from the various anti-RedHat cults): Red Hat is the current industry/enterprise standard.

Folks familiar withit from work tend to install it at home, much the same way DOS/WIndows was back in the day. That has since breeded more computer companies giving the buyer the option of having Windows or Linux pre-installed.. that linux is almost always Red Hat or Fedora Core. Schools that take advantage of the discounted support RedHat offers academic insitutions tend to (obviously) have some form of Red Hat installed.

So... in an academic setting and in the future as a worker bee, Red Hat is the one you will probably want the most familiarity with and tend to see the most often. If you learn one, none of the others are so difficult to comprehend (exceptions being minor but various, SuSE being among those strange distros...). Hell, even MacOSX is easy to understand from Linux and vice-versa.

Fedora Core 3 or 4 is my recommendation for the above reasons.

OK... >sigh<...

FLAME ON!

Tell me how I am wrong and should recommend this guy learn a techno-junkie distro, get frustrated on install, give up and run away screaming from Linux... and how RedHat is evil and anyone who learns it is doomed to the pits of...somewhere bad.

you know i have a mac that how im writng tihs right know. i mess with this alot.