I am wanting to put linux on my pc, but I have a few questions. First, I need to pick my distro. What I really want, is something newbie friendly. I want a distro, that has a simple to install apps. with. Maybe because I don't know much about linux, but everything just seems so complicated to do. I am a pc technician, so I know about computers. But I put a downloaded version of Mandrake on my pc., and didn't know where to start. I couldn't even get get a simple modem driver installed. Maybe once I get my feet wet, linux will come as easy to me that windows is now. One more question. What about games. As much as you might hate Windows, if you are a PC gamer, it seems like you still have to have that little dark window partition on your HD. Maybe with the updates to WINE, this is different. But, if I can play Doom3, and Half-Life2 on Linux when they come out. I don't even think I will say the word windows again. If you guy's could answer these questions for me, I would appreciate it.

Hey Man,

I would recomend Mandrake or fedora for you first distro. I started on Mandrake years ago and I could not even get my screen to work But If you like to just mess around with computers you will get that modem installed I promise. Not to mention you could always come back here and post you issues and most of the time somone will have the skill-set to help ya out.

As far as games go two really good games are ported to linux ... Americas Army and UT2004 Im am sure there are more but those are the only ones I am sure of. I would love to go All Linux myself but yes I do have a dark hole called XP on my system for other games. Wine is not what you want to use if you want to use windows games on linux Wine-x is the program for that and there are a lot of success stories on here of people getting that to work also it support DirectX 9 i think (dont quote me on that.)

Anyways welcome to the forums let us know if ya need help.

L8r

Thanks man. Yeah, I have heard good things about fedora, and mandrake. I didn't like the mandrake distro I put on my pc, but I think it was the download version. But Mandrake 10. looks nice. Do I have to pay for that, or is there a place where I can get the full distro for free. I don't know about fedora. It sounds nice. I am willing to try anything as long it is fairly newbie friendly. If America's Army, and UT2k4 are available, I may not need windows. Those are both great games. I will look into that wine-x program you were talking about. Anymore advise like this would be helpful.

Download Mandrake here

Have fun bro.

Thanks. What is the difference between the downloaded version, and the all of the retail versions. I bought a mandrake distro off ebay, and it turned out to be just a example version of Mandrake. Is this actually a full distro. I know that the more expensive packages will have more software, but besides that, are they the same.

Almost all linux software is free so it really makes no difference. If you're a major tweaker(in the good way) you'll end up with a slackware install in not too long and then you'll have a linux from scratch system going a couple months later.

Mandrake is fine but it won't teach as well as slackware(or vector).

The downloadable version and retail version available from vendors is the same.Both have the same set of packages.Vendors usually sell distros obtained from the companny or download them off a fast access line.I don't know what exactly the product that you've got is unless you specify a bit more.Did you try installing it?
The more expensive packages with 8 cd's or more contain source code and developer software,which I presume you wouldn't be requiring.Of course commercial software for Linux is available.
I don't know why people use M$ on their computers just for playing games.I'd suggest to them to get a console.It relieves you of the headache of upgrading your system when a new game comes out requiring more system resources.Most games on the PC are ports of PS2,XBOX,Nintendo.

Thanks for all of the advice guy's. I think my problem with the mandrake I got, was that I bought a cd pack off of ebay. When they arrived, they clearly homemade. I could never find a way to get the default wallpaper off, which had the word EVALUATION tattoed on the lower left hand corner. But it was only 10 bucks, and I only had dial-up, so I really didn't have anyother choice. I have heard alot about slackware. What kind of package installed does it have, I don't want to have a headache everytime I install a simple package. I have also heard bad things about installing hardware with slackware. Now I don't know if that is true or not, just heard it of forums similar to this. I am glad to hear that the download versions, and the retail versions of Mandrake are the same. Once I get dsl, I will probably have a install of Mandrake 10.0 on my machine. I agree, that if you want to be a gamer, buy the consoles, I have all three. But there are some games I would like to play on the pc, like FarCry, Neverwinter Nights, so on and so forth. I am kind of getting the impression that Mandrake is the best begginer distro, besides maybe Linspire, but I don't want a Windows clone, when I am trying to get away from Windows. Although I will not limit myself from using it. Have any of you guy's used. Any more advise.

here are some places where you can download Mandrake and other Linux distributions for free or buy it for a little money:

http://www.linuxiso.org/ http://www.edmunds-enterprises.com/linux/index.php
http://www.cheapbytes.com/ http://www.easylinuxcds.com/
http://linuxcd.org/ http://loadux.com/ http://freesoftwarecdr.com/

Linspire isn't a windows clone,but a stepping stone towards linux.It has the stability,power & cost-effectiveness of Linux,and similarities to the windows environment for new converts.It's good for beginners,although to get a feel of the abilities of a linux system for newbies,mandrake is still the de facto best.
Knoppix is system running off a live cd ,so you would'nt even have to install on the local hard disk.You may try any of these distros as a good primer to the Linux world,although they are full os's with all the power you need.

Well, having used Mandrake for a couple of days I can say that it will certainly get you learning, lol! I've heard that SuSe does hardware better, but I was quite happy with the usability of Mandrake once I got the installer to actually run properlly (this was my DVD drive's fault not the installer).

Fair enough the number of XBox-PC clones is growing (Thief 3, *sigh*), but there are still far many more and really, far better games on PC. The PC leads, the consoles follow. That's why it's the best platform for games.

Well, there is always going to be the camp that would prefer to play games on their "PC" simply because they do not want a separate game box or they just don't play many games at all except for the occasional exceptional title.
Already the PC game development scene is withering and I think that online console gaming is going to be the real focus for game developers.

They said the PC's days were over when the XBox was announced... with every new console generation the naysayers say the PC is at its end, and every time they are wrong. In any case, consoles are really poorly suited to online gaming. Text chat is near non-existant, they aren't designed for mods/updates, and you simply can't do as much as you need to for proper online gaming. And the consoles's poor controls for FPSs, some types of RPGs, strategy etc is going to cause major problems. Unless they release mice for online console FPSs where PC players can join in, the console players are going to get whacked. Joypads just aren't good enough. And then there's all the nastiness of the Internet that consolers have been shielded from until now: lag, high pings, hacking, viruses, trojans etc.....

And then there's the whole debate about patches, which you need for online games...

If you think the PC game scene is withering, just look at HL2, Doom 3, Far Cry, (Unreal 3?) Quake 4, Rome: Total War, Ultima Online 2, Planetside and all the other incredible games that are PC only.

I think with the next gen of consoles coming out within the next couple of years(PS3 & XBOX 2),I think the gaming scene is going to undergo a radical change.With much better processing power and graphics to boot,consoles are going to turn the tide in their favor.
I used to think the same when I didn't have a console.But when I had to upgrade my hardware every 8 months or so,I realized the folly of being part of the PC gaming scene.
I disagree, I think RPG's are much more suited to Console, I have yet to play a PC RPG that is better then say Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger. I guess it depends on the type of RPG you like though (Example: Final Fantasy type vs. Neverwinter Nights type).I could probably think over that again,perhaps,after I play the Lord Of The Rings:Battle For middle Earth.
Most people agree that quality control of PC games is definately a problem,whether caused by bad testing or simply forcing the game out the door too early.People working on arcade or console titles have less problems with this because
management knows it is very costly or impossible to "patch" these games once they ship.So they try to make the best it can be.I admit more people have pc's than consoles and pc has some inherent advantages over the console,but I still would like to play Midnight Club II on a console than on a PC.

There is always a 'tide' anyway... when the PS2 and XBox came out they got tons of attention, and they started pinching PC games into the bargain (Halo, GTA3 ). As the years have gone by this has died down. It should be just the same with XBox 2 and PS3. (The practice of developing PC games for XBox and then 'cloning' them to PC unchanged is a problem however).

Well, either you started with a bad PC in the first place, or you made some bad decisions. My PC is now nearing 4 years old with only 1 games related upgrade - a GF4 Ti4600. It cost me £300 but blimey was it worth it. Admittedly the expected lifecycle is about 3 years with a graphics update in the middle normally. I've been lucky that there's been nothing much new until recently that I wanted to play!

If you go in for the regular, cheap upgrades route then you will need to upgrade regularly, but you can also spend about a grand on a new one every 3 years and about £250 inbetween for a new GFX card instead. This is expensive compared to a max £250 console, but then again console games are more expensive than PC ones, you usually have to pay subscription fees for online console gaming, and you can't use a console for anything other than games. Use the PC for work, Internet etc and you get your money's worth.

Console games aren't really ever bug free I would imagine, and they'll get buggier on release as the internet access allows patching. The PC is always going to be buggier because of hardware/software configuration, the platform's complexity, etc etc.

In games, hardware, control, and usefulness the PC still the best.