just purchased a computer to run linux on, however i wasnt sure which distro is best for a newbie like myself. i have no prior linux experience. if you could please tell me which i should start with, i would greatly appreciate it. by the way, I currently have a copy of mandrake, suse, and red hat.

i think you should downlad fedora or just use mandrake.

http://fedora.redhat.com - Fedora

Greetz

if you realy wanna learn it then core linux will teach you it (actualy if you dont know what you doing you want isntall it right so itll force you to learn, if ya can dl big files (i got a limit like windwos wont dl anyhitng bigger then like 500mb in internet explorer and debian wich i got from a dl amnager they gave me on there site was jsut surupt!, ), if can dl it, i hear arch linux is good (les then 700mb i think it was) or most will pick mandrake

As a beginner ,i started with redhat,it was easy to install , cool to work with ,and the rpms are just great for beginners

is SUSE too difficult for a beginer? and i have mandrake 8.1, should I use that or is there a newer version?

i would recomend againsed going for an expert distro straight away.
redhat is good, and almost identivcle to fedora, (fedora is newer though, and looks a little better.

however, if you want to go for fedora, (current version is core 1) you may want to wait for april when fedora core 2 comes out. it uses the next kernel, so you wouldnt have to go through a kernel compile in a year or 2.

i learned on redhat 9, was quite a smooth ride (except for getting tham damn windows modem to work )

so i should use either fedora core 1 or mandrake 9.2? Is there one that would be better or more suitable for a newcomer to linux?

with reasurce you can use whatever you want, personly i was more or less forced to sue the distro i use cuse i needed a small dl and minmal distro for older hardware, but you can pick whatever you want, theres plenty of tutorials to teach you how to use it, and this site and google for more specific questions after you gone thru the whatnots, just using linux is the most important part sence once you know how to use a linux os then you can use virtualy any distro sence there all just software built on linux and its base gnu system, but other then distro i think gnome looks good for beginers (the evnviroment for software resembles one that would come about jsut building the regualr software yourself so it seems nice, with a good pick for software stuff,

so i should use either fedora core 1 or mandrake 9.2? Is there one that would be better or more suitable for a newcomer to linux?

I suggest (what most are suggesting here) to start with an 'easy' distro, which means one that does a lot of stuff for you. Once you get the hang of that, you might want to move on to the more deepdelving distro's like Gentoo and Slackware (where you have to do a lot of stuff yourself) and if you really really really wanna learn about the internals of linux and build your own linux system the way you like it, go for Linux From Scratch. But definately start your learning curve with a 'n00b-friendly' distro like Mandrake, SuSE or something like that.

Before I forget; welcome to the linux community!

Download and try out Knoppix to see what you are in for.
It runs from your CD with no hard drive installation.
You can then either install Knoppix to your hard drive or choose something like Mandrake or Suse.
Good Luck.

I hope someone can help me before I go back to Windows.

I am new and already getting frustrated

I have installed Suse 9 on 3 computers of mine. A hp desktop and two IBM laptops. My HP sound card does not work, it is a RocKwell and I can not get my wireless lan cards to work on the IBM laptops. The cards info is AMD AM 1772(tm) wireless lan chipset pcmia. I may have found drivers to download but how to I install them if I have the right ones. I am new and feel stupid, I know nothing about what to do. I need
to be treated like a newbie baby. Please help before I return to Windows.
>
>Brian

Brian I am in the same boat. Almost feels like you need to be a programmer or a guru just to install something simple like a driver. ECS mobo onboard ethernet will not install (hence, no internet) as well as the sound card which i feel i am a couple years away from making it work.

Your not alone.

Becareful when installing your distro to many times...

Thanks for the reply, it does feel like you need to be a programmer. I just want someone to tell me how to add a driver step by step. If i do it for one hardware problem I can do the rest I believe.

Glad to see I am not alone.

RedHat = Easy install, easy configure, no longer supported.
Fedora = Should be same as Redhat, but more on the cutting edge, less support.
Core Install = You really need to know linux to do this.
Mandrake = My 12 year old neighbor installed it in about 3 hours.
Suse = My 12 year old neighbor couldn't get it to install.