Hi,
Once I've tried Linux (couple of years ago) it took me about a day to install and aout a week to configure. In addition I didn't find any normal soft. What's is going on now. It is such simple to install as Win? Which distributive would you recomend?
Thank you.

Hi,

if you want a distro as simple as win to install, i'd recommend Ubuntu (or Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc...)

a few times ago, some people recommended Mandrake (now known as Mandriva), but i didn't like it...i can't tell precisely why though, may be it was because of the kde environnement (i use gnome)

for now i'm using gentoo on two boxes (which i don't recommend if you're new to linux, nor if you don't want to spend days to install and configure), i've got debian on my desktop (which can be ok to begin with, though you may want to get the testing or unstable version for newer packages...and that can lead to annoying things), and ubuntu on a laptop, which i definitely recommend for you.

just because i'm curious, which distro have you tried ?

You can try it without even installing. Most of the major distros e.g. Fedora, openSUSE, Ubuntu, Mandriva etc have live cd versions which you can install later on if you wish. As to which distro I would recommend, none. You need to try out several distros and then pick the one that you are comfortable with or one that works best for you.

Thanks guys.

PCLinuxOS
SimplyMepis

ubuntu vs opensuse
this is the new linux-user-friendly-distro-era-debatte

i am using opensuse..it is fine if you use the packages which are avaible in yast but if you need to install something else it is a headache..for eg. i wanted to install a lyric plugin for banshee audio player. i just downloaded the source code and tried to compile it. no success, i have installed the missing packages again no success..i could try again sometime later but i don't spend some such time on a simple lyrics plugin.

What do you mean by this? What 'normal' software were you looking for to install?

How apps are installed depends upon which distro you are using and whether that distro is source based, RPM based, APT based, or something else.

Hi, I am also new to Linux and I have just installed Ubuntu 7.10 it took about an hour and a quarter. If you have all your hardware plugged in before switching on Ubuntu will detect it and install the drivers. If for some reason your hardware will not work the Ubuntu web site is full of helpful information. So far I am very pleased that I took the plunge. You can always run Ubuntu from a live CD if you are unsure and no harm will come to your programmes or files.

openSUSE gets my vote.

For ease-of-use, OpenSUSE gets my vote hands down. However, once you start becoming familiar and start doing other things, especially installing from source (as mentioned earlier) and adding new packages et al, it's time to change distros, IMO. At that point, switch to Fedora 8 or K/X/Ubuntu. This is of course my opinion; your mileage will vary. Also, OpenSUSE seems to go against the grain more than any other distro (where files are located). Still, it gets my vote.

Good luck!