First of all, I'd just like to say hello to everyone, and you have a great site... now on to the question. I'm brand new to linux. I bought a book and I'm reading it, and have done alot of research on different distro. I've downloaded a couple distros but have yet to install. These are the Distros I've been looking into.... (by the way I'm quite proficient with computers and do a little coding, But I am a newbie to linux)

Here's what I'm looking at:

Mandrake 10.1
Fedora Core 3
Xandros
Debian Sarge
Ubuntu ( haven't downloaded but heard some good/bad things about it)

I have copies of all of them. I'm building my new comp. tonight and install will follow. I will be duel booting with XP, but both will be on seperate drives. I'm looking to learn Linux, but I also don't want to get so frustrated with a distro that I would feel like giving up. That happened to me when I first tried Linux a long time ago with Caldera. Here is what I usually do with my home comp.

Some games, HL2, Counter-Strike ( i realize linux doesn't do too well w/ games, just trying to give as much info on use as possible)
Web browse
Email
Audio Ripping and burning.
No real use for watching DVDs
I would use GIMP for sure.
I do love performance, but don't need the absolute cutting edge stuff.

Thanks alot for any and all suggestions, let the newbie bashing begin :}

Well, if you don't need cutting edge stuff I'd say go for debian sarge although my opinion is somewhat biased while I'm using debian unstable. Any distro would actually do for your needs but debian has IMO the best packaging system with apt-get. Mandrake is nice for newbies with a GUI for everything and Ubuntu is perhaps a bit too bleeding edge. Haven't used Xandros or FC too much. FC just enough to realise it's not for me

Thanks for the quick reply.... very appreciated.

Debian was the very first distro I looked into and I got to lesson 20 or so on the Linux Online guide which he uses debian for the walkthrough. I just don't want to get in too deep right away. Basically what I'm really looking for is a distro with a "nice" learning curve. I don't want the install to be a nightmare, but I don't mind a few surprises, cause that helps you learn. I really want my knowledge with the distro to grow at a nice pace, but would like it if I had a distro that would "grow" with me, if that makes any sense at all

Thanks again for the reply.

And remember, though your OSs may duel, when you have two of them, it's called DUAL.


Oh, and I'm sure it doesn't really need to be said, as you've probably read it:

Install the Windows OS first.

Yeah, sorry bout the "duel" thing. And Thanks for the info regarding installing the Win OS first. I neglected to think that the order they were installed in would have a negative effect.

Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Mandrake 10.1
Fedora Core 3
Xandros
Debian Sarge
Ubuntu ( haven't downloaded but heard some good/bad things about it)
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Well, i guess you're lucky because i've tried pretty much everything up there you mentioned, it all depends on what you're going for.

Gnome is designed for older computers and KDE for newer computers, i run KDE on 1.8ghz compy (this however you could say is just my oppinion)

** Mandrake 10.1 is alright, i'm currently on it and it has a good amount of RPM packages for it out there, i honestly dislike the RPM packaging system as i think the other ones could be way better.

** Fedora Core 3 is going to launch FC4 really soon, so i'd stick around for that. however, FC3 was my favorite at first because it had a loading GUI which made linux look a ton more professional. Chances are this is a good canidate for older computers, i ran it on my 400mhz lappy (barely i must say)

**Xandros i just downloaded last night after looking at the clean new screenshots on OSDIR, and i'm going to install it over Mandrake 10.1 today possibly ( http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/sl...e=247&slide=59 )

**Ubuntu is nice, it ran great and smooth, super fast and clean, it did use Gnome though, and in my experiances it doesn't have as manny features as KDE, and i very much dislike that there IS NO control panel, which totally over bugged me. It does run quick and if i were to run Gnome it'd be Ubuntu or FC3/4

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I'm hoping to get a good experiance with Xandros, and i tried installing Distros like Slackware, and Debian as well as Gentoo and Mempis and the older Redhat 9 and 7 distros.

Debian and Slackware didn't install, slackware has a rudamentary install that suddenly died on me. MEPIS i had super high expectations since everyone loved it especially for like Development and other stuff, i personally hated it, i did have a LiveCD and i honestly dont know if there's a diffference though. Gentoo never booted from the CD when i put it in the drive, which i admit is a little weird. And Redhat 7&9 don't par up to FC3/4 so why keep em right?



Well, i'm putting my money that you'd like Mandrake, Xandros or Fedora.

~ Loren

Thanks, I really appreciate the replies from everyone!

I wouldn't go for Mandrake or FC just because even though they're good for migrating Windows users, they're really heavy (I tried both when I was first starting out and was turned off by both). I would recommend something nice and simple like Ubuntu or something really stable like Debian (def. go for Sarge though -- Woody ). I personally use Slackware (and trying to use Gentoo if I can ever get the networking to work), but I wouldn't recommend either for a beginning Linux user. You might consider going with Windows XP, though, because when I first used Linux I set up a dual boot with WinXP, but sort of never got around to using Linux because I was able to do everything in Windoze. Then I finally uninstalled WinXP and only used Linux and it forced me to learn a lot about Linux. Plus you've got a HUGE community of Linux users ready to help you within minutes of a problem. But I would definitely discourage Mandrake and FC.

EDIT: Forgot space.... this turned into this )

Mandrake is really OK for a newbie. I started my Linux experience with a Mandrake 9.1 .

What about Fedora? Well,I tried it (FC2) , and I have a friend running it (FC3) on his laptop. My advice? Don't touch it. It LOOKS friendly but it sucks. The same goes for Ubuntu or Mepis, they try to be user-friendly but that's just an impression, they have nasty bugs and they're not ready for a newbie. Mandrake is a well crafted product. I recommend it for newbies.

When you feel comfortable, try Debian or Slackware. Mandrake is OK to begin and feel comfortable, but you don't really *feel* Linux until you use such distributions. You'll learn a lot with them, trust me. Maybe you can use some old box (even a P133 with 64 mb ram does the trick , trying to use linux in old boxes is a gooooood learning experience) to experiment with them...I did it, I learned a lot.

After some month of Slackware you will be ready for Gentoo. Then the world is yours

I do have access to two older comps. I got them free from work as they were going to throw them away. They are prolly both about a Pentium 133, with like 64 to 80mb of ram. Could I throw debian, slackware or Gentoo on that one?

Ive done a little research my self and just got started with Ubuntu. I have hear many people say ubuntu is a great system to start out for newbs like my self. So far so good. I plan on playing games on linux. You should look into Transgaming.com and wine. Those programs will allow you play your windows games on linux. Im still learning my self. But its been a fun experience. I just google any problems I run into or just post em here. These forums are great!

Nice I'll check out that site and read up on wine. How do you like Ubuntu so far?

Im a new Linux user and I´ve started out with Mandrake 10.1. It was a bit difficult starting out, but now, I'm loving it. It really depends on you. I think Mandrake was right for me, as a Linux beginner. It may be different for you.

I chose to go with Debian Sarge. I picked this one as I could not get Mandrake or FC3 to even get through the install. I'm happy though as I really wanted to start on something that would require more interaction than the typical suggestions for first timers. Although I can't get synaptic to work, oh well.