Dear All,

Greeting to everyone here.

I'm a windows user in my whole life. I want to use a linux but I cannot decide which distro should I use. Base on the internet Ubuntu and Linux mint is best for the new user. Some website also suggest to use Madriva and opensuse. I confuse which I should I use. I want to learn linux as a desktop user and as a server administrator. My strategy is to learn linux as a desktop then after I learn the desktop I will study the server capability of linux but I'm stock which distro should I use. Kindly help me which linux distro should I start or should I use for my purpose.

At first glance, each distro is going to look very different. However, after you give it some time, start working a bit in the command line, etc., you'll find that most distros are basically the same. The differences are the installation system, the package management system, and the default desktop environment, that's about it. Find a desktop environment you like (on just about any distro), figure out the various package management systems (zypper, yum, apt-get, etc), and all you're left with is the installation system and the versions of the packages that are available (old and stable, modern and relatively stable, or brand new and filled with potential bugs).


This might help for getting started though:
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

I never used that when I was getting started, but after spending several years getting a feel for what's out there and choosing my personal favorites, I went through that questionnaire and the top two results are my top two favorites, so it seems to do a decent job.

I already use the website before I post here. The result Madriva and opensuse for the top 2 and other is debian, ubuntu and fedora. Should I use this distro? What are your comments about the madriva and opensuse.

Take a look here:
http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

This may sound flip but you can just about throw a dart and get a good choice for starting. But, Arch is not normally recommended for beginners.

pixellany,

How about the slackware? I heard that this distro is stable and reliable specially when we use it as a server.

Slackware has a somewhat steeper learning curve, but it is a great distro. Just keep in mind that it is not a "hold-your-hand"-distro, like Ubuntu or Mint, configuration is done mostly via text-files, no fancy GUI-dialogs or something like that.

1 members found this post helpful.

Have you tried them yet? Most of those have live CDs...see what happens.

Is all the distro has a server capabilities? Like dhcp, dns, file server, web server, ftp server and etc. I have a direction to use the linux as server but I want first to learn the linux using as a desktop. Please advise what is better distro should I use if these are my direction.

Fedora and Redhat are good too.

I have used them.

How about openSuse?

Picking a Linux distribution is largely a matter of taste. You really can't go wrong if you stick with the big names like OpenSuse, Ubuntu (and Kubuntu and Xubuntu), Debian, Mint, Fedora, etc.

Really the key is to find the desktop environment that best fits you. I like to have a few desktop environments, and I switch back and forth just for something different once in a while (something you will never get with Microsoft Windows). I have one computer that is Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu/Lubuntu all together. The main thing that differentiates them is the desktop environment.

Many people stay with the distro that they used first. I really started with SUSE (now OpenSUSE), but, as I've said, I'm using Ubuntu. I will likely go back to OpenSUSE when the new release comes out in September simply because I perceive it to be more flexible than Ubuntu.

Is it better to choose a general purpose linux like debian, fedora and etc. as my first linux? I also want to learn the server capabilities of linux. Will this help me a lot to learn?

You should start with one of the larger distros (or Slackware). Large communities will make it more likely that you get help if you have questions. Just try a few of them and see which one you like.
Regarding server capabilities: You can use any distro on a server, although some are not really recommended for that kind of task, for example Fedora. Due to its short support cycle it is not really suitable for use in a server environment.

For a server one generally wants one of the more stable distros with a good support period. The commercial distros here are Red Hat and SUSE. For home use, CentOS is a free version of Red Hat (but perhaps a bit confusing for a beginner to set up), and Fedora is what Red Hat is based on. SUSE is based on OpenSUSE. The most reliable free distros are Slackware and Debian. Slackware is a bit of a struggle for a beginner, but Salix tames it.

An important thing is to get a user interface that you like: unlike Windows, you get a choice, and they give very different look and feel. You might like to get live DVDs of a few distros and see which you like before deciding what to install.

To sum up, I'd suggest looking at
OpenSUSE (which has the KDE desktop)
Salix (Xfce desktop)
Debian (Gnome desktop)
Kororaa, which is a quick installer for Fedora (Gnome desktop)

Any of these will be a good introduction to Linux, desktop or server. Last word of advice: read the instructions before installing!

Just to clarify - these are the default desktop environments, but any of those distros can run any of the other desktop environments. OpenSUSE has Gnome and XFCE readily available if you prefer them over KDE, as well as other lesser-known DEs you can choose from...as do the other choices listed above.