what flavor is right for me?
 

Dear Sirs,

GREETINGS!!!

HI! to all Good Linux Users!
I have just arrived......thank you for accepting me..


Although I heard LINUX for quiet sometime now but I was not interested to explore on it because of the difference from the windows environment for me more on user friendly type//// while Linux is so intimidating....I don't know.....but now I think I have the guts to explore on.....so can you advise me which flavor to go? by the way I'm only an average windows xp user... thank you ......jkim

Welcome to the forum!

For user friendliness, I recommend something like Ubuntu (www.ubuntu.com) or the free version of Mandriva (www.mandriva.com). You can use the Wubi installer on an Ubuntu disk to install Ubuntu alongside windows like an application, and then remove it if you don't want it any more.

If you are very much used to windows then you can try Linux mint regular release here is the link
katya
Linux mint is good to start..Download the manual also from their site..
Then you can switch over to any linux based distro..

+1 to Linux mint, it's based on Ubuntu/Debian (I run Debian), but less bulky than Ubuntu, so may run faster. I'm not sure why I never think to recommend Linux Mint.

You have to test. Right now I am having fun with OpenSuse, openindiana, slitaz and gentoo. OpenSuse offers a way to pre-install all sorts of apps then download to a number of image formats. One of the formats is a virtual machine.

Consider a virtual machine if you have a good enough system. A free virtual machine makes using and testing various linux distro's easier and safer. Stay away from dual boot systems until you know enough to fix your xp.

See distrowatch.com for some choices.

Another thing you could do, just to get a flavor, is to download a *.iso file for a Live CD, burn the CD, then boot to it. You can take a look without touching your HDD.

The first distro I booted was a Knoppix Live CD some six years ago. One look and I was hooked.

Many distros, including Mint and Ubuntu, give you the option of booting to the install discs as if they were Live CDs.

Linux is not nearly so hard to use as its reputation suggests. A lot of that reputation is based on early Linux, which could indeed be a challenge. Contemporary Linux has come a long way from late 1990s Linux.

Yes, there is a learning curve, because Linux is not Windows and isn't structured like Windows. It's different, but it's not harder.

There are some ladies here as well :)

I would download some distros and test them. Some of them are 'live' as well so you can test them using the CD or on a memory stick without installing. Once you have found one that you like, you can install it.

I would call it inside Windows ;) 'alongside' for me is a dual boot

Linux has different graphical user interfaces (GUIs), so you have to test which one you like the best.
I would recommend:
- Simply Mepis, PCLinuxOS or openSuse for KDE
- Linux Mint for Gnome 2, it also has KDE, XFCE and LXDE versions
- Ubuntu for Unity
- Xubuntu (or Mint) for XFCE
- Lubuntu (or Mint) for LXDE
- Bodhi or PCLinuxOS for Enlightenment

The choice of the GUI is not only dependent on your personal taste, but also on the power of your machine. If you have an older machine with less then 1 GB of RAM you most likely don't want to run KDE, it can be really hungry for resources.

Actually it is a dual boot, just that Ubuntu isn't installed to its own partition.

PFT! Girls can't use Linux! What's this world coming to?!

</sarcasm> :p

Girls can't use linux? Well, why are you using it then? ;)

SIRS!
 

TO those who REPLY thank you so much.......jkim

@anyone except jefro: Re post #5, just FYI, OpenIndiana http://openindiana.org/ is fundamentally based on Solaris, not Linux. This may confuse you slightly if you're not expecting it ... ;)

I might have to try this out when I get my laptop..... Thanks for the link man.

No worries; not sure how long it'll last, there are a few Solaris derivatives out there, especially since Oracle took over and made it a more closed system.