Please could someone point me in the direction of a good explanation of all the different versions Linux/x-windows/desktop GUIs/apps? I'm thinking of running Linux on my apple Powerbook G4 550 but I'm confused by all the possible permutations and how they interact. All the pages I've found seem to assume some prior knowledge. I've used DOS, back in the days of win 3.1, and have a good general understanding of computer concepts (pre-emptive multi-tasking, 3D rendering, html etc) but have no experience specifically with Linux. I also have some other questions I'd like to ask peoples advice on, but I'd like to have a better understanding of the basics first.

read the LQ wiki http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Main_Page, and here the page for X, it explains some of the interaction http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/X, should help get you started in the right direction i think

Just a quick correction on the links SciYro gave:

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/X

You might also want to check out RUTE, a good introduction and very thorough Linux reference.

Ok, thanks for the tip - I have read the LQ wiki pages, but i'm afraid i'm going to have to ask anyway - What distro would be best for me? One of the main reasons I want to try Linux on my mac is OS X is so slow on my powerbook. All the eye candy, nice though it is, requires a lot of cpu/gfx card power which is not good for battery life. What i was after from Linux is a system with most core the features of OS X, but with the zip (or more) of OS 9. Support for power saving features and airport wifi is also a must.

Check out

http://distrowatch.com/ -> major distributions
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/1266/1/

Sheng-Chieh

Thanks for all the help - have gone with Ubuntu. Also, could anyone recommend a good beginners book for Linux?