I've tried out several versions because I too migrated from Windows slowly. I found Fedora "easy" but frustrating. I tried SuSE and found it feature rich, but unstable at times.

Eventually I tried Ubuntu. It was "too" easy to install. I thought I had found a simplified version of Windows to put onto my computer. Amazing.

Then I saw the repository - wow. I realized at that point, if I really needed something that was in Windows, and couldn't find it's equal in Linux, I wasn't looking hard enough.

Finally, to make the transition complete, I got Cedega and enjoy playing Windows games on my Linux box. Now, I still have dual boot, but that's only to remind myself why I left Windows in the first place.

I think the first thing you really need to do in order to make the switch, is to find a good stable OS that has a TON of good programs available. That's why I went with Ubuntu.

The second thing you need to do is stick with that OS and learn it.

The third thing you need to do is STICK WITH THAT OS AND LEARN IT!!!

Only then will you find the determination to go, "Well, I don't have Winamp here in Linux, what IS my alternative?" after you do some research, you find you have several options...I personally download a few of them, try them out, keep the one that seems the most comfortable and feature rich for what I want out of said program.

So, in short, why do I think you should use Ubunutu?

1) Solid hardware support.
2) Ease of installation.
3) It's Debian under the hood. One of the most powerful 'nixes around.
4) It's DEBIAN UNDER THE HOOD! More software written for this OS than any other around. That means a ton of choices for what you want/need.
5) Huge support base. If you need help, and you're asking around for a Ubuntu user, and you can't find one, you're not looking.
6) The best and most certainly clearest written howto's found online, IMHO. If you want to fix something, tweak something, install something, make something work better...it's out there. I've even seen warnings where they tell you NOT to do something, because it works with some OSes, but there's no benefit in Unbuntu, and you might break something.

The path towards Ubuntu harmony is well worn, with many friendly pointers along the way. I for one suggest it. But don't take my word for it. Go download the CD, (That's right, 1 CD) and put it into your CD/DVD drive, and boot the machine off of it.

Yeah, the install CD is also a Live CD. Try it out. When you're ready, click the install button and be amazed.

Cheers,
Lord Ghost

Hmm, going to have a Sparc port of it available by any chance? Also, where can one download this gem when it is released? Would love to try and get it set up under VMWare

Gentoo Linux from 2004.2 scratch. It is so cool and flexible. I also liked Kubuntu but the main OS at home is Gentoo.

We were talking about an operating system that was easy to install, easy to use, easy to find packages for, easy to install said packages...

Where does Gentoo fit in any of that?

And if you liked Kubuntu, I'd suggest you try Ubuntu...which is actually stable, unlike Kubuntu...believe it or not, Ubuntu's a ton better.

Cheers,
Lord Ghost

Why does there not have the distro Debian?????????

It is so popular!!So many people love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Linux Energizer Bunny strikes again...

Please bring back the MegaThread XavierP, we implore you.

Oh yeah, roll your own OS and try LFS.

Because Debian != easy to install last I checked? At least not for a Windows user to convert...

Because Debian uses older "stable" kernels that newer technology doesn't work with? Otherwise you get to play with "unstable" versions, which should be left to the developers and testers, not end users.

Add any other reason why they made Ubuntu in the first place to this list, since it's an EASY TO INSTALL VERSION OF DEBIAN...

Cheers,
Lord Ghost

Original Poster: Lord Ghost
Um... Gentoo is actually easy to install and easy to find software for, you just need the right install CD and the internet...

I did the minimal install (I love to do things the hard way ) but you get a livecd with a little gui that gives you all the options very nicely (Ok, not for complete mewbies, you should have a little linux experience), and once you have it installed you never have to look for software again, portage does it for you

emerge --search <packagename>

will tell you whether a software package is available (It usually is), and

emerge <packagename>

will install it for you along with all the dependencies.

Also, I used to use slackware, I must put in a good word for it, because it's a very simple distribution to use and it gives you a lot of control over what's going on. Once again perhaps not for total newbies but I was still quite green when I started with it and did most of my learning from it.

One more thing: Solaris isn't a linux distro, it's Sun's version of UNIX, perhaps the closest UNIX to the original System V that is still available today.

For total newbies that aren't really interested in learning much about linux I would reccomend Ubuntu/Kubuntu, they're easy enough to operate (I can't compare them to debian because I've never used it but a friend who has says he had no difficulty (He's a regular windows user, btw))

Just my 2c

And there you have started and ended the debate in my favor.

Umm...FreeBSD?

Thanks for agreeing with me!

Cheers,
Lord Ghost

Ubuntu for the win!

I've tried out Slackware, Fedora Core, Ubuntu in that order. Slackware was extremely complicated for me and as a complete linux newbie, this was not a system that was designed for a beginner. I will admit that while installing it, there are a lot of options you can do to configure your system and overhaul it to make even an old computer with a 650 outrun the new Intel Core 2 Duo Processors with Windows (I may be pushing the envelope slightly on this, but we'll see ).

Fedora Core was nice, but I found some small bugs and mounting problems that irritated me. Also, if you had no clue how to partition or mount hard drive properly, your system was going to crash hard and problems would ensue before even booting.

Ubuntu was extremely nice to me and the only problems I've had with it so far is using wireless (my school uses WPA with TKIP encryption and I had an Atheros chipset wireless card. That was fun to set up). I'm still slowly learning Linux but I'm not completely to the stage where I'm ditching Windows. I need Cedega before doing that. xD

As for just keeping up with the different distros, look at Distrowatch.com. Pretty nice for keeping up with the different linux distros.

I am leaning towards Debian, but if you say Ubuntu is based on it, I'll give it a whirl (currently using Mandriva Free 2007, first Linux Distro I ever tried, being a recent Windows user).

Question: Do I understand correctly, that Kubuntu is merely Ubuntu with KDE instead of Gnome? If so, Kubuntu is based on Debian but easier to use and with KDE? Is it impossible to run Gnome on Kubuntu or KDE on Ubuntu?

Oh, most important: And older RH9 (Shrike) did not install on my system as I have only a DVD drive (Installation reported "No CD ROM drive found") and has a single SATA drive (installation reported "No hard disk found" - was probably looking for IDE drives) - so forgive this newbie for asking, can I assume Kubuntu supports such hardware?

Thanks in advance.

Kubuntu for the win! :P

Lunix OSs I have tried:
*Mandrake 9.2, Mandriva 2005/2006 (can't remember)
*Ubuntu 5, 6.06; Kubuntu 6.06, 6.10 (currently using, I just downloaded 7-dev)
*Korrora 2beta, gxl live 0.2 (it was really a blast)
*Suse 9.(can't remember) live
*Fedora core 3,4

Lunix OS(s) still want to try:
*Gentoo

Other Lunix OSs I have tested:
MovieX2
DSL

I love kubuntu the most of all:
1) Its got nice how-tos. 2) Small download and there is http and bittorrent downloads. 3) User friendly. 4) VERY EASY to install or and update new software and porperty drivers. 5) nice irc channels. 6) I believe in the people how make it and like what they are doing (like giving me local respositorys, giving me free cds and mailing it to me for free) I can go on for some time...

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and new to Linux. I used Debian and am getting ready to re-install it (long story). I'm curious... I don't see Debian mentioned in this thread. Is it not that popular? Is it not popular because it's more difficult to use, technically?

Also, I don't know where to post this question, but is there a way to use my wireless adapter and wireless router to install Linux, basically from a DOS prompt?

Thanks,
PlainDave

Slax ! Which is actually a live CD version of Slackware 11. I started all the way back in the day w/ RedHat 5.2, which I still use since that's the only one I bought (the best Apache-based, appliance distro in the world, NetMAX.) But, Slax is so incredibly easy to configure and remaster (there's even a professional WinApp to aid in remastering), it comes in four different editions and all less than 300MB. Oh yeah, it comes w/ the latest Linux-NTFS driver (1.13 ?), which can actually write NTFS partitions reliably (read-only by default.)

Speaking of appliance distros: FreeBSD ! I've setup over a dozen of those (as file servers) from scratch from just the char-mode, stock distribution disc in an hour, including a kernel recompile. I know it ain't Linux, but it has all of Linux' best qualities, you can run virtually anything that comes in tarball format, and it's a single OSS distro: no major forks to speak of.

BTW, I keep seeing 'What about Debian ?'. Knoppix is Debian, FreeSpire is Debian (a better Windows than Windows), Mepis is Debian, Ubuntu is Debian....

Correct, Ubuntu and Kubuntu are the same except for the KDE / Gnome difference (and related apps, like KDE uses Juk or Noatun to play music where Gnome uses Rhythmbox).

Yes it is possible to use KDE with Ubuntu and Gnome with Kubuntu, the package manager (forget what it's called) can easily install it for you, but there's not too much point, IMO. The capability is there, though...

Yes, kubuntu supports DVD-roms and SataHdd's, I used ubuntu recently for testing purposes and I have a similar set up, and it worked flawlessly (but it was too easy... I love slackware and gentoo! ). Any recent-ish distro should support your hardware, I think the problem was the old-ish version of redhat that you used, a more recent redhat should also support your hardware.

Glad if I could be of help!
silkenphoenixx