Hello, I am Nic from the Philippines and have just joined Linux Questions. I am ready to move to Linux as an operating system but do not know which version will suit me best. Can anyone advise?

What are your preferences?

Desktop: Ubuntu, Mint, SuSE, Fedora ...
Server: Debian, CentOS, Ubuntu ...
Do it yourself: Linux from scratch

And my personal 'one fits all' solution: Slackware

Debian can be used pretty much as a desktop OS. Debian is about as generalized as Slackware is... you can make it what you want just like Slackware. Main difference is the package management (Debian uses dependency based package management with apt while Slackware uses the pkgtools utilities) and the way the system configuration and scripts are organized (Slackware is more UNIX-like organization in initialization scripts).

My advice is try out the main flavours (Debian, Slackware, Redhat/Fedora, Ubuntu etc) and find out which is most comfortable for your purposes.

It takes time to adjust to any new Operating System so give it some time. Use these forums to clear any doubts and ask questions freely.

Thank you for the responses so far.
I am coming from PC Desktop using Windows (lately XP) and now moving to powerful laptop. I am a domestic user. Retired and use my computer for emails, browsing, skype, photo storage and streaming radio. Ubuntu is the version that I have heard of more often and I am tempted to trial this first.

The best one for people that are new to Linux would have to be Mint. But, even better advice would be to try as many as you can. Maybe start with easiest ones, like Linux Mint and then move outward from there.


Edit: Mint is based on Ubuntu and Debian. Ubuntu is based on Debian. Ubuntu is a little shaky these days. If you want to try Ubuntu maybe wait for 12.04. Linux Mint would probably be your best bet to start out with, especially since you are use to XP. Though keep in mind. Linux is NOT MS Windows. If you try it looking for a Windows clone then you will have headaches. If you go into it understanding that they are different, they have different approaches, different programs, etc, then all will be well. Linux is a great operating system and has many equal programs to ones Windows has (unless you are a gamer.) For what you want to do I don't think you will have any issue with linux.

Ubuntu is a decent choice for this kind of usage.

Keep in mind that if you want a different desktop environment other than Gnome 3/Unity, then you should probably use kubuntu, xubuntu, lubuntu or something else. They are all the same distribution, but with different default desktop environments.

What worries me with Ubuntu now is that it is very different with Unity then Windows user are use to. This will change in a few years. I tried Windows 8 developers preview and they are trying to do their version of Unity and Gnome3, (they call it Metro.) So in the future this will work out for new Linux users coming over from MS Windows.

Linux Mint is more balanced in their approach and would be more user friendly for new linux users coming over from the current MS Windows os's.

However like vharishankar mentioned there is also Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu.

They are all part of the Debian family. So try them all :-)

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Linux-Newbie and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

My answer to this FAQ: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...t-for-me-3774/

I've also have read about and made some "Live DVD's" on Pinguy and also the free Zorin. I'm also checking into "The Full Monty" on pclinuxos.com. That one really looks interesting too. For now I'm using Ubuntu Lucid 10.04. It's just I like to check out the others that I hear about and also the ones I read about on Distrowatch.

Burn as many LiveCDs as you can cos with it you can try out the different flavors w/o need to install it to your hard drive, it is a good way as well to know how your hardware will handle it or if it can handle it(the different distros). Linux is very customizable and flexible, you can build up your system the way you want, it doesn't mean it is as easy as sounds like but if you are willing to learn your are in the right direction !

Links to consider:
Command line:http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/cmd/
It is good to know the oldest distros as well:
Debian: www.debian.org
Slackware: www.slackware.com
Redhat(Fedora): www.redhat.com

Here you can see the Linux evolution and distributions activity: http://futurist.se/gldt/
Here you can find the news about distributions: http://distrowatch.com/


Regards

You can try many distributions with liveCDs or with virtualbox.
For me I use ubuntu, it's easy and many programs are available.

I'm fairly new to Linux as well, and I've wondered the same thing. What I have done is installed Oracle's virtualbox, which lets you install as many OSs in a virtual machine that runs inside of windows. It's much easier than it sounds. You basically download and install virtualbox, and then you download the .iso file for whatever OS you want to try out. In virtualbox you create a new machine, point it to the .iso file and the software pretty much walks you through the install. I've tried out 6 or 7 different distributions. As a windows user the desktop you choose will probably make more of a difference than the distribution. The main choices are gnome and kde. Seems like most distros default to gnome, but I think it was Opensuse that came with kde. Either way you can install either or both in any of the distributions. I highly recommend using virtual box or vmware within windows to try out as many distributions as you can before making a decision. It's fun

I downloaded the Virtual Box from the site to Ubuntu. Tried various versions that way. Thing of it was I always had trouble with the USB things. Camera, etc. So, tried the VMware Player. Still use that one at times. Mostly though I download to the Thumbdrives or rewritable CD/DVD's to play around with.

I have been without Windows since Lucid came out. I had dual booted Hardy and XP for two years. During that time I had only gone back to Windows a total of five times. So when Lucid came out I burned the CD, played with it for about a couple of weeks then did a total install and wiped out Windows. Don't miss it at all. Everything I need is here in Linux. I use Win7 at the site I work at now. Hate it. My company laptop is XP pro. Was going through some of their libraries and noticed that they included Redhat and OOo. Hmmmmm, think they'd get upset with me if I did a dual boot on their laptop?

They'd probably get upset when it came time to turn it in for a new one or if they decide to let me go and reissue the thing to someone else.
Nah, won't mess with it. If I had a couple of laptops I'd be installing various distros. But for now I'm using Lucid until I find a distro that will be an easy dual boot system. Then if I like enough I might go with it fully. Just don't want to take a chance and mess up what I have for now. When I installed I let the system install itself without any interference from me. Thus no separate /home. Know that a lot of people do the same thing. So far haven't seen the real need of a separate /home.