I am an IT/Engineering professional who somehow has managed to not gain any experience in Linux. However, I am starting to study for some certifications that I am wishing to gain. Some of which require linux now, cisco and a+ primarily. I am wondering which distro I should start with. I want something I can simply replace my existing windows distro with. I will most likely start with a dual boot system. My system is about 2 years old and the main software I use isn't windows only anyway (Firefox, VLC, VNC, etc) I also do computer repair from time to time and use a lexar thumb drive, which I would like to keep the ability to do that.

So my question is, which would be the best distro for me to start with?

Also, planning on using a much older machine (say 500mhz or so) and would like to try unix on it. Can you download Unix? and if so, are there different distros of it?

Thanks

http://www.distrowatch.com/

most distributions of GNU/Linux are free, ( both free as in freedom and free as in FREE BEER!)

for the older computer slackware is a good choice...

Good call. I won't say which is my favorite, as most people are very protective of their distro, and this can lead to flame wars...

So, yeah, what Okie said. distrowatch.'

Actually I lied. You should definitely go with http://www.mslinux.org/

As a "replacement" for Windows, Xandros probably comes the closest, although my personal taste runs to SUSE, which is similar, but a step closer to traditional Linux. Of course, everyone has their opinion. There are probably hundreds of "which is best" threads that you can read through to form an opinion.

Regarding the 500MHz computer, are you looking for something different (UNIX) or something complimentary (Linux) to your "main" machine? Will it also be used for "study?" For something complimentary, depending on how much RAM you have, you would probably be looking more towards Ubuntu, Kubuntu (both are essentially the same distro but with GNOME and KDE desktops, respectively), or Slackware. (All of these will run very well on your main computer as well.) The advantage of Slackware is that it is the closest to "pure" Linux currently available. The disadvantage is that it is a little bit of a challenge to set up. It runs very well on older/slower computers, though. Since you are in IT, Slackware may not be so difficult for you, and its structure would help your study. Regarding UNIX, I recall that most of them are proprietary, but the *BSD variants are UNIX-like and there may be one that will work OK on an older computer.

Going along with what the others said about Slackware, I'd highly recommend Vector Linux, which is based on Slackware but is specifically geared toward older hardware and being FAST. If you want to read a review about the distro (along with instructions for installing Enlightenment DR17), Mad Penguin has a nice article here.

Hope that helps!

I use a few different distros on my various machines. While all Linux distros are (when it comes to the nuts and bolts) about the same, bear in mind that different ones will have their own quirks. Mainly they'll want to put files in different spots. For your machine, if you have at leats 256M of RAM, I'd lean toward Ubuntu, but if you're looking for certs, you'd want to look at some of the main-stream server distros (RedHat Enterprise being a biggie). I use CentOS on my servers, since I can't talk the boss into adding licensing for RedHat Enterprise servers to the budget (read $0), but it's basically re-built RHEL anyway. The RedHat Enterprise (or Cent) installs won't be as hardware-friendly (won't detect some hardware automatically such as video-capturing devices), since I can't think of too many servers that would have that anyway. Ubuntu is rather friendly towards hardware, and you may even try something non-intrusive like Knoppix, which will run completely from a CD-ROM and not change your hard drive. Little slower that way, but it's nice to have for data-recovery when WindowsXP goes south. I would have to agree with an above post about VectorLinux if you want to play with Slackware. It is also a rather easy install.

Now you will probably have to educate me on this, but linux is built off of Unix. If an organization is running a Unix server, are they just running Linux or are they running something else?

Also, for the Distros. Yes I am wanting to learn more to gear me toward IT certs, but I also want something mainly to use as a workstation. I might setup a linux server using the old desktop but I the newer machine for internet browsing, dvd ripping, game playing, minor computer repair(VNC mostly), etc. Which distro would be the best for that?

The Linux kernel was originally written to allow "UNIX" to run on a PC. Things have changed over the years and although they have similar roots, UNIX and Linux are no longer all that similar. If an organization is running a UNIX server, they are probably using one of the UNIX variants like Solaris.

Regarding a distro for internet browsing, DVD ripping, game playing, and minor computer repair on a reasonably modern machine, most of them will be fine. As has been stated previously, none of them will be exactly the same. Slackware is "purer" and Red Hat is the biggest player in the corporate market. Aside from those, choosing something as a desktop is a personal choice--kind of like "which is better: GNOME or KDE?" (I don't think that war will be over anytime soon.) I mentioned a few distros in my earlier post and those recommendations would still fit your criteria as well as others.

Bravo, and well put. Linux is pretty much "Unix-like". 90% of what works in Linux will work on Unix.
As far as which choice for a distro (which all are based off of Linux - each distro just decided to do things a certain way, or install a certain way, or have a certain group of packages installed by default, etc.) to choose.... That will be personal preference. On my laptop I use Ubuntu, but on one of my work computers (2.6G, 1G RAM, 120G HD) I run Fedora Core 4. Fedora is nice, but can be resource hungry. Ubuntu can be also (works fine on my 1.2G laptop with 512M), but if you're limited on resources you may want to go with something a little more stripped-down, such as Slackware or Debian (I prefer VectorLinux, which is Slackware based).

I would recommend Debian for you.
If you had a bit more powerfull pc I would say gentoo.

Good luck to you

The two machines specs I have.

AMD 2100+
512 RAM
400 GB Hard drive space
Asus Nforce Motherboard (everything on the board)


Older Machine
500mhz
64/128 RAM
20 GB Hard Drive
Old Dell Optiplex

Hope that helps.

As we all can see, you really need to try out a few different distros and see what you like.
I like this "Distro Chooser Test":
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

I find it to be pretty well made and accurret.

Personally, I love Slackware:

Slackware is Hard, but you "REALLY LEARN" Linux.
Beacause nothing is "Hidden" from you

Slackware is said to be the most "True" Linux around

Slackware is the oldest surviving Linux

Slackware runs great on 500Mhz; 64MB RAM;

So you choose dude.

thanks for the link to the chooser. I went through the questionaire and it picked out 8 choices

Debian
Ubuntu
Kubuntu
Slackware
Mandriva
Fedora
Gentoo
Mephis

I guess to make my decision I need to know 3 things. Which one is used more commonly in a professional environment? Which one will be the best for someone who knows very little about linux but quite a bit about PCs? Finally which will teach me the most about linux?

Thanks

I am going to make a guess and say that none of them are regularly used in a professional environment. Red Hat and SUSE are the two distros I associate with being used by the "corporate world." Knowing quite a bit about PCs will not change things much. I was in a similar situation when I got started and even though I knew Windows in and out and had built and upgraded many computers, going into Linux was new territory. The most "newb friendly" of the distros you listed are Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mandriva, and possibly Mepis (not familiar with that one). The one that will teach you the most about Linux is Slackware, hands down.

I'll agree and disagree, coming from a corporate background in server environments, Red Hat seems to be popular. I haven't seen much SuSE, But now that novell owns them, I'm sure the number has gone up quite a bit.
As far as the question continues to go, here are the distros I would try out (the most Main stream general distros)
They all have there pros and cons, you need to see what you like.

I Will Format like this
distro (Similar Distros or Breeds):
-Pros/Cons

Red Hat (Fedora,CentOS):
-Easy
-Popular
-Paid Customer Support
-Not free (Except for Fedora and CentOS)
-Main Stream
-Dependency checking(this means that packages aka applications will automatically search for needed Libs and programs)
-uses RPM packaging
-Chubby(kinda fat)
-Built in configuration tools (things like msconfig for windows)
-Server Ready

SuSe(?):
-Pretty much the same as Red Hat

Slackware(?):
-No very Easy
-Pretty Popular
-No Customer Support, only Mailing lists and forms
-Highly Configurable
-Server Ready
-Fast (not Fat)
-Almost no buildin configuration tools (you will learn how to edit text files pretty quick)

Debian(ubuntu,kubuntu):
-Between Slackware and Red Hat/SuSE as far as Easiness goes
-Dependency checking
-uses DEB packaging
-Popular
-Server Ready
-I dont know much else (I've only used very little of debian)