New feature idea: Linux distro chooser wizard!
 

Hey all!

How about a wizard allowing newbies (or people considering Linux) to choose a distro that matches their needs/skills best?

You know, a few pages of questions, like "Have you used Linux before?" and "Do you actually want to install Linux on your computer, or just wish to preview it without changing your hard drive?" and "Do you like tinkering with configuration files and troubleshooting in general?"....

Once the wizard comes up with the possible choices for the user, we could have comments from actual users of the resulting distros, and even quick download/purchase links!

What do you think? This would be pretty easy to implement...

well cos generally from experience it would go something like....

1) Do you feel the need to use a wizard to choose a distro for you?
a) yes - use mandrake
b) no - ok, choose yourself thanks. bye.

:)

oh and the link section: http://www.linuxiso.org

I like that idea sewer_monkey. I see a few potential problems as what I see as a good distro others will certainly disagree with. I have added this to the long term TODO and will definitely take a further look into it. Thanks.

--jeremy

Well, there are good distros for everyone. Obviously you won't be suggesting Debian or Slackware to a MacOS user? :)

I agree for the links section, but I disagree with your model of the wizard. ;)

I was thinking more along the lines of creating several variables, say "user's computer experience/comfort level when using computers", "user's willingness to tinker with config files", "user's preference/non-preference of a pretty GUI", e.t.c.... Then ranking each popular distro with these values (say from on a scale of 1 to 10). The wizard, in turn, will calculate these values for each user, and match them with the best "fitting" distro.

There are also key questions that would drastically reduce the distro list... Such as "are you willing to format/repartition your hard drive to install Linux?" If the user answers "No", then the only choice for a distro you'll have would be "DemoLinux" or "ZipSlack/BigSlack".

or mandrake ;) also installable inside a fat32 partition... yeah i see a few cases where there would be exceptions where that would help, but i still personally think it would be slightly redundant. It would still be an interesting feature to have tho i'll admit. Generally tho i still think that generally if you are in a situation to ask that question then you'll want mandrake, suse or redhat... which are prettry interchangeable at the end of the day. i only say mandrake in particular as it does have the slight edge in userfriendlyness (it's a word as of now ok?). i nice big flowchart would be pretty cool tho, as long as enough descisions and fundamental differences can be found.

for the buying link you could send them to http://www.linuxcentral.com unless you really like the distribution ;)

verigoth

Heres what I would like in it:

Part 1:

Do you want a GUI (KDE/Gnome)?

Yes - Go to Part 2
No - Go to Part 3

Part 2:

Do you want an easy installer?

Yes - Go to Part 4
No - Go to Part 5

Part 3:

Do you need the latest versions of everything?

Yes - Choose Red Hat
No - Choose Debian

Part 4:

Do you need easy configuration tools (things like modems, etc...)

Yes - Choose Mandrake
No - Go to Part 5

Part 5:

Are you just starting out with Linux?

Yes - Choose Mandrake
No - Choose Red Hat

:D

Nice. I'd add also a possibility to choose firewall distro (like Openwall, etc).

how about this

1. Do you like how Mac OS works?
yes - choose Mandrake
no - go to 2
:D

i don't know why but Mandrake reminds me so much of MacOS it isn't even funny ;)

whats nice:confused:

biscuits.

erm.. is that list of potential questions genuine? i'm presuming that's a joke version yes?

I think you're joking, rverlander, but... My 'nice' means I think the idea (the wizard or whatever you call it) is good. :)

Allright! Anyone up for starting a SourceForge project? ;) :p

ME!!!!!
IF:
1) It's programmed in C++ (I want some experience, but I wont budge if you ignore EVERYTHING I "develop" ;) )
2) You won't tell to CIA you have something to do with me.
3) You (or someone else) is patient enough to tell me how to do things.

Oh f***, sun is rising, back to "Teach yourself c++ in 21 days"- book! :study: