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Offline VincentTopic starter

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What's a good Linux distro...
« on: April 07, 2005, 04:13:44 PM »
... for a noob?

I just want to learn the basics of how Linux works, how it's set up etc.

I've used it once before (Mandrake) for about 3 days, and I've had a quick glance at Morphix, but not really used it that much.

I'm downloading the free version of Mandrake at the mo to see what that's like.
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Offline Magic-Merl

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Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2005, 04:27:11 PM »
Im using Suse at the mo!

I think I just stepped back in time.  Too much effort to do the simplest of tasks.

If I wanted an OS this primeval then I would have opted for something with a small footprint instead of this bloated waste of time.

For the record.  I can't get AROS to run on it either.

Offline TheMagicM

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Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2005, 04:46:39 PM »
I've used quite a few.. for now I"m using SuSE 9.2 without any problems.
PowerMac G5 dual 2.0ghz/128meg Radeon/500gb HD/2GB RAM, MorphOS 3.9 registered, user #1900
Powerbook G4 5,6 1.67ghz/2gb RAM, Radeon 9700/250gb hd, MorphOS 3.9 registered #3143
 

Offline Plaz

Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2005, 05:27:36 PM »
Knoppix.org is a good one to start with as a newbie if you
want to start out with a GUI set up that's easy to get going.

Plaz
 

Offline kevh100

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Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2005, 05:46:53 PM »
Ubuntu is supposed to be really nice to use but I've not had a look at it yet.
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/

If you want a small live Distribution try damn small linux. Its 50mb big and runs from CD so no need to worry about formatting HDs

I'm very happy with the Fedora range so far. I'm still using 1 & 2 heavily but haven't had a look at 3 yet.

Kev
...
 

Offline vpamicue

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Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2005, 06:15:29 PM »
Well my experience says stay with Mandrake 10.1. It is easy to install has all the features and it is rock solid. The only thing is if you have to compile programs to run on Mandrake it can be a problem. But it will be a problem for any noob.
I do think your biggest consideration should be what graphics card you have, if you have an ATI or NVidia 3D card you need special drivers for 3D support. Mandrake and SuSi will supply them but you pay for the installer. With Fedora you will have to compile it (actually a lot of the dist you just dl the driver from NVidia or ATI and compile it). Knopix does come with the actual driver that is funtional at install. I like knoppix but it has problems on my system (major problems) so I stick with Mandrake 10.1.
The other things I have had problems with are Internal Modems (even none Winmodems), webcams, scanners and types of printers (Lexmark in particular). There are some older sound cards and some 32 bit recording sound cards that have problems but I find ALSA reacts quickly to new cards and the problems may be solved.
I have also used Dedian, Caldera, Red Hat (enterprise and fedora), SuSi, Morphix and Knoppix on X86. :-D
VP AMICUE
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Offline AmigaMac

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Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2005, 06:22:16 PM »
Fedora Core 3
SuSE 9.2
Linspire 5

I'm currently using Mandrake Linux (10.1) in one of my classes at school and I find it to be flaky at times.
 

Offline dammy

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Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2005, 06:26:08 PM »
Fedora Core 3 is my preferred distro.  Core 4 RC1 is available but I wouldn't recommend any RC till Core 4 stable  has been released.  If you want it now, Core 3 would be my vote.

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Offline Turambar

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Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #8 on: April 07, 2005, 06:32:56 PM »
My opinion? There isnt one.
 

Offline DethKnight

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Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #9 on: April 07, 2005, 07:25:45 PM »
A> arch linux

oh oops you said for a noob

B> knoppix liveCD probably best for noob IMHO



arch does everything I have asked it to do without "obscure issues"
wanted; NONfunctional A3K keyboard wanted
 

Offline SidVicious

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Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #10 on: April 07, 2005, 07:46:52 PM »
If you doesn't got a computer with much RAM i would way Slackware or Gentoo.
Why?
Becous they are stable and doesn't require a computer with much RAM.
Gentoo may be hard to install, but if you fallow the great, i realy mean great guide on their site it shouldn't be a problem. And, you'll learn much of it too!
Using portade may be time consuming, couse it compile everything but things does get better perfomance that way.
Portage does install everything by itself, even if it does compile everything, it does it automaticly.
Slackware is stable, fast and isn't to hard too install either. On the other hand, you have to compile most of the things by your self and there's nothing that checks if you got all the packages that a program needs. On the other hand, trust me, you'll learn a lot more things by using Slackware!

In the end...go for Slackware if you want to learn stuff about the system itself, go fot Gentoo if you want to learn how to install a system...manually...and want a good installer tool (portage is great, but it's slow (becouse it compiles everything automaticly!).
If you want enything else, go for Ubuntu. It's nearly perfect (first Gentoo, then Ubuntu and third Slackware (becouse it isn't so easy to install stuff!)!
 

Offline Trev

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Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #11 on: April 07, 2005, 07:49:09 PM »
I started with RedHat back in the day, but if you really want to understand how the Linux kernel works and what goes into creating a Linux operating environment (i.e. a "distro"), then your best option is probably Gentoo. If you just want to see what a bloated KDE or Gnome installation looks like with all the bells and whistles enabled, then any distribution that offers a "LiveCD" with a GUI will suffice.

Trev
 

Offline billt

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Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2005, 07:50:44 PM »
Gentoo can be a way to learn more than you ever wanted to about Linux. You'll have to learn more than just the basics though to get this beast going, you'll learn much more about setup than you would with Debian or other easier distros.

That said, I'm contemplating changing to Fedora. My goal is a MythTV box, and it feels like Gentoo lags behind on MythTV and driver support. I got a pcHDTV3000 card that I can't figure out how to make work on Gentoo, even with advice in Gentoo forums. I've now learned more than I ever wanted to about Linux, and I've reached the point that now I just want to be able to _use_ it, not be forced to perpetually try and outsmart it every time an emerge update goes bad. (an emerge update in January wasted the thing so that KDE hangs on loading after login, even after numerous KDE/x11 re-install attempts since then)
Bill T
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Offline Failure

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Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #13 on: April 07, 2005, 09:19:41 PM »
If you *really* want to see and understand how it works, you may be interested in a project built pretty much just for that task, Linux From Scratch (LFS).  Not sure how n00b friendly you will find it, though, especially since you need a running Linux machine to build it on.

And just so you'll know, I prefer Debian but it's not for everybody.  At work it is always SuSE and Red Hat.  Everyone who has posted so far has some valid points, except for the Gentoo guys.

*dodges broken bottles and beer cans* I kid, I kid!  ;-)
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Offline VincentTopic starter

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Re: What's a good Linux distro...
« Reply #14 on: April 08, 2005, 01:06:52 PM »
Thanks guys :-D

Once I've got Mandrake I'll try a few of the others (probably Gentoo, LFS and SuSe).

@Tur
:lol:
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"Oh no. Everytime you turn up something monumental and terrible happens.
I don\'t think I have the stomach for it." - Raziel