Trying Linux But Witch One***help

I Am Finally Going To Try Linux, I Bought One Called "linux Xp Pro" Have Not Received It Yet. In Searching For Information On This One, I Found So Many Different Versions Of Linux. Now I Am Very Confused. Does Anyone Have Linux, Have You Heard Of This One, And Witch One Do You Recommend For A Totally Newbie. I Have Been Using Windows Since It Was Invented. I Know It Will Be A Major Change, But I Am Sick On Spending Money On Ms. Thanks To All Who Can Give Me Advice.

 

Ubuntu is probably a good distribution to start with...

http://www.ubuntu.com/

You can download the CDs there or I'm sure order them. Its supposed to be a little easier at installing and configuring for people who haven't delved into Linux before.

Worth a look if nothing else.

 

thanks i will try that one, do you use linux?

 

I'm using Ubuntu, it's pretty easy to figure out, but I sure have to learn a lot still
I'd recommend it for someone who, like me is new to the whole Linux world.

 

Linux is all I really use nowadays. As for new user distros, it depends on what you want out of it. Do you want something new to tinker with? Do you want to learn programming "old school" style? Or are you just sick of Windows?

Then there is how much time you want to invest in learning it....

Here is a kinda lame rundown on the "popular" distributions out there today....

Slackware - Slackware is the oldest distro still in production. It is not exactly new user friendly as it requires you to know your hardware well and it requires you to generally hand edit configuration files. However, what it lacks in user friendliness it makes up for in rock solid stability. The Slackware philosophy is to only use packages (programs, applications) that have been completely tested and "debugged". Therefore Slackware isn't as cutting edge as other distros but it is very stable. Makes a great server. Not so great of a media station or desktop. However if you want to learn GNU/Linux to it's fullest extent, it's a good place to start.

Vector Linux Std. and SOHO - Based on Slackware but it is a bit more cutting edge and user friendly. It has better hardware detection and it uses the newer 2.6 kernel. On my computer I still had to hand edit a few files but it was nothing like Slackware. Vector will auto-config the X-windows system (GUI) for you which is a nice touch. The differences between SOHO and Std. are the desktop environments. SOHO comes with a more "Windows" like desktop where as Std. relies on Window Managers. Window managers generally have no desktop icons or taskbars. Menus are accessed through right clicks generally. However, window managers are less of resource hogs and are usually much more responsive. I use the Fluxbox and Ratpoison window managers myself when I'm not in the command line.

Debian - Debian is the tried and true Linux distro. It has a huge software repository. It uses a program called Apt-Get to download and install packages. The GNU/Linux world has countless free and open software programs and most distros have a package manager. Debian uses apt-get, Vector uses slapt-get and with Slackware, you get nothing. An example would be, if you wanted to install the GIMP (an adobe photoshop type app) in Vector, you would type, "slapt-get --install gimp" and it would install the GIMP. Debian has the largest amount of software on tap. Sounds good doesn't it? The biggest downfall of Debian is the install. It requires you to know your hardware and it's text based which turns people off. It is worth it for Apt-get though in my opinion.

Fedora Core/CentOS - A nice easy friendly distro that has great hardware detection and a good base of packages to start out with. Uses the YUM package manager which is easy to use and figure out. I really liked Fedora and CentOS. The biggest downfall of Fedora is the lack of MP3 support out of the "box". Due to certain legalities in some countries, Fedora doesn't include MP3 support. However with YUM this is easily fixed. Fedora has a nice graphical installer that is very easy to get through.

Gentoo - You either love it, or you want to inflict harm on someone. This is the "get to learn GNU/Linux" distro. It has a very very long install (1-2 days long if you are lucky) but it has the best documentation out there. The docs will walk you through it step by step. What you get in the end is an OS with exactly what you want on it and it is optimized for your computer. Once you get it installed it is very quick and responsive. Only go this route if you have free time and really want to learn GNU/Linux. It uses the Portage package manager which in my opinion is really good. One of the best.

Ubuntu/KUbuntu - I tried it a few times. It is based on Debian. I have heard great things about it, But I didn't personally like it. It does things I disagree with, and I felt slightly held back in it for some reason. However I seem to be the only one who feels this way. Most everyone I have talked to loves it to no end. Perhaps it is just me. I'll let someone else chime on on what makes this distro tick.

Live CD's (Knoppix, Puppy, DSL, etc) - These are meant to let you try GNU/Linux without actaully installing it. Great for trial runs. A few of them even include an option to install it if you really like it. No harm, no foul.

A note on installers - There are text installs which are no frills, keyboard driven installs. Kinda ugly looking and they turn most people off. Then you have a mouse driven graphical install. Out of the few I mentioned only Fedora and CentOS have a reliable graphic installer, the rest are text based. Gentoo recently came out with a graphical install version but I have yet to try it and I have yet to hear anything good about it.

I use Vector Std. I really enjoy it, friendly yet it still allows you to learn.

Desktop Environments and Window Managers - KDE and Gnome are the most popular full fledged Desktop Environments. They are like the Windows desktop. They have their own apps. KDE is more like Windows where as Gnome resembles Mac a bit more. Fluxbox, Blackbox, IceWM, E17, etc are window managers. They basically allow you to create windows. They generally have no icons, no taskbar and you open programs by either right clicking the screen or using the command line. I like Fluxbox. Quick, easy to configure and it has everything I need.

The command line - This is where the mojo in GNU/Linux comes from. It reminds me of DOS on steroids. The command line is very powerful. Anything you can do in the GUI, you can do at the command line and generally quicker. It is worth learning the commands and being semi proficent at it.

If you are still kinda lost check out www.distrowatch.com and www.linuxforums.org. Both are great sites that are GNU/Linux related.

If you have anymore questions fire away. I may have an answer and I know there are other GNU/Linux users floating around here.

 

At the risk of being mildly bombarded, I do realize I left out distros such as Xanadros, Linspire, SuSe, and Mandriva. I personally do not have enough experience on them to give a good description on them. There are literally hundreds if not by now thousands of distros out there to get your hands on. The ones I mentioned earlier are all free and downloadable

 

I run a Gentoo Server and a RedHat Server. I do a lot of work on laptops and wireless networking and have learned that the LiveCD versions are very helpful for data recovery but would also be useful for learning which distro you might be most comfortable with. The LiveCD I have decided I like the best is Knoppix. It is the best in my opinion at detecting hardware correctly and has direct support for wireless networking using the Atheros chip wireless cards at SuperG speeds.

The best part of Knoppix is that you can try it without going through the installation process. Download it, burn it and boot it.

 

Well said. Live CD's are great for trying out GNU/Linux. And DSL makes a good "carry around" distro. Puppy also has lots of good apps with it. And Knoppix seems to be the king at hardware detection

 

MA brought up a good point that I falied to touch on. Many distro producers do make a live CD. SuSe had one last I checked and there is a good Slackware based Live CD called Slax. Even the new Gentoo graphical install CD can be used as a Live CD. My favorite is probably still Knoppix based on hardware detection, but I have a huge soft spot for DSL. They do some crazy stuff with only 50mb of room.

It's so hard to explain Linux distros sometimes. There are so many out there and there are so many options. Only think I can really say is buy some blank CD's and start downloading and trying them out. If you need any help with partitioning feel free to ask. Certain Distros like Knoppix have some great partitioning tools.

 

As a new user the whole idea of different "distributions" might be a bit confusing. And the idea of Open source similarly so.

First of all - what is Linux? It's an open source operating system. An operating system is an application you run on your computer which allows other applications and programs to run within it, and access the hardware in a consistent fashion. Open source means that the code used to create the program (the blueprints, if you like) is publicly available. In the case of Windows, the source is closed which means only Microsoft developers can see it.

The advantage of this is that you can be absolutely sure how every part of the OS works, and you can build the OS yourself. It also means you can be sure there are no "back doors" in the code which could invade your privacy or security.

It also has the nice side effect that since the blueprints are public, then you can't sell the software. It's completely free! What you can sell, however, is data (for example, the Quake 3 engine is open source but you still have to buy the data in order to play the game) and support (telephone, email support for products.)

Even if you cannot read the code yourself this is still an advantage. Other people can read the code - and improve upon it. If there is a bug which anyone has found who is using the software, they can write a fix for it and submit it to the authors. That could be anyone in the world! It could be a hired developer or it could by a system administrator who uses the software.

The only problem is that of stealing ideas. Oddly, a bits of code found in Open source software has found it's way into OS X (Apple's recent release) - which is closed source.

Anyway - since the code is open and anyone can build their own "versions" of the operating systems with a certain set of features - many people have. Slackware was the first - and it was named as such because it was for slack people who didn't want to spend days putting together their own OS - when they could just install it all prebuilt from a disk.

An analogy might make things clearer: if open source software is wood, then a Linux distro is a piece of flat pack furniture. It's a designed product with all the things you need to get going, but you've still got to put it together on your computer.

Some distros are more prebuilt than others. You range from a plain Gentoo - which you even need to compile the kernel yourself - to say Ubuntu where you have all the software configured to give you a nice desktop environment not dissimilar to Mac or Windows inferfaces... right out of the box.

Now, it might be worth noting the there is no such thing as Linux XP Pro. For a start if such a name existsed, Microsoft would sue their asses off, to start with.

And you cannot "buy Linux" - as I said earlier since the source code is freely available, to sell Linux would be very much against the GNU/GPL Licence agreement. There is Linspire - which is supposedly very Windows like - who charge for Linux. I don't really know how they get around this, but I guess it's similar to RedHat who will only give you RedHat Enterprise if you buy the Enterprise Support package.

In any case, for a beginner I would highly recommend Ubuntu - not only is it an easy distribution to get up and running with, it will also get you into the spirit of Open Source Software.

 

Goldfish dabbled a bit with the paying for Linspire issue. They charge you for the OS itself, as do some versions of SuSe and Xanadros. But the thing that bothers me about Linspire is the Click and Run Warehouse (CNR). It's a good idea to an extent. Essentially what it does is allows you to automatically download and install apps with no hassle. Nifty huh? Here is what bothers me...For one you already have to pay for the distro, as far as I remember you get use of the CNR for a limited time, then have to pay a renewal fee. Still sounds kinda nifty huh? Personally (and this is where GNU/Linux can get ugly. Everyone is opionated, even me to a certain extent.) But half the joy of learning GNU/Linux is compiling programs yourself and learning the workings of your system. I've been using GNU/Linux for awhile now and I still learn something everyday if I so desire. That is not for everyone though I suppose. I just happen to love to tinker with things. Be it computers, guns, guitars, cars or what not.

 

All Post Are Very Informative, Thank You All. My Reason For Changing, Im Just Sick Of Ms. I Am Not A Programmer Or Computer Expert. I Am Looking For Just An Os That I Can Load And Use And Learn. I Will Just Start Experminting With Them. Great Response To A Newbie.

 

Hmm, CNR eh. Sounds to me like apt-get with subscription fees. That's stupid.

apt-get isn't hard to master, really. All you've gotta do is work out what the program is called in the APT repository. Then it's just a matter of

Code:

apt-get install gaim

to install gaim (for example). Wanna remove it? Then do this:

Code:

apt-get remove gaim

Easy!

And check this out! If you don't like using the terminal, then use something like Synaptic Package Manager! Or aptitude! Or any one of the other apt package managers out there.

No, I don't think Linspire is going to sway my opinion just yet.

If you're sick of MS, but you don't want to spend hours learning the OS, try Apple's OS X. Of course, this does require buying a Mac

Most of the people I've heard talking about this (including some of the developers of Xorg, even) have said that they wouldn't give Linux to their moms, but would rather give them OS X.

 

The CNR warehouse is like apt-get with a subscription. The crummy thing is most of the programs they offer are available for free anyways. With the CNR, you get a pre-compiled package suited for the distro. Installing programs from source isn't terribly hard. And nowadays almost every distro has a good package manager, be it yum, apt-get, portage, so on and so forth.

I personally think you get a better learning experience using a distro like Vector, Fedora/CentOs, Debian or the like. And never rule out live CD's. They are good tools to have around if nothing else

 

very informative, and thank you, i have been trying the live cds, i am leaning towarad mandrake, xandros or lilorant, if i spelled them correct. and thanks for the reply