need basic guidance on choosing distributions and implementing Linux

I'm new to Linux, I haven't tried any of the distributions yet (not even one click, ever). I'm reading up on the different ones and trying to narrow them down and choose some to try for the various projects I want to do with some computers I have.

Seeing whats available in the Linux universe has opened up a whole new world and I'm excited to jump in and get started, (and to get out the Windows rut I'm in.)

In the Linux FAQ in this forum, Major Attitude said:
"MajorGeeks has some hardcore Linux users who can answer your questions, so feel free to start a new thread if you need help."

So I'm going to lay out my whole situation and if anybody wants to offer some of their knowledge and experience with Linux (and/or computers in general), -I'll really appreciate every bit of help you give.

I have gone through the wikipedia page "List of Linux distributions".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions

I've looked at the websites for some of them. I read a few articles on various topics including choosing a distribution. There is a lot on the internet along these lines and I don't want to have to read for days on end to sort it all out.

I am looking for some suggestions of some websites, webpages, forums, books or other sources of information and guidance on choosing and using Linux operating systems. And also any suggestions, descriptions, or experiences with any of the distributions would be helpful and appreciated.

First here's the hardware I have to work with:

-several Pentium II, Pentium 3, and AMD K6-2 systems - 350-550 or so MHz (a few higher); 256-768MB SDRAM; 1, 2, 4, 10, or20GB hard drives;

-several Pentium MMX and earlier Pentium systems -233 or less MHz; some with as little as 48MB RAM, some with 64MB or 128MB; and 250MB, 1, 2, or 4GB hard drives.

-I also have a few P4s , 256MB to 1GB RAM; with 20 or 40GB hard drives.

-I have CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-ROM drives, a few DVDmulti drives, floppy and ZIP drives. All but the oldest few computers have USB ports.

Here are the things I want to do:

- put together some computers (or Live CD's, thumb drives, or ZIP disks) with an easy to use operating system, and games and other learning software for children ages 3-9. Right now I'm looking into Qimo.

- put together some computers to give to college students that need a free system. It should have a fairly easy to use desktop and the basic programs a college student would need [internet browser, word processor, PowerPoint type program, etc. ] For the more limited machines I have, I'm looking into Damn Small Linux, Puppy, U-lite, CrunchBang, Feather, and a few others.

- to help fund my enterprise I want to sell a few systems marketed as computers to put in the guest room of your home. The systems would need basic email and web browser, and maybe a music program (to be used as a simple CD player). It would be good if these were easy to use for people who may never have used Linux before.

- put together a system for my mother who is in her late fifties and has never used a computer other than to type in a word processor window that someone else opened, saved, etc. She says computers will be too much for her, but ironically she used to use an electronic typewriter, with all its commands and eccentricities. : )

- I want to find an OS to use personally.

- find a distribution with some applications for testing hardware (hard drives, video cards, motherboards, etc).

- find a distribution that is good for graphic design (making T-shirt designs etc.)

- set up a computer or server with music, other audio files, and video. (I have a few fairly simple P3/P4 xeon servers.) I don't know much about servers.

I'm open to learning/working with more than one distribution, but if any one distribution would work for two or more of the above -that will be less material I'll have to learn.

I realize this is quite a list. So its fine if you would like to address just one or two of the things mentioned here. Please give a clear indication of which thing you are addressing so I don't get confused.

I really appreciate anything you can teach me, including where to get more info on/for any of these topics/projects.

 

i'll go with plodr on most bits,

there are a couple of distro's that can be installed to a pen/flash/usb memory drive, i have a bootable knoppix pen drive which i can save any changes i make,

i use amarok for music and xine for video, vlc for flash,
k3b for burning data and mp3's (cd and dvd), amsn in place of msn, quat and xaos for fractal art, ktorrent, devede and mandvd for dvd creation,
my mobile (cell) phone needs no drivers and its seen as a removable drive (when i enable bluetooth it acts as a remote for my pc), digicam and showphoto for my camera, gimp for image creation and manipulation, openoffice for all office work, virtualbox, gparted for partition managing, partimage for backing up my operating system - and all free and in the repositories

my 6 year old daughter uses gcompris http://gcompris.net/-en- on her pclinuxos, its available in the repositories, there are more educational games but she likes gcompris

a couple to try would be

http://www.ubuntu.com/ = i think that this distro has the most 'followers'
http://www.kubuntu.org/ = ubuntu with the kde desktop
http://www.pclinuxos.com/ = my daughters system with 1ghz amd cpu and 256 sdram
http://www2.mandriva.com/ = on my pc (p4 3.4 prescott and 2gb ddr400) and a laptop with 2ghz cpu and 256 ddr ram

all have live cd's, so you can try before install

 

Thanks so much to both of you for the knowledge, recommendations, and links.

I have some more questions:

Do the applications mentioned work on any Linux distro, or are they somewhat 'distro-bound'?

Supposing booting from a USB device is not an issue, will the live USB work with USB 1.0? (other than being slower.)

Is gcompris a set of applications that will work with any Linux distribution, or just pclinuxos?

Could I do a live USB pen drive and use one of the lighter distros and install only the game software that the children will be using? -As long as there's a little extra space for them to save their games etc?

plodr: Is the college network issue enough of a hassle to go with a Windows OS instead? What if the student was going to a community college or was part time enrolled and living off campus? I guess my question is what exactly would they need to connect to the network for (other than an internet connection, if living on campus)?

I see "kde" and "enlightment" and things like this. What are these, what are the advantages of the various ones, and how do you compare them?

What about distros and programs for the older hardware? Any recommendations or suggestions on any of the small distros?

Any recommendations for a very simple OS my mother could use?

My local library has a book called Linux for Dummies. It was published in 2005. Do you think the info would still be relevant? Or has too much changed in the last 4-5 years?

thanks again for your help.

 

they should be available for all

can't see why not, but if it becomes an issue then there is always the option of a pci usb 2.0 card

should be for all

never tried it but i can't see why not (my knoppix pen drive is for system recovery, management and diagnostics - all software is already installed)

(to connect to a network you would just need the network/ethernet card enabled, which is done when you install the chosen distro, no sepparate drivers needed,
wireless is a different thing thing though and can be a little tricky)

kde is just the k desktop environment, there is also gnome desktop, enlightment - these are the linux equivalent of windows explorer, there are some more but kde and gnome are probably the most widely used

someone else would have to advise on this point, as i have not dabbled in this

try the live cd's, see what she thinks, ubuntu or pclinuxos would be a good choice,
i have found that they way the eye sees things makes a difference to how comfortable you are with a system - distros are not all the same

it would still be relevant but linux has come a long way since then, the distro i use has a new release every 6 months (you do not need to upgrade but it can be done auto-magically)

linux is not as hard as it seems - unless you want it to be,
its just a matter of learning new names for software and how they work,
there are also dedicated forums for the distro you choose if you get really stuck

 

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