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Brand new to Linux

Cares

Senior member
So I just got a new system and its running WinXP. I didn't know what to do with my old system so I just decided to load up Linux on it. What's a good choice to start learning Linux with? My friend says to try Fedora 3. Good choice?
 
Fedora 3 is not a bad place to start - might be an idea to do a search as this question gets asked a lot. Personally I started with Fedora and am now using Ubuntu
 
I'm a full time Ubuntu user myself. I find it very good for newbies and advanced users alike. I'd suggest downloading a few liveCD's to get started and work your way into the linux way of thinking.
 
Originally posted by: sourceninja
I'm a full time Ubuntu user myself. I find it very good for newbies and advanced users alike. I'd suggest downloading a few liveCD's to get started and work your way into the linux way of thinking.

:thumbsup:
 
I too started with Fedora and moved to ubuntu because it was smaller and faster.
 
I'll throw in my vote for PCLinuxOS. I'm also new to Linux and have tried several distros in the past couple months. In the end, I just decided to settle on PCLinuxOS.
 
Originally posted by: KB
I too started with Fedora and moved to ubuntu because it was smaller and faster.
Same here. Used FC1 at school, tried FC2, then FC3 when released, but I was never that impressed with it. Sometimes the RPMs were a b*tch and I didn't find Yum to be that good. OTOH, the Debian-based repos are AWESOME and AFAIK should all work fine in Ubuntu (although yeah it's not officially supported).
 
Wow it seems like there's no general consensus here. Can you guys give any reasons for a particular kernal?
 
Ubuntu.

Can you guys give any reasons for a particular kernal?

It's spelled "kernel" and most distributions have similar kernels, the differences are more userland configuration, available packages and branding.

Why would you prefer to buy a Ford over a Chevy?
 
Originally posted by: AlphaQ
Wow it seems like there's no general consensus here. Can you guys give any reasons for a particular kernal?

I think you should probably try a few different distros and work out which one suits your needs best -you can get some good reviews here

http://distrowatch.com/
 
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast

I know I'm OT here, but I saw your quote and couldn't help commenting that I picked up seasons V and VI of Red Dwarf on DVD last weekend, and I haven't stopped laughing yet.

That Rimmer is such a Smeg Head!
 
Originally posted by: D1gger
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast

I know I'm OT here, but I saw your quote and couldn't help commenting that I picked up seasons V and VI of Red Dwarf on DVD last weekend, and I haven't stopped laughing yet.

That Rimmer is such a Smeg Head!

I keep meaning to pick those up...
 
Originally posted by: spherrod
Originally posted by: sourceninja
I'm a full time Ubuntu user myself. I find it very good for newbies and advanced users alike. I'd suggest downloading a few liveCD's to get started and work your way into the linux way of thinking.

:thumbsup:

 
I would take a look at Ubuntu, I think Fedora installs to much stuff I don't use. I've heard that a debian based distro MEPIS is really easy to install ( Checkout an interview with the creator of MEPIS on the linux link tech show, show dated 03-16-05 at www.tllts.info ).

Once you get your feet wet and you really want to start learning about linux, try gentoo, my distro of choice.
 
I would suggest checking any of the Live CDs. The first one, as far as I know was Knoppix, suggested above, but now more and more distros come with their own version of Live CD.

The upside of that approach is that you might want to see if you like the distribution and if your hardware supports it. If you don't like it, there are no headakes to remove it from your computer, just reboot.

The only downside is that they usually require more memory than normal versions (since they need to load the whole system into memory) and if your system does not have enough memory they might be slow.

Once you feel comfortable you can install the distro of your choice on the hard drive
 
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