Which Linux should I try out?

[ahfung]

Hello world, I'm a Linux newbie. My friends told me to get a Suse, while I heard that Redhat is a more famous one. Any one have tried both of them?

 

[FOBSIDE]

i havent tried suse but if youre learning for the first time, i keep hearing that mandrake is the way to go. very easy to install i hear. whatever you choose, you should check out: http://www.linuxnewbie.org

 

[grendelkhan]

I would concur with Mandrake. I started out with Redhat and I have to say that Mandrake's install is downright painless. It will detect your hardware (even whacky stuff like Highpoint and some of the Promise controllers), set everything up, and in general, give you a pretty nice system all configured.

Plus, Mandrake offers you .rpm package management that's compatible with Redhat. This is a big plus for installing things, and very good for someone that is still learning the Linux ins and outs.

Mandrake's downloadable ISO's are everything you need to get started. The linux-newbie.org site is also a wonderful resource, great people and everyone is willing to help without calling you nasty names or making you feel stupid.

 

[MGMorden]

I agree with these guys. Mandrake works best for newbies. After you "graduate" though and move on to something better you'll realize how much it sucks . Like I said though it's a great learning distro which will "break you in" to the Linux world.

 

[Rogue]

Negative. Give Caldera eDesktop a try. Easier to install than Mandrake by far and mostly configured right out of the box for 'net surfing. Besides, Mandrake is to "cutesy" for my tastes. It's like the guys who built Mandrake are a bunch of cartoonists or something. Caldera is the way to go!

 

[Ulfwald]

Here is a site that has just about any Linux Distro you can want

ISO Images

 

[khorgath]

Well..
Depends.

There are a few things to consider. If you just want a looksee sort of thing, then go with Caldera. If youre' planning on shifting to linux eventually and are giving it a try, then I'd suggest Redhat because of the large no.. of people using it. You'll find other people who've had similar problems far more with redhat and they can help you through. OTOH, Mandrake and SUSE have their own userbase. Check out at you local LUG.

And if you're interested in getting down and dirty with Linux, and want to start with a Linux that will really teach you stuff, go for Slackware ( ). Debian is okay there too, but don't try either of this if you are not ready for troubles.

I started with Slack and still swear by it. Its siplicity is quite something.

Ciao
-khorgath

 

[fivepesos]

If you think you can learn quickly and arent intimidated by a linux command line then you might try slackware. Compared to other linux distros, like redhat, slackware follows all the generic file placement (i believe redhat stores start scripts differently than most other distros, for example). I've ran Suse and Corel in addition to my constant use of Slack. Newer Suse distros have a real nice install and so does Corel. Slackware does not. I like Slackware's install program, but ill acknowledge that it could be complicated to newbies.

So my recommendation are this: if youre a Computer Science guy and dont mind learnding the linux command line, go with slackware. if youre a general windows user, dont use linux. if you are an advanced windows user (oxymoron?) then try something with a nice install and gui, suse or corel.

corel deluxe's default gui is very similar to windows and might be intuitive to you.

but i still love slack and i learned linux from it.

 

[Hawken]

As you can see there are so many opinions that you might feel even more confused than you were before you asked. That's life
In my opinion best distros for newbie are Mandrake, RedHat & Suse. In this order. IMHO.
I have installed several distros and it is my opinion that Mandrake is easiest to install if you are newbie.

 

[gmh]

Mandrake is pretty cool