What Linux to use?

niall mc

Im interested in learning how to use Linux. I have no idea which one to use as there are millions of different distributions. ive been resarching a bit and have narrowed it down to: debian, ubuntu, red hat and gentoo.
ill be using it on a 600Mz PIII with 128megs of Ram.

does anyone have any recomendations from personal experience. also it would be nice if i could use a distribution that will be used in offices so it will help me get a job and look good on my CV!

sorry if this question has been asked a million times but i cant search the threads. also, this should probably be in the Operatiung System section but there is no linux section.

thanks

WizZard

There's a UNIX section which handles all the *NIX stuff.

---

Depends on what you expect from your OS.

I use, and would recommend Gentoo, but not as a newbies choice since it's not always straightforward to set up. I would tell you to definitely install (Stage 1) it after you get to grips with another distro, it'll open your eyes and show you how things work together in the OS (and linux) world.

Ubuntu is nice and disallows root logins by default (nice security feature). It uses a Debian based installer and the Gnome desktop environment which is nice to look at. Kubuntu is Ubuntu with KDE as its DE.
It's ages since I did a Debian install but I remember it having an excellent package management system (apt).
Red hat/Fedora is a very nice newbie distro, and is used in many commercial environments. It's easy to use and has a lot of graphical tools which can help a newbie (learn the command line tools aswell!). It would probably be most beneficial for you. It has a nice, easy graphical installer too.
I would stay with FC3 as FC4 seems very bloated to me.

Stark

Debian - pretty decent, like previous user said, apt is great. It tends to be a little behind the times but very stable. Most people run the "testing" distribution of Debian.

Ubuntu - I tried 5.04 (5.04 stands for April '05 release) and it was a bit sparse. I've heard 5.10 (Oct '05) is much better. Out of the ones you've specified, I'd recommend it the most.

Redhat - Yuck. It has most of what you want, but the few annoyances it does have will break your heart.

Gentoo - Waste of time. It takes 2 days for an experienced user to install and the benefits aren't want people claim them to be.

You should also give consideration to Suse and Mandriva. Both have had releases recently, and both are seriously good in their latest implementations (I used to be a die-hard Mandrake/Mandriva user but I really like Suse 10).

niall mc

thanks a lot for the swift replies

think ill give ubuntu a go. seems like the good option.

sorry for posting it here, i saw the unix thread and its full of the same questions i just asked!

niall

mp3guy

Yeah, ubuntu is excellent, brilliant for a new user.

tw0nk

I think mepis is best for new user, it comes as a livecd so you know if it works with your hardware straight away without installing and there is an icon on desktop called "install me" if you wanna install permanently.

it is based on debian and is compatible with its packages so apt-get and synaptic package manager all work.

www.mepis.org

just my 2 cents anyways......

Karoma

tw0nk wrote:

I think mepis is best for new user, it comes as a livecd so you know if it works with your hardware straight away without installing and there is an icon on desktop called "install me" if you wanna install permanently.

it is based on debian and is compatible with its packages so apt-get and synaptic package manager all work.

www.mepis.org

just my 2 cents anyways......

Ubuntu has a liveCD version also + if you're not in any particular rush and bandwidth is scarce: they'll post 'em out free.