Best Linux distro for a beginner

[sanddrag]

I'm no idiot when it comes to computers but I don't want to have to learn a bunch of command line inputs either. I was thinking maybe one day I'll try my hand at some sort of linux. No particular reason why. Any distros you'd recommend?

Also, I was wondering, how do things like drivers for network cards work in Linux? Does it just work or do you need to get special drivers from somewhere?

[Allison K]

I just recently installed ubuntu and have found it to be fairly user friendly. The ubuntu motto is "linux for human beings" and it pretty much sticks to that. It uses the gnome desktop and comes with GAIM, firefox, and open office. The newest version is due out next month.

I still haven't figured out how to get the wireless to work but the LAN connection works no problems.

I don't really know anything about command lines, but thus far haven't really needed to learn any. At some point I'm going to have to ask a CS friend for some help to install the correct video drivers.

And ubuntu has the coolest screensavers. The hypercube is mesmerizing.

~Allison

[Pat Fairbank]

I too would recommend Ubuntu as a good place to start. It's very user-friendly, and doesn't crash as easily as some distros when you mess around with it as an advanced user.

Drivers for commonplace devices like Ethernet cards come bundled and usually work right away, but obscure or proprietary devices, like some wireless cards, can be a real pain to install drivers for, sometimes requiring a kernel recompile. In fact, all drivers that don't come with the distro require some amount of work to install, since there isn't really an equivalent to the Windows Device Manager in Linux.

[sciguy125]

Check out Knoppix. It comes on a live CD, so you don't have to mess with your hard drive. It's not really any better than others, but it doesn't force you to do anything permanent. It'll give you a chance to play with everything before you commit.

[Rickertsen2]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

was wondering, how do things like drivers for network cards work in Linux? Does it just work or do you need to get special drivers from somewhere?

The only thing what is likely to give you driver problems are wireless cards based off of broadcom chipsets (most linksys products). To use them you must use NDISwrapper which allows you to run windows drivers under linux. Everything else should just work except printers which usually need configuring. Also, if you have a wide format screen, you may need to do some tweaking to take advantage of its native resolution.

As for Ubuntu and other "totally" free OSes, it takes a mild amount of work to get things like MP3s, and most video codecs to work. The developers don't include them because they are not free software.

I have always used Fedora Core and never had in problems with it. I think its more of a matter of personal opinion than anything. To some extent i think people overplay the impact a certian distro will have in being able to learn linux.

[Allison K]

Originally Posted by sciguy125

Check out Knoppix. It comes on a live CD, so you don't have to mess with your hard drive. It's not really any better than others, but it doesn't force you to do anything permanent. It'll give you a chance to play with everything before you commit.

I forgot to mention that ubuntu has the live CD as well, but I got tired of having to reset everything to how I like it everytime I booted up, as the live CD doesn't save any changes.

It was nice though for making sure I liked it before I went through the trouble of installing it.

[sanddrag]

Do most distros support dual processors?

[114Klutz]

Yes, the Linux kernel supports dual processors.

I echo the Ubuntu recommendation, it is very easy to use. The apt-get utility makes installing and updating software extremely easy. Just type apt-get install firefox and it'll automatically download latest version of firefox for you. Ubuntu comes with a gui to make this process even easier.

It is fast, not resource intensive, and quite possibly the best linux distribution for beginners. I can safely say that without Ubuntu, I would never have switched from windows. I tried Mandrake and Redhat linux before, and none persuaded me to switch.

[Conor Ryan]

Ubuntu is awesome, I'm a big fan of it, but I quit it because I really dislike command line. I used the 32 and 64 bit versions and both worked out pretty well, the 32 bit was a bit easier for those of us that like gui more. Kubuntu is next on my list to try out, it's supposed to be a bit more Gui friendly than the Gnome environment that Ubuntu is built on (Kubuntu uses the KDE instead of Gnome) Ubuntu is pretty easy for a beginner, I also tried using Suse, but in the end I liked Ubuntu more. In the end though, Ubuntu and Kubuntu are the same distro.

You may also want to try the Linux Distrobution Chooser

[sanddrag]

Do most all linux applications work on most all distributions of Linux? Right now I'm downloading SimplyMEPIS, Ubuntu live CD, and Linspire live CD to try sometime in the next few days.

The machine is a Dual Pentium 3 500MHz with 256 mb RAM.

EDIT: Ubuntu live didn't work.

[sciguy125]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Do most all linux applications work on most all distributions of Linux?

For the most part, they should all work the same in all distros. There's slight differences in the different distros, but it's usually possible to overcome them. Oh, but binaries are generally distro specific. The more complex the application, the more likely you will be to need a binary specific to your particular distro. If you compile from source, it should work so long as you have all the proper libraries.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Fedora Core 5 has been good to me.

[Allison K]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

EDIT: Ubuntu live didn't work.

https://shipit.ubuntu.com/

You can request free ubuntu CD's from that link. Each comes with a live CD and an install CD.

[sanddrag]

I was able to boot Knoppix and get online and on IRC but I couldn't figure out how to add a network printer. Also, it froze a couple times.

I think I'm going to try Fedora next. It's installer and menus seem pretty friendly, at least as far as I can tell by looking st screenshots.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I was able to boot Knoppix and get online and on IRC but I couldn't figure out how to add a network printer. Also, it froze a couple times.

I think I'm going to try Fedora next. It's installer and menus seem pretty friendly, at least as far as I can tell by looking st screenshots.

A word of advice with Fedora Core 5...

Try to find an updated binary install. The original version of FC5 used an older kernel which didnt support the use of non GPL licensed software. This gave me a little bit of grief when trying to install graphics drivers!

Either way "yum upgrade kernel" should fix any problems you have with that.