Which version of Linux is best for newbie?

You should try Mandriva, Suse, Debian, Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Yoper, Vector, CentOS, Libranet, Mepis, SymphonyOS, Xandros, Onebase, Slackware...

Not to proselytize, I think Red Hat is a great company, and they've contributed more than any other company to Linux in general. But their distro is slower, more bloated and troublesome than any other distro I've used. I still prefer it to Windows, but you should try out distros like Mandriva. Mandriva Linux is designed similarly to Red Hat / Fedora, except that MandrivaSoft actually backs their community version of the OS (Red Hat doesn't back Fedora), they compile for an i586 rather than an i386 (good luck running Fedora on a 386!) so it's more responsive and better for games than RH, their URPMI tool easily handles package dependency issues (no more RPM hell! Yay!), and they have a vast amount of community-contributed binaries available in their software repositories. Anyway, I'm not putting Red Hat / Fedora down, I'm merely saying that you should get some variety and check out your options.

-AT

 

I highly recommend Mandrake or SuSe, i think that AT will agree that these are probably the two easiest linux distros to use and install

 

Yes, I do. They also perform very well (Mandriva moreso than SuSE), and both are very quick about patching security vulnerabilities. Both are powerful distros with a lot of useful tools, and I highly recommend either to a serious Linux candidate. On the other hand, if one only wants to dip a toe in the water, I'd recommend either Overclockix or Kubuntu.

 

Hi

I am a sworn Windows user who had a nasty experience with Mandrake.
I am sure that most of you would raise an eye brow at this statement.

I found setting up a dodle. Really easy and quick. However trying to install hardware was an absolute bitch. I could not install my CD-Writer or DVD-ROM.
I found the hardware bit a complete nightmare. Windows recognises hardware via plug and play so if you have the right drivers you do not have to do much thinking. My house uses one computer which has one to two users. Everyone can use all the hardware and there should be no restrictions. I found that bit horrendous to set up under Linux. I tried to follow tutorials and basically all I could do with my Linux was brows the internet and open folders on my computer.
Anything else was such hard work.

Now, I am sure things have got better with time but after my experience I feel that the two, security and user friendly cannot live together happily. If you want a secure, highly 'manipulatable' and a challenging OS than Linux is for you. If you wish to just turn your PC on and do everything with ease and not think about things like 'have I got read/write rights to my third HDD' then Widows is for you.

Hold on, I am not slating Linux! I am just saying that for humble users like me who like the computer to work for them rather than the other way around. Windows is the real serious option. I am sure that for the PC enthusiast who love to delve into the neaty greaty of their electronic pets Linux is brilliant.
If you know of a distro (I think it is called...) who has the same ease of use as Windows I would love to know about it....

Saying all this I am still drawn to Linux. Not only because its growing popularity but also because of it being free and something I find hard to get my head around.

As I am planning to build another PC soon (an old PIII thingamajig for testing purposes) I will probably give it another go.

 

I'm not sure if you posted on this two month old thread for help or just to rebuff Linux users. Don't take this as a flame, because it's not -- but while I do think that there is truth to what you're saying, you are also speaking largely our of ignorance and inexperience. It sounds like you might have tried an older distro in an era in which hardware installation in Linux was more difficult than it is today. With the standardization of the 2.6 kernel, Linux is better than ever. Software and hardware installation in Linux is now easier than Windows a majority of the time. No fanboyism, it's true. Although, you mentioned having trouble with optical drives. I don't recall ever having setup a DVD drive or CD-RW in Linux, or in Windows for that matter. ACPI devices are plug & play in the truest sense. They require no drivers and no special configuration.

As far as your analysis of what Linux is and isn't good for, I'd like you make you aware that a lot of my least technically inclined clients like & use Linux the most. They have a tiny fraction of the problems my Windows clients have, and don't use words like "Virus", "Malware", "Trojan", and "Spyware" in everyday language. In fact a family I know has a Linux system (running Mandriva) that has an uptime of about 6 months, which is the time since I last upgraded their kernel for them. My wife is in a similar situation -- I never have to work on her Linux box, because it 'just works'. No endless spyware sweeps, antivirus updates, defragmentation, babysitting of updates... it just works, and works well. It does what she wants it to do and no less. As for me, I use Linux exclusively and do many advanced things with it, like administrating a handful of remote networks and servers. But I also do things like playing games, watching videos, listening to music and reading email, just like everybody else. And for me too, my system 'just works'.

Personally, I don't care if you use Linux or not. But you're not helping anything by spreading misinformation, be it intentionally or otherwise. If Windows is good enough for you, than continue to use it. If you want something less expensive, more stable, secure and flexible, you might give Linux a second look. No, it's not going to be a 'better Windows'... in fact, it's a UNIX-like system, and has very little in common with Windows aside from the fact they are both operating systems. I can see how expecting it to be so would be extremely frustrating. But although it took me a while to come around to the UNIX way of thinking, I really think it's a vastly superior design from the ground up. If you hang in through the intial learning curve and understand the basic underyling concepts, you might find Linux is a lot better at second glance.

All the best,
-AT

 

Linspire is good for beginners.It has a good interface with lots of wizards.

 

I did Mandriva 10.2 as my first install recently. I was thrilled with how smoothly it went. All of the posts here are a huge asset, they helped me a ton. I now have my machine dual booting between Mandriva and Windows. I have decided that I tend to prefer the Gnome desktop to KDE, but I currently have more experience with KDE. While I'm happy with Mandriva, I do think I'm going to try a Ubantu install.

A little tip, Mandriva is easy to install because it has a hard drive partion tool built in. When I started with Mandriva I had one giant windows partition, so I would have had to buy something like Partition Magic to use a different distro. Now that I installed Mandriva, I can just delete that and put another distro on. My point is, even if you don't end up using Mandriva, you may want to consider installing it so you can shrink your Windows partition. If you only wanted to use the installer to create partitions I'm willing to bet you could be done in 20 minutes, so it's not time consuming, and Mandriva is free. Other than that I know of no free partition creators.

 

If someone was to buy or download Mandriva just to use the partitioning tools, it is just a waste of an OS. If people are only interested in partitioning then something like a UltimateBootCD would do the job, as a bonus it also includes alot of other FREE tools including partitioning stuff!

 

Awesome, I've never seen this before. That looks like a great application.

 

If you're going to use Ubuntu, lock it down.

You are right that Mandriva's partition tool is second to none, not even commercial offerings. But everything in Mandriva is open source. That means every tool included in it, including the awsome partitioning software, is all free and freely available. I'm sure you can find it in some stand-alone form.

As for Ubuntu, it is a pretty nice distro aside from some design decisions with which I strongly disagree. The foremost of these undermines the UNIX security framework quite a bit; the first user you are asked to create during the Ubuntu install is given root-like privileges on the system, and the root account is disabled by default. I suppose this is to mimic the default setup of Windows XP... since we all know how well running as administrator works out for Windows, I advise that if you install Ubuntu you bypass this 'feature'. There are two ways to do this. The first method is to renable the root account by typing the following to set a root password:

Code:

sudo passwd root

and afterwards using this command:

Code:

su - root
visudo

...to remove or comment out the following entry in your /etc/sudeors file:

Code:

$user    ALL=(ALL) ALL

...where $user = your username. The second method would involve setting a username like admin for the first user account you create, and adding additional accounts for normal usage that do not have admin-like privileges. Sorry to have to recommend all this, but as I said, I certainly wouldn't have designed the system that way if it was up to me. That's the kind of thing that would make virii on Linux more of a possibility in the future.

All the best,
-AT

 

Disclaimer: I know, i know, this tread is ancient! It's still relevant though, and sabashuli's thread is hilarious considering he swears by Linux now

Hehe, I bet you wish you hadn't posted that now, sabashuali

Is this book still relevent? I am looking for a good Linux book which is easy to read

 

Yes, in fact there is a band new 2nd edition in print now.

 

Does the book cover the Linux file system and hierarchy?

 

I don't know, but this does.

 

Not at all. I just wish I found the site a lot earlier to put me straight.
I think I would have been a lot happier...
But if you read AT’s reply you would notice the part saying that Linux distros have come a long way, user friendly wise.
You cannot compare the Mandrake distro, which was my first ever Linux experience, to the latest Ubuntu or Mandriva, in ease of installation and use.

I still use Windows quite a bit and I still think (not comparing to Windows in any way) that Linux is no walk in the park. However, this bit makes Linux superior again as it engages the user in actually understanding or being more involved in quite a bit of what is actually going inside this box of tricks.
It develops, IMHO a more involved, safe and responsible user. It is a shame that there are still one or two areas which I need Windows for. Otherwise, I would have kissed the pile of :swear: goodbye (mind you, I would not even bother to kiss it…..)

Anyway for people who know me I am a sucker for humble pie. served hot or cold is fine with moi.... :good:

 

I'd say SuSe ("I want to do lots of stuff and like to play around with settings a lot") or Xandros ("I just want to do a few basic tasks All those settings scare me").

 

Mandriva and Lycoris are the two easiest linux versions I have tested.
Suse is pretty good as well.. However do not try to think in windows when using a linux,Also you will need and external modem more than likely.
Linux will find almost all your hardware except your internal modem...
I use an external modem called actiontec and it works great with all linux
versions..

 

[ot]

Mandriva and Lycoris are the same company now. Mandrake Linux merged with Connectiva and Lycoris a while back, hence the name change to "Mandriva".[/ot]