curious about linux or unix

[Dude5722]

Interested in getting into Linux or Unix. Can anybody recommend a decent flavor of linux? When I say decent I mean relatively easy, user friendly, smooth install, wide variety of software, gui, etc. :assshake:

[phishhead]

mandrake last I heard has the easiest learning curve to windows. check outlinuxiso.org (http://linuxiso.org/) for all your linux flavors. ;)

[SupaStar]

mandrake last I heard has the easiest learning curve to windows. check outlinuxiso.org (http://linuxiso.org/) for all your linux flavors. ;)

I'd recommend Mandrake also as I have installed it and found it to be easy to install and setup, but also packed with features.

I've heard great things recently about Fedora Core 2. Might be worth a go!

[efc]

I am using Mandrake 10.1.

[tarun]

I am using Mandrake 10.1.
What software suites do u use on it? Openoffice, mozilla, etc ? Are linux game versions hard to find?
I have XP and I'm considering dual booting wid a Linux OS.

[carloc]

I'm agree. Linux Mandrake is best distro for a newbie.
You can download it from here (http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ftp.php3) (three ISO CDs or one ISO DVD) using BitTorrent.

What software suites do u use on it? Openoffice, mozilla, etc ?
Are linux game versions hard to find?There are thousands of good applications for Linux, except games :p
I have XP and I'm considering dual booting wid a Linux OS.You can set up a dual boot very easily during the Linux installation, but remember that Linux can access to NTFS partions only in read-mode so if you need to share files between the two OSs I suggest you to create another FAT32 partition.

[efc]

What software suites do u use on it? Openoffice, mozilla, etc ? Are linux game versions hard to find?
I have XP and I'm considering dual booting wid a Linux OS.

I don't want to overstate my use of linux. I am in the learning phase. I try to remember to boot to Linux one time in four. Most of those times, include learning something new. My setup is a separate computer for Linux. I have settled on the single OS so that it is an easy decision for me to re-format and start over

Mandrake 10.1 installs programs to do most functions. Open Office is a rich program that covers Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentations and provides a Draw module. There are numerous other programs, including:

Program Type Number of programs
Publishing............................ 2
Task Manager...................... 1
Time Manager...................... 4
Fax.................................... 2
Phone ................................ 1
PDA.................................... 3
Address Manager................... 1
Remote Access..................... 2
Browsers.............................. 4 (I have added Firefox)
Mail..................................... 3
Instant Messenger.................. 1
Video Confereencing................ 1
File Xfer................................ 1
Web editor............................. 3
Sound................................... 6
Video.................................... 2
Graphics................................ 4
Text Editors........................... 6
Finance................................. 1

[tarun]

thanks guys. I guess ill put off that linux installation until my next holidays, and I'll use the time to educate myself summore...
thanks again.

[tarun]

remember that Linux can access to NTFS partions only in read-mode so if you need to share files between the two OSs I suggest you to create another FAT32 partition.

u talking abt this particular distro (mandrake), or every distro ?

[carloc]

u talking abt this particular distro (mandrake), or every distro ?
I was talking about every distro because the FileSystem management is made by the Linux kernel.

[SupaStar]

There are thousands of good applications for Linux, except games :p
I wish there was more support for games under linux. I swear I'd do away with my Windows system for good!

[Dude5722]

Hey dudes, thanks for all the great info. I'm definintely going to check out Mandrake. I heard from others that it's really good. I've also heard that redhat is good. Redhat could be worth looking into. :p

[carloc]

I've also heard that redhat is good. Redhat could be worth looking into. :pRedHat is enterprise oriented. For "standard" user you should refer to Fedora Core (http://fedora.redhat.com/), sponsored by RedHat.

[phishhead]

I've tried redhat back in the version 6 days and let me tell you it was a bitch but with the new flavors could be easier now.

[petard]

Both RedHat and Fedora have come along way. The open source development effort with Fedora is stronger than ever. Fedora is a good choice for a free linux if you've got some good hardware. They're starting to stray from the Pentium II series.

[Curio]

Linux
Try Knoppix which runs from cd and is very good at hardware detection, it is also a great tool for troubleshooting network or PC problems with. If you really want to go for an installed product then Xandros Deluxe will be so easy for you that you won't even realise you aren't using MS. Fedora Core 3 is good but installs as a LVM main disk which is a little annoying when you need to troubleshoot it. SuSE Linux is also very simple to install and use and again can be used from a 'live' cd. My preference is for SuSE which is now owned by Novell but most Servers run RedHat or a RedHat derived OS (Mandrake is also derived from RedHat) so it is useful to know RedHat.
The essential thing is to get Codeweavers Crossover Office (included in Xandros DLX) which will allow you to use Microsoft Office in Linux, you can also run some other windows software with it (DreamWeaver, Flash, Quicken, Photoshop..) which all helps you to feel at home and do something productive.

[SupaStar]

I've tried CD based OS's before and have found them to be fairly slow and unresponsive.
They are great for recovering files though!

[Curio]

Supastar - try the latest live distros on a modern machine, they are very good and almost as quick to load as off hard disk. Obviously the more memory in the machine the better as they work out of RAM for the most part. I am using Knoppix STD 1.0 right now and being familiar with the whole Live Distro thing comes in handy when you actually need to use it for some work related recovery or testing.

[SupaStar]

Thanks for the update Curio. I may give this a shot!

[lynchknot]

I'm also Li-curious but i'm afraid. :p

[Curio]

Games machines need to be Windows machines.
For most other stuff Linux is absolutely no harder to use than Windows and in many cases easier. It is best if your hardware is a little off the pace (3 or more months old) as sometimes Linux drivers take a while to come out, though most hardware manufacturers now support Linux. The Knoppix live distro will most likely pick up all your hardware and operate flawlessly straight from the boot but some software modems don't work in Linux. If you are connected via a network card and DHCP you most likely won't have any problems at all and you will be able to browse Windows shares on the network straight away. Once you have seen from a live distro that there is nothing to be scared of you might like to try any of Mandrake, SuSE, Fedora or Xandros Linux. If you want to retain a Windows feel go for Xandros but you will see from the live distros there is nothing to be perplexed about. I use SuSE a lot for general web surfing and Office work (via Crossover Office) but I have used RedHat, Fedora, Xandros and Mandrake lots of times too. Right now I am on SuSE Pro 9.1 with the Opera browser (which is also cool). If you have a SuSE 9.2 Pro live cd give it a spin - it is much lovelier than Windows. Until recently the GUI in Linux was a bit nasty but now it is better looking than Windows and coming up on MacOS, MacOSX is of course now based on a unix and a lot of linux/unix progs will compile and run in it. Most of the nasty internet stuff doesn't effect Linux at all as it relies on IE or Windows exploits.

[Curio]

had to switch to FireFox to upload a screenie.