Linux What Linux version to start with??

I'm as green as it gets with linux. I tried getting into it about 5 years ago... but I gave up. So now I want to try to pick it up again and want suggestions on whats the best way to get started. Back on my first attempt I got RedHat and liked it because it came with a few books on a cd on how to learn to use linux, do other version have this? or is there a specific book i should go buy? I've done a some searching and can't find much on the subject but what I did find is that Suse seems to be the more popular.

 

Try this to help decide which distro is best for you:

http://www.tuxs.org/chooser/

Alternatievly wander down to your local bookstore, and buy a Linux book, most of them come with fairly recent distros on CD, although quality can vary.

 

Heh. That little survey was pretty interesting. Based on my choices if I wanted no learning curve I should pick Fedora (Red Hat was my first distro). If I chose I am confident with a computer I should choose Debian (that was my second distro). If I chose I want to learn more technical whatever about linux I should choose Slackware (which is what I'm running now). Pretty cool.

On an interesting side note, if I chose I have a new computer rather than my old computer, it said I should be running Gentoo. So Gentoo on a new computer is the equivalent of Slackware on an old computer? Well....not quite. but I understand what their trying to say.

 

I recommend Mandrake for a beginner.

 

I recommend mandrake if you want absolutely nothing to do with any of the configuration. If you want it like a mac, go with mandrake.
If you want some ability to mess with it and get "down and dirty", go with redhat (as in RH9 or 7.3).

My $0.02

 

I have SuSE, it was really very easy to install, I didn't get any problems at all.
If you want a book, there's a SuSE book that has just been released, take a look at Amazon.

 

Well getting "down & dirty" with it would be nice but i dont want to be sitting there on my first install trying to figure out drivers and not know what to do. But someone wrote that redhat is at the end of its life expectancy...what ever that means.

 

I'd like to start off wiht mandrake

Is the installation easy?
is this all I need for the install?

Edit -
I just found a big hole in my plan.. these files are 711mb each. Is it worth carring on downloading them?

 

That's all you need. Burn those three ISOs, load the first cd in the drive, and start-er-up.

700MB ~ 1 CD

 

Would Mandrake be considered a good one to start with? Also what makes, for example, madrake different than say redhat? Will applications only run on one version of linux?

 

did they fix the issue with mandrake only making cd2 bootable?

biff all linux programs work on all linux distros
the only real differences are programs that come with it and some kernel configuration

 

Rpm's (lixe windows .exe's) are Distro specific but there will be a rpm for each major app and most secondary apps for just about every distro.

I'd say go with Mandrake but apon thinking more i'd say go with Fedora Core 2 instead. It's basicly the replacement for RedHat althou i'v had no problems with it others have said that it has some errors in it that makes it unstable.

I say Fedora becouse like said above you learn nothing with Mandrake unyill you want an app that there is no rpm for and you have to compile it. Then it's like 2x harder on Mandrake.

Or you could just dive right in and work on install Gentoo.

 

I've read (viz. most recent Linux round-up over at The Register) that 'any recent distribution should provide a trouble free installation/configuration', but if you're looking for something that's tailored towards new Linux inductees, have a look at Gentoo, Lindows, or Yoper.

Lindows, particularly, is designed with new users in mind, and avoids forcing you to deal with lots of configuration files just to get the fundamentals working

 

...additionally, if you just want to get a 'feel' for a moden Linux installation without making any committment, have a go at Knoppix - it's 'Linux on a CD' - you pop it in your drive at startup, and it loads a Linux desktop.
Power-off your machine, and it's gone - it runs *just* from the CD, you don't need to install anything.

 

I dont mind installing to a hard drive because i got a 6.4G lying around doing nothing anyway. It seems I'm looking for the best of both worlds. I read some of the stuff in the link trigger posted and mandrake did get a pretty good rating for first timers. Something that simple might be what i'm looking for so i dont get frustrated and give up on it, but hearing that when i do get into the nitty-gritty it's gonna twice as hard makes me think twice. Eventually i do want to get into more advance stuff with linux but I'm not a programmer. Way back when i first started usuing computers, when windows 3.1 was the new big thing, i used dos prompt for everything. I manually wrote my own config and autoexec file, manually managed memory and such and i miss that kind of control.

 

will hese ISO's fit on 700mb disc's or am I gonna have to go get some 800MB ones?

 

w00t now the first file is downloaded its only 695MB

 

keir - all 700mb cds are actually a little bigger than 700mb and isos are made to fit on them unless they are dvd isos

 

ok cool
I was a little worried about that. thx

 

ohhhh all the ISO's downloaded

Im about to transfer the last one onto my other machine to burn it to disc, then I better goto bed, work at 9am BOOOOOOO!!!!!

wish me luck for the first install