Linux Which Linux??

I am going to be switching to Linux this weekend and i am not sure which Linux i should be installing. I am defaulting to Mandrake because my friend has it, but i am not sure if that is what would be best. I have have always been a Windows user, but i am sick of Windows. I want to learn all about Linux and i am really looking forward to the switch, but i don't know enough about all the options out there. I heard Mandrake can be very buggy, but isn't that to be expected of an open source OS? I have ordered a 6800 OC GT because my current ATI card will not work very well with Linux, i have heard. Any suggestions on a good, Linux-compatible, tv-in card, pci? Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated!!

 

my 9600 pro works wonderfully with mandrake 10.1 - albeit i have the dvd edition, not hte download edition - so it uses the ati drivers ...

 

You like Mandrake Linux? Have you had a lot of problems with it? Would you suggest it over Red Hat or Fedora?

 

mandrake is ok for beginners but i would suggest fedora or suse

edit: wow that didnt make sense

 

Gentoo - would that be alright for a beginner as well? Should i start with Mandrake and work my way into others?

 

well gentoo is great but it can be a real pain for a beginner
i started off with redhat 9 a while ago and kinda just messed around with others until i found one i liked which is gentoo

 

I've experimented with a few, my favourites so far were Gentoo and Slackware.

Slackware was possibly the best for really learning how Linux works, since even in the install procedure it explains what is going on and teaches you a few tips and tricks. It is also probably the most stable distribution you'll find; if you read the website you'll find out why.

Gentoo is a little more hassle to install (after install you are left just on the command line, you have to install the window manager, etc. yourself, which is fun ), although there are excellent instructions. Again, you will learn a whole lot more about Linux than if you just choose Mandrake. Gentoo also has portege, an excellent software installer thingy that downloads, compiles and installs any piece of software you like with one command. The install packages are fetched from a central list containing the most up to date versions. Portege is an easy way of keeping your software up to date too.

IMO, Mandrake tries to 'pull the wool over your eyes' in much the same way as windows does, meaning you learn much less.

If you are after a windows like experience, I have heard good things about Xandros, which in the deluxe version at least, has a built emulator for running windows programs and lots of other windows like features such as built in CD burning.

 

Don't listen to the evil ones... come back from linux... BSD is the only true way

 

You could also try Ubuntu, which is based on Debain. I hear it is very good, especially for n00bs. Although if you truly want to learn Linux as you go, I'd go for Slackware or maybe Gentoo if you are brave!

 

I will do some research on Slackware and Gentoo. Are these distributions both available as downloads or do i need to get the actual discs? Would you recommend distirbution discs to downloading? I am going to keep my windows on one partition of one hard drive and linux on the other hard drive. Can i keep Windows in NTFS or do i need to convert to Fat32? Should i reformat the other partition to Fat32 as well as the other hard drive for Linux? Will Linux be able to communicate with Windows if it is running NTFS?

What is a good CATV-in card compatible with Linux? I want a decent price with good features for tv capturing and recording.

Current Equip:
Shuttle SN95G5, Athlon 64 3200, 1gig Corsair, 6800 OC GT, (2) 250 gig SATA Western Digital, NEC 12x DVD R-+/ RW-+/ 48x CDR+-, Metal gear external case for IDE drive swap between 80 gig and 120 gig (mp3 station); XP Pro on one partition, soon to be Linux everywhere else!

 

just leave everything how it is and leave the second hard drive unformatted
just about all distros have ntfs read support but write support doesnt work right yet so if you want a partition to transfer files back and forth then its a good idea to have a fat32 partition

 

Both are available for download from various locations and can even be downloaded using BitTorrent.

For Gentoo, its probably advisable to download rather than order CDs because that way it will be bang up to date. Depending upon the install route you choose, it may even download most of the packages you want on the fly during install, minimising unnecessary downloading. Have a good read of the Gentoo Handbook before you begin though!

Downloading is less important for Slackware since they have less frequent releases than most distributions because they focus on getting supreme stability by using well established packages. You can just as easily order a CD, but it'll cost you.

 

REe!

 

When I use Linux I usually use Fedora or Slackware. Have both installed but use Fedora when I actually want to do something or Slackware when I'm just messing about. 95% of my time is spent in XP though...

EDIT: Just noticed <--- 1,000th post.

 

can't beat fedora and yum ;P

heard um bum 2 is ok too (apt-get??)

yum is a nice way of installing stuff as it sorts out your depednacies and uses rpms which are pre-compiled for fedora

suse is also nice for beginers too so try that out...

at the end of the day, the distro you use is down to a matter of preference and it takes time to find one that suites your needs and wants

 

Im with trigger on this one, Ubuntu 4.10 is proberly the best to start with. I know mandrake is easier and Slackware "rocks", but after 3 months of trying distro after another aI stuck with Ubuntu because 99% of the time it works

Update Mandrake just totaled my brothers p4 gaming rig Grrrrrrr therre goes my weekend

 

Out of all of them I pick Suse for first timers

 

Suse has some cool stuff going for it to make it as easy to install as possible, and as it was recently purchased by Novell, you will see suse linux based desktops (Novell Linux Desktop) more frequently in offices.

I'm dual booting at work now with XP pro and Novell Linux Desktop, but for all my servers and personal machines I'm still running slackware.

Unfortunately I too run windows xp 95% of the time, but that's because I don't have the know-how just yet to make my wireless PCI card work, nor do I have the hours involved in using said know-how to make it work.


So, my advice, install slackware, it's much easier than people make it out to be, and google's first hit for "installing slackware" is: this which is one of the best linux installation tutorials I've read. (has pictures too!)

If you want to point-and-click your way without learning much, I've found mandrake very reliable and user-friendly. (I even have a missions-critical web app running on a mandrake box based off of the free downloadable version. Hasn't had so much as a hickup! and over 100,000 hits in two months!)

I've used an Ubuntu live CD and was impressed, so it may be my next point-and-click install. (future versions of suse are sure to be riddled with advertisements for novell, IMO)

 

Good advice... I too have used mandrake without much problems... Most distro's are good. Just don't get no name ones.

 

but those are the funnest