Help me choose a Linux Distro

[ronin1967]

Was thinking of getting into Linux. Want to make a dual boot system with Linux and Windows XP. Need help selecting Linux. Which one should I use(Mandrake, RedHat, etc...)

 

[Titan386]

Well it mostly depends on your level of experience with linux. If you are just starting out, I would suggest Mandrake, Red Hat, or Suse. If you want a more advanced distro, try Debian or Slackware. You ought to read about the differences between the distros and pick one that suits what your trying to do.

Its hard for me to pick a distro for you, mainly because I'm not you

 

[ronin1967]

I am new to Linux. I did own a copy of RedHat that I installed on an old PII years ago, but I though about tyring one of the new ones. I like the look of Mandrake, was thinking about it or RedHat, not familiar with SUSE, want something mainstream and popular, am sure I am going to be hitting the forums a lot for help...

 

[Arkaine23]

Linux

I've found that making the switch to Linux was not as bad as I had feared. It just takes alot of reading and practicing...

I'm running Redhat 8.0 on a dual boot win2k box. Seems pretty cool. Got it to read NTFS, setting up tightvnc and apt-get tomorrow.

At work, I'm helping my boss design a custom gentoo install package. Now that's a distro! I figure if I can learn gentoo alright, then no Linux is too hard!

Mandrake- I always hear people complain about mandrake. To many wizards to do stuff for you...

Suse- Always hear praise. I understand Suse is oriented more towards multimedia than most distro's... but you have to buy it, or do an fto install.... no downloading of ISO's.

 

[ronin1967]

I will take a look at the new RedHat. Thanks for the advice.

 

[SpeeDj]

The main thing people do not like of Mandrake is it's filled with 'fluff' or so they think but RedHat is just as bad, I personally would stick with Mandrake instead of RedHat forcing bluecurve down your throat, they start with Bluecurve and then what soon enough redhat won't be a gnu linux but an MS type product.

Try Mandrake 9 you won't be dissappointed.

J Just my two cents

 

[Dragon_Engineer2]

Ive been on and off of linux.I really like Red hat well except disto 7.2 couldnt get it to work.

 

[ronin1967]

Actually I am downloading ISO copies of Mandrake 9 from http://www.linuxiso.org/ as we speak, figure the 3 files will take about 6 hours, so when I wake up tomorrow morning(it's 2:09AM in NJ) they will be here ready to install. I will keep you in mind, look for me in the posts I am sure to need some help.

 

[Dragon_Engineer2]

Whats bluecurve?

 

[SpeeDj]

Whats bluecurve?

Redhat's new look where they take away the look of KDE and Gnome and replace it with a RedHat theme, called bluecurve.

J

 

[Johnny Knoxville]

Mandrake 9 Sux0rs, its full of bugs, RedHat is far more stable and faster too. But both are bloated, i mean i don't need 6 different internet browsers to come with the OS

 

[Richard]

It's a tough call. I'd say Redhat is a slightly better distro than Mandrake, but neither are the GNU/Linux ideal.

Use them both. Just the process of installing and subsequently breaking linux will teach you something.

Every time you do something, try to do it better. Use the command line whenever possible. Learn how to use commands efficiently. Read as much as possible, and then apply what you've read.

GNU/Linux can be a very rewarding experience. Just remember that you get out of it, what you put into it.

 

[Titan386]

I don't think you can simply say that Red Hat is better than Mandrake, or Mandrake is better than Red Hat. Seems to me its just a personal preference. Try em both and see which one you prefer. But you if your just starting out, I would suggest either Mandrake or Red Hat, or buy Suse (which I've never heard bad things about).

 

[ronin1967]

I was able to download an ISO of Mandrake 9. Thought I would give it a shot. Now all I have to do is get it to install...

I have RAID built into my motherboard. I know Linux and my Highpoint controller don't get along so I installed a seperate 40GIG HDD for Linux. I used Partiton Magic to format the drive for Linux and setup 2 partition(1 for the page file/1 for everything else). The CD I have loads in Windows(Windows XP) then I select Install from CD and it tells me it has to restart. It restarts but then nothing happens. Perhaps I need to load from a floppy, if so there is an option but it wants me to select an image file, which one?

I have 80GIG of HDD space just for Linux, plenty or room to download and try all of the Linux distros, so there is no need to argue. I appreciate the help.

 

[ronin1967]

I have installed Mandrake 9.0. It was up and running in no time at all, it discovered everything...very nice

Now all I have to do is figure out how to get it to dual-boot with my Windows XP(which happens to be installed on a sepreate RAID 0)

 

[Arkaine23]

dual boot

Since they're on seperate drives, I'd just switch the boot order in your bios when you want one or the other.

Did you choose Lilo or Grub for your boot loader when you installed mandrake?

 

[Audioaficionado]

Is Peanut any good compared to the aforementioned distros? They make it sound like the best distro since sliced bread was invented.

http://www.ibiblio.org/peanut/

 

[moorcito]

I've tried Peanut and I must say it was pretty bad. It wouldn't be so bad, but they included the 2.4.19 kernel but forgot the source code or the modules. So if you have hardware that isn't compiled into the default kernel you're SOL. So much for a Premium Linux OS.

 

[Audioaficionado]

Libenet is looking pretty good right now. Lots of good reviews on its newbie install ease of a Debian distro.

 

[Johnny Knoxville]

you can't forget Lycoris (www.lycoris.org), its the easiest distro by far