kimmy123 said:
HI
Ok , I have been hearing people raving about Linux, but there are so many options available for Linux.A friend gave me 3 cd's for redhat 9/Another gave me a copy of Ubunthu.
Another tells me red hat 9 is way too old, so it is not worth the effort and another tells me Ubunthu does not have a series of progressive tutorials for the linux newbie.
So my question is if I were learning to use a OS for the first time and Linux was the only option which one should I start with.One that has alot of tutorials but the tutotials must be progressive in levels of understanding.
Thank Guys
Kimmy
Go KUBUNTU, its the KDE heavy version of Ubuntu. Whats KDE? well just about the sexiest desktop thats on the market at the moment. A little tweaking with some xgl, and you can make your desktop do interesting things like this:
http://www.pickledbushman.com/screenshots/xgl/cube_multi_desktop.jpg
The difference between Kubuntu and Ubuntu is just the desktop it uses (very small change). Ubuntu uses a rather dull but functional and stable desktop called Gnome. If you dont like KDE or gnome, you can be like me, when I boot up, it gives me a choice to boot up into, KDE, Gnome, Fluxbox, Blackbox and about 4 other desktop/window managers.
I advise installing all the desktops, cause if you are like me and break your desktop a lot while trying to push it to the limits, you wouldnt be able to visit the forums without the ability to load up one of the other desktops.
Also, the reason you really wanna go with k(u)buntu is cause of the amazing support it has. Any question you ask is quickly answered at :
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/
Never in my life have I come across a more helpful forum (present forum excluded of course) than this one. Ubuntu has the whole philospiphy of helping each other out, in the spirit of Ubuntu.
You will be wanting Kubuntu, Dapper Drake, 6.06 LTS (Long Term Support). You basicaly, put the CD in, boot up off the CD. It boots into a live CD, so you can browse the net and stuff while it installs (and while it formats and partitions).
The install (including formating and partitioning) is a simple double click, and hard questions. From begining to end my installation took 9 minutes.
After 9 minutes, I had a fully working system with not a single driver problem. The install is honestly easier and quicker than MS.
You are going to break your desktop a lot. I promise you this. Linux has more commands to break it than any other OS I know of. A simple trip to the forums will resolve all your issues.
Once you have installed Kubuntu, head over to
www.kde-look.org and s3x your desktop up a little.
I agree, Linux is far from ready for the general PC user. I use it all the time for my clients servers as it is well designed for server tasks.
But it is sort of at a Windows 3.11/95 level of refinement on the user interface and ease of use side.
Don't try it if you cant spend a few hundred hours learning it. The books will only tell you so much.
My pick for the best Distro for a beginner is either Mandriva or SUSE. O and stick with the GNOME desktop. It will be more familiar to windows users
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Dont listen to him, he hasnt tried kubuntu dapper drake by those comments his making. It is simple now, and it is easy. It only gets complicated on doing out of the ordinary functions (like getting directx to run on top of opengl).. and after any of the comments ive read in advice to the guy above... Have ANY of you tried Dapper Drake yet? How can it get more easier? seriously. Do you want big red arrows pointing at things? Do yourself a faver... give kubuntu a try. Try out the ubuntu forums when you get stuck.
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). I got started on SuSe, along with the help of a few online tutorials. If you have some DOS experience that should help a bit. Believe it or not at one point I didn't know how to do something simple like mount a stiffy drive so don't feel too bad. 