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The Best Linux Distro for a New User?
GhostCypher asks: "I've been a Mac user for nigh on 12 years, and recently made the reverse-switch (yes, Mac to PC) due to an unfortunate accident to my PowerBook. Now that I have this spiffy new HP laptop, I want to run Linux or Unix of some flavor on it, but I don't know the best one to run. I've been considering FreeBSD and OpenBSD, as well as SuSE Linux, Fedora, and Mandrake. Could the wisened Linux gurus here offer some insight as to the best package for a former Mac user to introduce him to the greater world of Linux without major headaches in setting it all up?"
... If they just want to play around with it, get a feel for how it acts, looks, etc. without changing the contents of the hard drive, Knoppix.
If they are comfortable with using space on their hard drive, even free space on a fat32 partition, I would recomend Mandrake.
But that's just me. They could use the Mandrake Move CD for non-harddrive breaking as well.
-Rusty
You never know...
It's a legitimate question but definately flamebait starting distro religious wars.
To answer though, I'd say fedora is the best choice. You'll definately want to go to the dag site and install the apt rpm and then use that from now on. Also use Fedora Core 1, Fedora Core 2 is very new and was released extremely buggy.
Next up would be Mandrake, which is a little more user friendly but you'll have alot of trouble installing software. The reason is simple, 90% of rpms out there are made for redhat/fedora and expect the core libraries and such to match up with the names redhat has given them. All the core rpms for mandrake have different entries in the rpm database (even if the rpm is otherwise identical they've changed this for some odd reason).
My friend, I'm no guru, but don't install OpenBSD on your laptop... im pretty sure it will not give you the experience you are looking for... As for linux, I liked mandrake for my first linux distro.
Chaos is Divine *
There are so many variables involving your needs and preferences that there is no really good answer to this question. One solution would be to visit http://www.linuxiso.org/ , burn a couple of distros and install them to see what you like.
Personally, I have used three different distros: SuSe, Debian and RedHat. I like the Debian ethos and, if you're setting up a server, it is hands-down my preference.
RedHat used to be the leader but has stopped supporting desktop version and has been replaced with Fedora. When RedHat went public, they replaced their loyalty to customers with loyalty to shareholders - much to the detriment of their product. They had made several Microsoft-style moves to lock users into their product. I don't know if any of these maneuvers currently affect Fedora. If they do, you should avoid it.
SuSe is my most recent experience. I take my own advice and try different distros occasionally and I must say I am extremely happy with the usability and look-and-feel of Suse 9.0. You could certainly do worse.
It's simple: I demand prosecution for torture.
First I started with mandrake, since everyone told me it was really simple to install. And it was, i'll definitely say that. After a few weeks i got SICK of rpms. they really are the devil. My friends raved about gentoo but said the install was hard. Well, for a newbie linux user with only 2 weeks experience i still managed to install gentoo just fine. If you can follow directions it's really not that hard.
However, i recommend Fedore Core 2 now. Redhat's installer, bootloader, and everything is absolustely gorgeous. It's without a doubt the best looking distro. With yum and apt-rpm now i here most of my complaints about the lack of good rpm support is gone.
Once you feel you're a bit more experienced though, you should try making the switch to gentoo or debian because they cater far more to the power user than a distro like fedora, mandrake, or suse ever can. It's harder to setup, but once you do you know everything about your system down to the config files which makes your life *much* easier when you need to debug random-problem-x with hardware-component-y. The do-it-all for you distros are harder for power users to use simply because we don't know how our system is setup!.
- tristan
In the past few weeks I've installed SuSE 9.0 on a number of systems (PI 166 - Athlon 600) using the FTP install option. Assuming the system has at least 96 MB of RAM it's a breeze to install (using a temporary swap file gave many problems when I tried it).
Other than that, all hardware in those systems (ranging from proprietary OEM to self-build systems) was detected without issues. YAST is the best admin tool I've used with any distro (including Mandrake and RedHat (now Fedora)).
YMMV.
Site & blog: http://www.mayaposch.com
Or, just buy them from a web site that sells them cheap. Example
Even better, buy a book (or check one out from the library) and install the CD that comes with it.
If you just interested in something that works and has everything that a linux distro may offer. I would go Mandrake.
And don't forget to use irc.freenode to ask questions on the #mandrake channel and they will help you with any problem.
-- I don't buy it, I grow it.
"without major headaches in setting it all up"
Unless this laptop was specially Linux "certified" I wouldn't even try it unless your main goal is to learn way more than you need about Linux. Save yourself the pain and just use the copy of Windows that came with it that you already paid for.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
I get a kick out of many Linux zealots, how they think if something has a GUI and you can actually install it without dropping to the CLI to run some obscure command, that its too Windows like, and thus garbage.
Nearly every mainstream distro runs the same kernel, the same XFree, the same Samba, the same Mozilla, the same Evolution. Some may be older, or newer versions, but in general its ALL THE SAME SOFTWARE!
The bottom line, especially for someone new to Linux is to get them familiar with it, without frustrating the hell out of them, or making them dependant on the local Linux guru to do even the simplist of tasks. This will greatly increase the chances of them actually liking it, and wanting to learn more ON THEIR OWN.
People who recommend Debian to someone who has never install Linux before is simply throwing them to the wolves. Oh, but Debian only uses open source software? If this person has never installed Linux before, chances are they don't care! Oh, but you only ever install it once, then use apt-get after that. This is mostly true, but if they get frustrated before they even install it, what good is apt-get?
Apt-get used to be Debians one "killer feature", but that is no longer so. Every major distro has something similar, and in some cases something much better, especially for newbies. (read: Mandrakes URPMI, which is anything but new)
If your new to Linux, and your looking for the easiest route to get up and running with it, install Mandrake. Its as simple as that. Mandrake has some of the best hardware detection, and by far the easiest install process. Not to mention, once its installed, your not left out to dry.
It has nice GUI utilities to setup almost anything you want, all in ONE SIMPLE CONTROL PANEL. Printers? No problem, its easier then Windows if your printer is supported. Want to change screen resolutions? This is just as simple as windows too. What about a scanner? Yup, that too, simple. Even remote desktop applications like VNC/rdesktop Mandrake has simple little utilities to help you out.
I can hear people screaming right now. "Oh, but they wont learn how to actually use Linux then." You know what, MOST people don't care. They just want something that WORKS! If the Mandrake utilities work, thats great. If they don't, they can still dig in to the configuration files and get it to work. Just because the GUI utilities exist, doesn't mean the distro is evil, it simply means there are more options.
I've been using Linux since Slackware 3, and as the only OS on my home and work machine for the last 4 years. Mandrake is my distro of choice simply because I value my time, and when I want something to work, I don't want to have to spend hours reading man pages and forums to learn some obscure configuration file settings to just get my printer to work. I fire up Mandrakes printer utility, pick my printer, it downloads the drivers, installs them, and I print a test page. For things I care more about, like the Kernel I'm running, I simply download the latest MM patches and install them like normal.
Simply put, it just works. For newbies though, please don't try to push your ideals on them, simply help them get up and running as fast as possible and feel comfortable. Once they've done that, they can explore at will.
If you don't recommend Mandrake for this task, you either haven't tried it yourself, or you haven't given it a real chance. Because if you had, you would realize that NO other distro has put as much time and effort in to making Linux accessible to newbies then Mandrake has.
Open Source Time and Attendance, Job Costing a
Everyone has their opinion on the best distro. However, if your main goals are easy, stable, cheap, complete, MadrakeLinux is your choice. Ohter people will say other distros. Often I think their reasons are that everyone's goals should be speed, congiruablitiy, community-led, 1 CD install, etc. instead of easy, stable, cheap, complete. Pick the distro for your goals.
- Gentoo: fast, configurable, community-based
- Debian: stable, community-based
- Knoppix: 1 CD install.
- Fedora: cutting (bleeding) edge
- etc.
Madrake 10.0 official will be available free at the end of this month.How I installed KDE 3.2 on SuSE 9:
)
:) For people who ask me what to run, I say SuSE because that's what's on my desktop right now. The servers are a different story, but no one asked about them...
download all packages in "SuSE9.0" dir on ftp.kde.org (ftp.us.kde.org/pub/kde/stable/3.2/SuSE/ix86/9.0/
change to directory containing all packages
type "rpm -Uvh *.rpm"
enjoy KDE 3.2
It wasn't hard at all. What gave you problems?
BTW, I recommend SuSE to newbies because the installer's pretty easy, the KDE's pretty well integrated (K3.2 comes with SuSE 9.1), and pretty much everything they'll want to run is already compiled and available for SuSE. I've used Xandros (yeah, I've *also* used all of the distributions as of a couple years ago when a bunch started showing up, been Linuxing for more than a decade, etc, and prefer SuSE) and wasn't all that impressed. I think SuSE's better.
Good advice for a newbie? Figure out who you're gonna ask questions of, and run what they run. The same stuff runs on all of them, but not everyone can provide support for all distros.
Hi,
It is called Debian GNU/Linux because most systems tools are GNU (as opposed to BSD) and the kernel is Linux.
There is also Debian GNU/kFreeBSD where the kernel is FreeBSD but it still use (a modified) GNU libc.
But usually, you can only call it Debian if you like.
But I do agree that Debian is quite political. You may want to use the *BSDs or Gentoo Linux which are much more relax.
Mandrake's a good starter distro, plus it works well on HP Laptops, especially ones that use the Radeon IGP chips. I'd say use that distro, otherwise you're going to be doing a lot more work than you probably want to be doing at first...if you want to go a little more advanced than that...try installing Slackware, but only if you've got someone to go to for assistance... on IRC or otherwise. I've had good experiences with both. No matter what, you're going to want to pick up the skills necessary to run any build of linux. The distro stops mattering so much AFTER you get to the point where you have a command over *nix style operating systems. Anyway, have fun with it!
I'll second that.
More to the point *install apt from fedora.us!!!*.
Excellent a job as Dag, Freshrpms, newrpms etc do, you won't necessarily get the packages that have been customised to integrate with Fedora (Firefox and Thunderbird's integration with preferred apps springs to mind). If you include other repos in their sources list then they'll end up replacing your apt with theirs, god help you if you get atrpms, which seems to default to giving you unstable rpms.
Also, get them mplayer for fc2 from freshrpms.
Flash + mp3 support won't be included by setting upa sources list, so manually install the xmms-mp3 package, and use the flash auto install from macromedia for Firefox.
So:
Apt from fedora.us
xmms-mp3
Firefox and Thunderbird (from fedora.us)
Set up flash through Firefox.
Ok, I know that this is a joke but I would seriously recommend Gentoo to anyone who has the patience to install it.
Better yet, if a noob can get an expert to either show them how to do it or do it for them, Gentoo is much easier to use in the long run.
If people would just take the time to follow the step by step instructions for installing Gentoo, they would realize that it isn't daunting, just a little tedious.
When I switched to Gentoo from Redhat I wasn't expecting it to really be functional. I just wanted to give it a try and then reformat. What I found was a package management system that actually worked. With RedHat, I was horribly frustrated every time I tried to install something, and if I wanted it to actually work I'd have to use some outdated RPM.
Screw that, Gentoo makes getting new software so easy that it's worth all the effort you have to put in to install the OS.
No Linux install will be as easy as a an OS X install, because PC's have such a range of hardware compared to Mac's. That said SUSE is quick and easy, if you get it wrong first time just try again, after all it's a learning experience. Make sure you set the BIOS to allow writing to the boot sector, that gotcha has been the my single biggest source of free beer from clueful Windows users making the switch to Linux.
They include a full featured tool you can use to manage any part of the OS.
If you want to USE Linux, install a Debian derivative like Mepis or Knoppix.
If you want to LEARN Linux, install Gentoo.
-- "Never underestimate the power of human stupidity." - R.A.H.
OSX is built on FreeBSD, so it should be the easiest switch. No, not really, but it is still a very good OS, even for relativly new people.
Slax
SuSE
Mandrake
Knoppix
these four are the main seem to be the main live disks and should give you a feel for what is out there, I've used all of these and find them all easy to use, the advantage to Knoppix and Slax are that the Live disks can be used to do a Hard disk install where the SuSE and Mandrake ones can not. If you would like to look at other distros I'd recommend looking at THIS site, as it is dedicated to giving you access to as many distos as possable.
To use these you will need to make sure that you have CD burning software that allows you to burn an ISO image, most does though some burning software likes to play hide and seek so you may have to look for it. you will also need a High speed internet connection to down load most of these.
One other option is to see if there is a Linux User Group (LUG) in your area, usually someone at these will have a live CD laying around for you to have as well as be able to offer help to you while you start out.
this is by no means a definitive list of Live CDs if anyone knows of other please add to my list with your links, thanks.
"Napalm is nature's toothpaste" - Chef Brian