Linux: Your recommendations

[Ovi]

Hi everyone
I’m planning to install Linux on my system, but I’m not sure which brand to get: Red Hat, Suse, Mandrake etc. I’ve heard that Red Hat is the best overall and Suse the most user friendly, but, as always, I would like to have your suggestions on this topic. Also, can it co-exist with Windows XP?
Thanks
Cheers
Ovi

[Greebe]

Moved to Alternative Lifestyles forum

[rugger]

Give all of them a buzz

You should, in your own time, try several different distributions until you find the one you are most comfortable with.

It all depends on the level of control you want, how invasive you want the system to be on your behalf, and what quirks you like and don't like.

Mandrakes a good place to start if you haven't used linux at all though, as it does a lot of the hard work for you.

Anyway, good luck

P.S. In future, you should post your questions into the Alternative Lifestyles forum, which is set up for linux (and other os) questions.

[Ovi]

Oooooops!!!! Sorry for posting in the wrong forum!
Rugger: I heard that Mandrake has less robust hardware support than Red Hat. I mean, is it more difficult to set up hardware in Mandrake?
Thanks
Ovi

[mattsteg]

A lot of people use RedHat, and a lot of other people HATE it (myself included). RedHat has a tendency to release some really unstable products from time to time, or include things which really shouldn't be included, like unstable compilers(GCC2.96 on redhat 7.something has problems with a lot of popular applications). Mandrake is always a decent choice for newcomers, as is SUSE, and is good if you feel most comfortable with graphical interfaces and setup utilities. My personal tastes run more toward distros like debian and gentoo or FreeBSD. It all comes down to how much you want to have control of your system and how easy you want it to be. Personally I like controlling what is installed with an iron fist, thus my choices. If you don't really know what you need, one of the more bloated distros would be a good start.

[Colin Morey]

For a newbie to linux and the unix world in general, i would recommend either Redhat or Mandrake, (i'd put Redhat over Mandrake, as that's the more common one). However for someone who is comfortable with linux, or infact someone who doesn't mind reading documentation, and has the time to really study, then Gentoo beats them all, (is kind of biased).
Debian has its followers, i'm just not one of them.

[Marshmallowman]

I find the latest mandrake(8.2) very easy to install and use.
I would recomend it for a nerw user. Suse latest version which has just been released has got some good reviews as well.

[high_ping]

I am a huge fan of SuSE...I am currently running Professioanl 8.0.

[rugger]

You see !!!

Just try a few distributions until you have one you are happy with

[Marshmallowman]

I have to ask rugger, what is your avatar? some interference effect?

[Gurm]

I think the best version of Linux is the "not installed" version.

Keeps conflicts down to a minimum, and allows for maximum productivity. No time spent trying to find a freeware app that works like photoshop - just run Photoshop!

- Gurm

[rugger]

For my avitar,

I took the parhellia logo, and in gimp:
1) Used the bumpmap function on it (A deriviative of emboss)
2) Applied a wave function to it (as though it was a reflection on wavy water)
3) Adjusted the color balance so that the middle stayed blue and the outside become brown

[villerk]

RPM is too easy :-)

I noticed that almost everyone here is using a Redhat based distribution (RPM-based), i.e. SuSE, Mandrake, Redhat itself... I've found that Slackware is the best alternative for me. No boring install-me-and-you-are-ready RPM-packages with no optimizations, no supposedly "cool" graphical setup programs etc. When (not if) you become bored with Redhat (or its derivative) try Slackware.

Try also reading this list. You will see that there are plenty of different kinds of Linux flavors

[rugger]

Re: RPM is too easy :-)

Originally posted by villerk
I noticed that almost everyone here is using a Redhat based distribution (RPM-based), i.e. SuSE, Mandrake, Redhat itself... I've found that Slackware is the best alternative for me. No boring install-me-and-you-are-ready RPM-packages with no optimizations, no supposedly "cool" graphical setup programs etc. When (not if) you become bored with Redhat (or its derivative) try Slackware.

Try also reading this list. You will see that there are plenty of different kinds of Linux flavors

Actually, I am a rusted-on slackware user.

I just don't think it is for the beginner who doesn't want to learn lots.

[thop]

For a beginner i can recommend SuSE. It will help you out with some complicated stuff so you dont have to dig too deep into the system at the beginning. You will pay the price for that later though, but you can still switch to another distro then. So don't worry about that yet

The best distro IMO is Debian, not really recommended for the beginner though. Followed by Slackware, not recommended for the beginner at all

Gurm: that statement can be discussed if we are talking about the Desktop, however for a Server you are more wrong than you probably now.