# Best Linux Distro For Beginners



## Mohs

I am interested in using Linux and i was wondering which is the best distribution to use to get started.

Any help would be appreciated.


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## norin

hello and welcome to TSF. i am not the biggest linux guy. nor do i know much about linux.

but i do know. and what the general response to this will be as batty_professor will surely post too.

linux has different flavors, all tailored to specific needs and wants. Knoppix is a great start to learn, very easy to get used to the KDE interface. it uses Konqueror and it works well for windows users just transitioning. you can also opt for a dual boot. or run Knoppix from a Live CD.

please visit http://www.linuxiso.org and view thru the different versions they show there. lots to offer.

i myself am going to setup a Fedora Core 3/XP Pro SP2 dual boot box. where i will use the Linux as my server and such.


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## dai

have a look at knoppix runs off the cd


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## MrLoserX

yeah start with ubuntu or knoppix live-cds to poke around. with live-cds you can just pop them in at boot and there's no need to partition and mess with your hard drive.

once you are sure you want it, you can go ahead and install to hd.

I used to recommend knoppix for newbies but ubuntu has become a VERY elegant distro.

so basically, choose a distro with live-cds, download the iso, burn it to cd, boot off the cd and you are set :laugh:


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## norin

be sure to let us know if you have issues burning an ISO.


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## Mohs

Thank you all for your help. I think I willl test out different distros to find different advantages and disadvantages of each.

Also thank you for offering help with burning ISO's but i know how to do this.


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## batty_professor

Links to almost all distro's are found here. http://www.linux.org/dist/index.html
The page has a selector you can use to specify some general catagories to search. The search results include a brief description of each distribution listed. Hope this is helpful. Hope you find Linux to be something you like. Came back if you need more.


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## Volt-Schwibe

well i don't at all want to disagree with anyone else, but i would like to mention that mandrake is a good choice for beginners, since the setup, install, and configurations are simple and easy to use.

i jumped right in, and i had very little problems after the first day.

if i would have used knoppix first though, i would have had an even more pleasant first experience, and would have had an easier time with mandrake as well.


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## Ritespeed

*My opinion on Linux distros*

I think I have spent a week or so playing with some of the distros and the easiest one I found was Suse 9.2. I installed everything on the first install and had tons of programs the Suse peeps give you a lot more software unlike Fedora red hat who seems to be concerned about piracy of other software so it doesn't even bundle a media player on the first install. Hands down Suse 9.2 but I have run across a lot of people with Slackware.. If you are not concerned with Media players Fedora was a better system..  

P.S. I did have one problem with all the distros and that was installing the OS on a raid system.... Just a note


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## ResourcePC

As with any linux distro you decide to start off with, install it while the machine is off the network and disable any unnecessary services running. Also if you plan to run any servers on the box, I'd recommend not installing them from the distro, but to download the latest version off the web. Most likely the servers on the distro are already outdated.
__________________
- The complete resource for all your PC needs.


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## LoneWolf071

but also, make sure if you run an external server that your ISP allows it, there is nothing worse then loosing you connection because of a PO'd ISP. SSH And http are good to run internally, but should rarely be run externally for security reasons...


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## iceberg2520

I have worked in the field of IT for over thirty years and have seen the complete evolution of M$ and Apple. Supporting Windows clients and Apple clients to a lesser degree have provided me with much income for decades! I have played with Linux/BSD since the mid 90s and since 2003 have delved in deeper. I find there is a certain arrogance both in the Linux and the BSD communities. Many wonder why more M$ users don't convert to Linux. M$ users typically are not true users of the OS. They only know that if they point and click, then something happens (good or bad)..lol! If we ever expect "Linux for the masses", we must come down off our trees and truly realize this. Over the last two years I took it upon myself to find the best distro out there for the "masses". I had installed scores of distros and had many friends, colleagues, and coworkers test drive them. Their skills ranged from "point&click" to experienced IT professionals. From all this evaluation I reached one conclusion. For 90% of users, if we want a "Linux for the masses", we have to build a distro which installs VERY easy, with everything working out of the box (including codecs, flash, jre, etc.), easy to configure and use, stable, easy and rich software repositories, simple clean interface with beautiful "eye candy" (see MacOSX), and friendly non geeky support. Considering all this, I believe we have still "missed the boat". KDE looks a little like Window$ but is clumsy and what with all the "K"s?!?! Gnome is clean simple and sensible, but not at all the style Window$ So which distros would I recommend for a brave M$ user to try and convince them to take the leap?

1. Linux Mint (Gnome) *****best by far!:4-clap:​ 2. Ubuntu ****easy to configure:winkgrin:​ 3. PCLinuxOS (Gnome) **trouble with some browser plugins, etc.​ 4. Puppy (just for fun) ***WOOF-WOOF!:2puppy:​ 5. PC-BSD (just for BSD bragging rights) ****""Hey, I use UNIX!":deveous:​ 6. All the rest of they want REAL challenges ("hey, I'm a geek!"​ 
So like what was said in another blog, "please don't get your pan**es in a bunch"... just my opinion.:twisted:​


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## hal8000

If you want to see the linux desktops, then search google, images and search Gnome or KDE4.

These are the two most commonly used linux desktops.
If you want a list of the top 100 linux distros then search distrowatch
http://distrowatch.com/

Some good suggestions have been made. Also easy to use distributions are:
PCLinuxOS KDE version
Mandriva

If you need support then the Ubuntu forum is in a league of its own being the most active linux forum.


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## wmorri

Hal thanks for posting but remember to look back at when the threads are started. This thread is from 2005. So I am going to close this thread.


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