I am getting tempted to try out what this Linux craze is all about .

But i am one of those complete strangers to linux except the well known facts that it is Open Source [ I hope it is not a blunder i am making ] , it is Secure and other such Macro facts.

Still i want to try it out once .

So i would like suggestions about which linux should i try.

I do not wish to buy it , i heard free versions are available
Supprt for Multimedia , rather if i have to put it straight , i am a home user , so graphics and multimedia are a must.

Can you advice me where to put my hands first

a good start would be to try Knoppix or Kanotix as they are live cd versions, that means no installation needed for you to get the full linux experiance. They can be installed if you decide that you would like it as a permanent OS. If you want to install a nice easy one then id say start off with either Ubuntu or Fedora Core

This post has been edited by ScubaSteve: Mar 21 2006, 11:45 AM

Thanx for guiding me . do those cds version completely load into the RAM while running? wov thats cool.

If we sideline the issue of installtion , on the features and functioning front , which version would you reccomend a first timer with a nice Machine -
AMD Athlon 64 3000+
1 GB RAM
80 GB HDD
128 MB shared Video Ram

A little bit of powerconsumer , which would work well on my system would also do

I started out with College Linux. It was v2.5 at the time. Maybe something changed? =/

Anyway you'll want some kind of ISOLINUX because the boot and installation processes are quite simple. I suggest you only use Knoppix as a live OS though. If you don't have the bandwidth, PHLAK and DSL are equally good. Knoppix has a tendency to go horribly wrong about 2 days after a harddisk installation, so don't do that. Right now I'm trying to get Slax to work.

yes the live linux cds will load into memory. i would personally say a good start would be kanotix. kanotix is very similar to knoppix but i tend to find it more suitable for if you do decide to install it onto ur hdd. it is also very secure due to the fact its based on debian.

I have used Fedora Core a nice bit (I'm now somewhat okay with it) on a VM and love it.

for newbe i always advise against the majors..

opensuse, slackware, fedora, debian and the likes...

while knopix is cewl as a demo it doesn't IMO realy suits runing as oS but rather as fixme-cdrom or nifty demo...

i you want to lear linux the easy way look around for some minimal linux distro, because they tend to have smal but helpfull user-groups, and usualy dont install tons of bloat

i myself (on a laptop have chosen to run zenwalk linux (http://zenwalk.org ) witch is based of XFCE and features OpenOffice 2.01 Firefox 1.5.1 Thunderbird 1.5 the gimp and (if im not mistaking current version is runnging xine and grip).....

is a 450mb ISO download and installing it is almost easier than installing XP....

*sigh*...

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=67376

and

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=59439

basically the last one is the linux distribution chooser
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

I have tried a few, and I like Ubuntu the best. I have been testing the newest version and it is going to be a lot better then the current version. But check out 5.10 either the live cd or the best is to set up a dual boot to get the full feeling. If you don't want to spend the time downloading, they will even send you some free CDs you don't even have to pay for shipping.

Check out Ubuntu at www.ubuntu.com

Here is a video on Google video about Dual Booting WinXP and Ubuntu
Edit: Just a note, they are installing winXP fresh on that system, this is not required, just pick up from after the install. :-)

And here is the link to Automatix which will get all the nice little extras, Quickest way to get the best multimedia experence in Linux(my opionion). :-)



And remember kids, Don't Copy That Floppy!! Unless of course it's open source

This post has been edited by WTS: Mar 21 2006, 09:46 PM

Many live CDs & minimal distros suck, as in no compiler & kernel sources.
(yes, even home user NEEDS a compiler - his hardware drivers is going to come in source form, with instructions to compile it as a kernel module).


Fedora Core5 is rocking, at the moment.

i've been using ubuntu for about... 4 months? (dual-booting with w2k3)
i'm really, really happy with it. it took me a time to figure how to do the common things but this one is rock-solid.
yes, you'll need to compile and so but in this period of time i did it just to install the catalyst drivers (and this is if you want 3d).

also next version, to be released exactly on 39 days and codenamed 'dapper drake', will be the best distro ever created for the home user. just give it a try

Ubuntu is okay when you have slightly older hardware which is supported in-kernel itself. But otherwise, the lack of bundling GCC/kernel-sources comes back to bite you

i can speak for myself: 2 lan ports, 1 firewire, 8usb, and the stuff plugged in (psx pads to pc adapter, xbox pad to pc adapter, bluetooth usb, dsl modem...) all of those plus a sata drive, audigy 2 and 9600 pro cards were flawlessly detected. everything was up and running just after install.

now, if you want 3d you need to compile or if you want to config your bluetooth handheld device you need to write a little script, but believe me, there are plenty of guides outhere and on a reasonable time you'll get over it

in fact i still have windows installed and i'm not planning on uninstalling, i still need a lot of stuff present there but it is nice to not worry about spyware, virus or crap. hope this to change in a future

I've had success with MEPIS ...
IMO MEPIS is a nice more user-friendly version of Debian and comes with the very nice apt-get and Synaptic...

http://www.mepis.org/

This post has been edited by ChipCraze23: Mar 22 2006, 08:29 AM

Ubuntu live cd straight up should get you into the linux world. live cd will run from the cd drive and not touch your windows install so it's safer for newbies

New MEPIS Linux Test Version Uses Ubuntu Base lol

btw, ubuntu bundles apt-get and synaptic too

OF COURSE I NEED 3D!

Linux cant replace windows until even games run just fine - games like unreal tournament 2004, doom 3....
And for 3D-card support, you need a compiler & kernel sources. Which ubuntu does not provide.

In fact, ubuntu 5.10 could not detect any of my hardware (display,network,sound...). It simply dumped me at command-line. I did manage to download the required packages & knew how to get it all running fine in GUI-mode, but the point happens to be...........

THAT FEDORA DID ALL OF IT WITH FAR LESS EFFORT THAN UBUNTU!