i wanna go get a linux os, can any1 post wa company u think makes the best linux os?

im newbie to linux

If you've never used linux before, then you may not want to jump the gun and install it right away. Instead, you might want to try a Live-CD based distro (which means you don't have to partition your hard disks, set up new filesystems, etc.) such as Knoppix or Suse 9.0 LiveCD. They make no changes to your system and are easy to use.
Download Knoppix here
Download Suse here (FTP link halfway down the page)
After you've got your feet wet, try installing a real linux distro using a PC emulator such as VirtualPC or VMWare. There, you can mess around with boot programs like LILO without worrying about messing up your MBR and such. If you have previous experience partitioning and installing Operating Systems in general, then I suggest starting out with Mandrake Linux, as I find it the easiest distro to install and use.
If you are really having trouble grasping linux, and don't care too much for the internal workings of the linux operating system, you may want to purchase Lindows (name soon to be pending). It is the most basic you can get, and by far is the easiest for beginners. Purchase it here.
Other good distros are:
Xandros
Redhat
Suse
Good luck with your Linux attempts.

knoppix is debian based. (hmm goodness)
Debain is great for newbies. beter still try Lindows THEN move to debian. play around using apt-get and stuff in Lindows (lindows is based on debian too!). Lindows charge for their download service, but it doesent have anything on it you cant get via the command shell and using apt. or even get a GUI front end for apt and use that.... loads of free software for download without paying Lindows a dime for its download service.

If you try something like Redhat then you are getting into the world of .rpms. some people (like myself) hate the things. pain in the neck to install something, having to hunt all around for dependacies you need to install the software and make it run.

with debian.. its much easier (IMO)

apt-get install pacman

or whatever you want to download. thats all it takes... that downloads and installs the thing all in one go.

im running Suse 9.0 right now though...

like debian you can just download CD1 and then tell it to download the other packages your machine needs over the internet as it installs. saves downloading loads of stuff you dont need to put on a CD you will use once or twice.

Suse... Redhat, Mandrake.. all nice and easy to install, running KDE, suse, Lindows and mandrake especially ape XP/win2k a lot in looks department.

Debian is harder to install, doesent look as nice, but is easier to use once it is setup. well.. it is in my opinion anyway.

u can try Lindows its pretty easy
you don;t even have to install it to fully test it
it comes with a bootable os CD (well u might as well dl it from their website 500+MB though

I think Red Hat 9 has one of the best-looking and easiest to use Setup Menus (yep, already seen Mandrakes, and still think Red Hat 9 beats the socks off it)

I don't generally keep linux distros on for long, they eventually get wiped after a few hours because its too much to take in! I've also found out for myself that its better to start with something small, rather than use a full-blown distro bundled with everything.

That small distro would be IPCop (a NAT routing distro with webadmin). In 2 months I've grown accustomed to using the BASH prompt with a Windows client (putty), configuring cronjobs, logrotation and learnt the very basics of Linux. Its been on my 166mhz box for 2 months so far and I love it

yes if you really want a good one go with red hat

quite right, It only stayed on my hdd for about a day

but the good thing about those linux os's that they come with a lot of bundled software. free which I think is nice.

i guess ill go with suse 9.0 since most of you guys pointed out.

i seen somewhere in this site, an article, sayin tha Lindows is gettin sued by microsoft bill gates.

thx guys..,,

well there's loads of nice looking dists going about, i started on slackware which i feel was a good middle point (especially back then when it didn't come with much stuff!) it had enough in it to get me started, but it was also good for me to learn

i recently installed redhat, it does everything for you! just like windows, so not great for learning

KNOPPIX, www.Knoppix.net, knocked my socks off the first time I saw it because my friend was running an operating system straight from a CD. Nothing was installed on the hard drive, so when he was finished he simply removed the CD and rebooted into Windows. Still, gotta have my XP

QNX does that MSNWar, and did it long before knoppix. QNX isnt linux tho.

Suse is easy to install, you only need CD one. if you need any help with the install ill try help. Just download the boot.iso from one of the FTP servers and mount it with deamon tools or burn it then run it.

I remember trying BeOS several years ago, it came on a cd (free with some magazine) and worked right off it!

it sucked, though!

This is pretty much what you will be greated with on first boot of suse:

thats windows with a theme pack
they all look the same (visually)

a screenshot of when I had Red Hat 9 at the time...

i found this old knoppix 3.0 bootable cd.

i tho linux system uses little computer resource, but this knopix took a lot of my cpu.

came in, n it was pretty laggy

my computer is PIII 1 GHz 390 MB PC 133 memory

don kno y is tha

man i need a new computer badly

I found that I alwas like Caldera Open Linux when i was first starting before I moved on to slackware.

Linux uses few resources provided you are not running X-Windows, otherwise it's about as demanding as Windows.