I'd like to forage in the world of free operating systems. Which is the easiest for a beginner to get on with? I'm presuming it's worth actually buying one of the systems to obtain written instructions as I've had a little look at Knoppix but most of it was alien to me.
a_unique_person
Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning
I have tried dabbling with Linux on and off for eight years now, and it is certainly a huge improvement now over what it was when it first came out.
For some reason, I have tended to stick to Red Hat, and the ease of installation using Red Hat has certainly improved a lot. Apparently, though, they have stopped created new free distributions, although you can still get the old ones free.
I think as long as you stay clear of the hacker versions, such as slackware or bsd, you can't go wrong, especially if you just buy the boxed sets, although the price they charge for the box, considering the software is free, is a bit rich.
For some reason, I have tended to stick to Red Hat, and the ease of installation using Red Hat has certainly improved a lot. Apparently, though, they have stopped created new free distributions, although you can still get the old ones free.
I think as long as you stay clear of the hacker versions, such as slackware or bsd, you can't go wrong, especially if you just buy the boxed sets, although the price they charge for the box, considering the software is free, is a bit rich.
Your first stop should be Distrowatch, lists all (or at least a lot) of the distros.
The easiest one is probably Knoppix, or maybe Mandrake.
Regarding Red Hat, they changed the name of their free distro. It's now called Fedora.
The easiest one is probably Knoppix, or maybe Mandrake.
Regarding Red Hat, they changed the name of their free distro. It's now called Fedora.
jimlintott
Master Poster
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2002
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I've been using Madrake since version 7.3. I find it so satisfying and easy that I no longer use MS Windows at all for my personal desktop and my laptop.
Cleon
King of the Pod People
I started off on Slackware, which is not the best to start with. 
Generally, SuSe is icredibly easy to set up and install, and even management is easy for the newbie. Mandrake also is pretty simple.
Generally, SuSe is icredibly easy to set up and install, and even management is easy for the newbie. Mandrake also is pretty simple.
jimlintott
Master Poster
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- Jun 9, 2002
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What's a modem?
Seriously, I've never tried to use a modem as I've had broadband for eight or nine years now. It won't recognise the win modem in my laptop though and I understand that modems can be a problem.
jimlintott said:
You still require a modem for broadband.... unless I have an unnecessary piece of equipment in series with my phone line
As for Mandrake I've just had a look at version 10 and it looks like they want $11 PER MONTH to enable support...seems a little steep to me..
Do not worry about the $11. For most of your linux problems, it's easier to just look it up on the web, or go into a linux irc channel or newsgroup.
I use debian in my laptop, and the maker of my modem (broadband one) does offer a linux driver, but I don't use it. Some other guys release their own version which is better. Not everything in my laptop works 100% under linux, but that's partly because I'm too lazy to get some things working properly.
I use debian in my laptop, and the maker of my modem (broadband one) does offer a linux driver, but I don't use it. Some other guys release their own version which is better. Not everything in my laptop works 100% under linux, but that's partly because I'm too lazy to get some things working properly.
jimlintott
Master Poster
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- Jun 9, 2002
- Messages
- 2,893
Mandrake Download Mirrors
Just click on the button that says you plan on registering and you'll be taken to the full mirror listing.
Yes, I suppose I do currently have a cable modem but it plugs straight into ethernet, a hub, a router or as in my case another linux box running Mandrake and acting a a firewall, router, web server.
Just click on the button that says you plan on registering and you'll be taken to the full mirror listing.
Yes, I suppose I do currently have a cable modem but it plugs straight into ethernet, a hub, a router or as in my case another linux box running Mandrake and acting a a firewall, router, web server.
Oleron
Muse
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2004
- Messages
- 940
I'll second the Mandrake vote. I been using it for years and the 10.0 version is superb, no problem with any of my peripherals.
Mandrake has a 'control centre' which shields the newbie from having to get involved in command line setup. So do SUSE and Fedora but I think Mandrake does it best.
You can download it for free as Jim says but if you like it I would urge you to buy a boxed set. Same goes for any other distro. They need our financial support to continue producing quality software.
Mandrake has a 'control centre' which shields the newbie from having to get involved in command line setup. So do SUSE and Fedora but I think Mandrake does it best.
You can download it for free as Jim says but if you like it I would urge you to buy a boxed set. Same goes for any other distro. They need our financial support to continue producing quality software.
I use Redhat 9 at work, have fedora core 2 at home, and before that used mandrake 9.2
I would vote mandrake from my experience as it's the easiest to use, and In my experience the best success rate at automatically detecting hardware. both with my work Pc and home one redhat/fedora doesn't detect the soundcard. And I'm too stupid/lazy to solve it.
Thats never been a problem with mandrake (I've got a creative soundcard).
You could get the "MandrakeMove Live" CD. (Just down load the .iso (an iso is an image of a cd ready to be burnt onto one) and burn it to a cd for free - or look for it on the cover of a magazine)
Just put that in your computer and turn it on, and it should boot ito a working version of Mandrake linux without once touching your hard drives - so its completely safe. That way you can check everythings working. Though I would only use this to play with. It's MUCH faster when installed - and looks a damn sight prettier.
Whyatt
I would vote mandrake from my experience as it's the easiest to use, and In my experience the best success rate at automatically detecting hardware. both with my work Pc and home one redhat/fedora doesn't detect the soundcard. And I'm too stupid/lazy to solve it.
Thats never been a problem with mandrake (I've got a creative soundcard).
You could get the "MandrakeMove Live" CD. (Just down load the .iso (an iso is an image of a cd ready to be burnt onto one) and burn it to a cd for free - or look for it on the cover of a magazine)
Just put that in your computer and turn it on, and it should boot ito a working version of Mandrake linux without once touching your hard drives - so its completely safe. That way you can check everythings working. Though I would only use this to play with. It's MUCH faster when installed - and looks a damn sight prettier.
Whyatt
No offence, but unless you are REALLY new to computers - you shouldn't need support. It's more of a donation thing as i see it. You can easily google any problems you have.
And to be fair - who EVER has had a home computer with support by Microsoft.
Admittedly I bailed on windows a while ago, so may be wrong - but i don't think so.
Go to opendata.co.uk or look on ebay and people will sell you the freely downloadable versions for little more than the cost of the disks ( £2.49 when i bought a four cd version of mandrake). This is for people who don't have broad band to download them themselves and is not illegal. (sorry don't know aqmerican equivelents)
Then if you like it. Think about getting a boxed set or helping out by joining.
Whyatt
And to be fair - who EVER has had a home computer with support by Microsoft.
Admittedly I bailed on windows a while ago, so may be wrong - but i don't think so.
Go to opendata.co.uk or look on ebay and people will sell you the freely downloadable versions for little more than the cost of the disks ( £2.49 when i bought a four cd version of mandrake). This is for people who don't have broad band to download them themselves and is not illegal. (sorry don't know aqmerican equivelents)
Then if you like it. Think about getting a boxed set or helping out by joining.
Whyatt
Captain_Snort
Muse
Debian
It has the most software packages (sarge has about 16,000)
Fedora, suse or mandrake if you feel you need somone to hold your hand and like graphic installers.
The main differences between all linux distros is the installer. something that should be only ever ran once. And once you use debian's packaging system, you will never want another.
It has the most software packages (sarge has about 16,000)
Fedora, suse or mandrake if you feel you need somone to hold your hand and like graphic installers.
The main differences between all linux distros is the installer. something that should be only ever ran once. And once you use debian's packaging system, you will never want another.
evildave
Unregistered
E
I dunno. I recently went through the pain of getting and trying several and settled on the download edition of Mandrake 10. I'm running it right now as I post this.
Debian was absolutely hopeless, even to get running under VMWare. Of all the 'thousands' of packages available, they're equally available from the web without downloading seven CD images.
There were still problems with Mandrake. I had to manually configure my monitor's graphic mode by editing the XF86Config-4 file. I had to disband my RAID array to make it readable. The friendlier tools that 'held my hand' were invaluable in getting it up & running.
Debian was absolutely hopeless, even to get running under VMWare. Of all the 'thousands' of packages available, they're equally available from the web without downloading seven CD images.
There were still problems with Mandrake. I had to manually configure my monitor's graphic mode by editing the XF86Config-4 file. I had to disband my RAID array to make it readable. The friendlier tools that 'held my hand' were invaluable in getting it up & running.
Captain_Snort
Muse
evildave said:
all you need to do is download the installer image, which comes in at under 50mb and download what you need off the file servers. I think that its now up to 12 cd's for sarge (what will become debian 3.1 when they stop argueing).
the 7 cd's is everything for 3.0 (+ another 3 cd's of updates as 3.0 is now quite old).
The installer for 3.0 as I said, is positively user hostile, the new one is a lot nicer.
evildave
Unregistered
E
Linspire (formerly Lindows, until Microsoft kept suing and suing) appears to be another good candidate for "grandmas's web browsing and email machine". Worth a look if you're searching for something "simple", anyway.
Having to configure, edit one of the output files (usr/src/linux/include/linux/version.h -it tagged 'custom' onto the kernel version no matter what configuration I loaded, and VMWare would abort its setup script rather than carry on with kernal include files that *might* not work.) and build the kernel to install VMWare was not remotely nice or user friendly, so those 'one click installs' Linspire offers sound downright appealing, as troubleshooting C builds is not a common user skill.
Additionally, Mandrake doesn't seem to handle my removable USB hard drive very well (the one I use for backups). I had to perverse engineer and manually edit /etc/fstab to make it not abort booting when the USB hard drive was no longer plugged in (and fix it so I wouldn't have to re-configure it every time it plugged it in). Once again, knowing that there WAS an fstab to edit, and how to figure out how to set it up properly without the gui was not a common user skill - especially in a 'recovery console' mode.
I suppose the answer to the topic question depends wholly on who's going to use the computer, and for what.
Neophyte/user-level: Linspire (Though that 'subscription' thing is a killer...)
Curious hobbyist/experimenter, or someone who wants a quicky recovery boot CD: Knoppix
Skilled/Server and/or development: Redhat or Mandrake
Adventurous or very comfortable with the common linux shell scripts and .conf files, and doesn't mind googling and opening 'man' pages and experimenting: Whatever you like. There are a hundred Linux distributions to try.
Having to configure, edit one of the output files (usr/src/linux/include/linux/version.h -it tagged 'custom' onto the kernel version no matter what configuration I loaded, and VMWare would abort its setup script rather than carry on with kernal include files that *might* not work.) and build the kernel to install VMWare was not remotely nice or user friendly, so those 'one click installs' Linspire offers sound downright appealing, as troubleshooting C builds is not a common user skill.
Additionally, Mandrake doesn't seem to handle my removable USB hard drive very well (the one I use for backups). I had to perverse engineer and manually edit /etc/fstab to make it not abort booting when the USB hard drive was no longer plugged in (and fix it so I wouldn't have to re-configure it every time it plugged it in). Once again, knowing that there WAS an fstab to edit, and how to figure out how to set it up properly without the gui was not a common user skill - especially in a 'recovery console' mode.
I suppose the answer to the topic question depends wholly on who's going to use the computer, and for what.
Neophyte/user-level: Linspire (Though that 'subscription' thing is a killer...)
Curious hobbyist/experimenter, or someone who wants a quicky recovery boot CD: Knoppix
Skilled/Server and/or development: Redhat or Mandrake
Adventurous or very comfortable with the common linux shell scripts and .conf files, and doesn't mind googling and opening 'man' pages and experimenting: Whatever you like. There are a hundred Linux distributions to try.