Linux N00b - What distro do I want?

Westyfield2

Westyfield2

Westyfield2

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Hello world.
I'm new to Linux. Please don't bite :p.


I've only ever used Linux at home as a live CD to fix a PC I'd royally broken. At work I poked around a bit with CentOS and RHEL. Neither time did I have a clue what I was doing!

I'm now at University doing a degree in Software Engineering (90% the same as Computer Science for those that haven't heard of it). For two of modules they want us to use Unix. The Lab PCs are dualbooting XP and Linux, and from Windows we have Remote Desktop access to Solaris.

The Linux distro in use appears to be KDE. I believe it's based on Ubuntu?

We've been told that we'll need access to Unix (Linux) outside of the labs, and to dualboot our PCs by sticking in an extra hard-drive.
My PC is a MacBook Pro and apparently OSX isn't close enough to Unix :(. Consequently I intend to use a Linux VM (using VMware Fusion).
If I decided that I really like Linux I'll install it on a PC, but for now a VM on my Mac is enough. I literally don't have a clue what I'm doing in Linux.

Anyways, the question is.... which distro do I want?

As you can probably tell, I don't have a clue what I'm doing in Linux - so something that's easy to use but does help me learn would be good. Others in my class seem to be going with Ubuntu.

TY all.
 
KDE is not ubuntu, its a Desktop environment.

I would say debian, fedora or CentOS would be your best bets for what you will be doing. A lot of people here will rush in ande shout Ubuntu!!!1!! but it does quirky things, your best going write back to the source and use debian to learn.

Fedora and CentOS are rpm based, I haven't use rpm that much so more experienced people will have to help you there.
 
Ubuntu without a shadow of a doubt. has an easy to use GUI/KDE, and would be a good starter distro for learning *nix!
wouldn't bother with debian now-a-days to be honest
 
Westyfield2 said:
<Pretends he knows what the difference is>

Oi! I bought a MacBook Pro as I wanted the hardware, and have since grown to love OS X. My poor Win7 PC must think that I don't love it anymore :p.
Click to expand...

Ubuntu is an OS, a distribution of Linux. KDE is a desktop environment, essentially the GUI. Linux distros can have a variety of desktop environments, from KDE to Gnome to XFCE, LXDE, Openbox... the list goes on.

Anyway, for a complete novice you might want to start off with Ubuntu or Mint then move on from there, always a good start point just to get used to it.
 
Addicted said:
Ubuntu without a shadow of a doubt. has an easy to use GUI/KDE, and would be a good starter distro for learning *nix!
wouldn't bother with debian now-a-days to be honest
Click to expand...

haha, for a starter distro to install and go; Ubuntu is fantastic. For a distro to learn linux on it's horrific, the amount of vanilla code and linux standards are well.... non existant, which makes it possiby one of the worst distros for learning.

Install and go - Ubuntu
Learning Linux - Debian
Curious and determined - Archlinux

I would work in that order to really learn how to use and configure Linux. Once you hit Archlinux, if you can install and understand what is going on, then you could pick up any other distro without much work.
 
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I started off on SuSe ( now opensuse) then tried ubuntu, then went fedora for a while now arch linux.

Please do not listen to people who suggest ubuntu to learn on... it's one of the worsts to learn on, debian/centos/fedora for what u want tbh.
 
Oxy said:
I started off on SuSe ( now opensuse) then tried ubuntu, then went fedora for a while now arch linux.

Please do not listen to people who suggest ubuntu to learn on... it's one of the worsts to learn on, debian/centos/fedora for what u want tbh.
Click to expand...

If he really wants to learn then he'll build from scratch.

Meanwhile, back in the real World...

Yes, the OP could use Debian to learn. I wouldn't suggest Fedora, but that's because I am a hater. There's nothing wrong with Ubuntu to learn per se, it really isn't that different from Debian.

My suggestion is to start with either Debian, or Ubuntu - BUT - not with a full install. Use a base or net CD. Install a number of different desktop environments, install all of the apps you want to try, and have a good play around.

Good luck :)
 
KDE is a desktop environment.

If you want to go with a Linux OS, and you're new i'd recommend Ubuntu (Gnome). There are also Ubuntu derivatives such as kbuntu and xubuntu which use different window managers. :)
 
As a hardened Windows user ( I can hear the sucking of air over clenched teeth from here!....lol) i started from the other way round. I actually had Ubuntu and OS X installed as virtual machines via VMWare. OS X was nice to say I've seen it and not that impressed but it was the Linux that seemed easier for me to understand and explore further. The range is so vast and it's hard to know which distro to start with. Just try them all using virtualbox and learn a little a you go along. Each distro has it's own following on the net the larger followings with the more popular ones like Ubunu. When you get bored or have learnt enough move to another distro and learn a bit more. Not very helpful but I have found that is the only way really. :)
 
I recommend either Fedora or Debian if you really want to learn (or Arch if you are hardcore). Ubuntu is a good stopgap though.

KDE and GNOME are desktop managers (GUIs) for Linux. Without them you will just have a command prompt. Pick whichever desktop manager you like the most, there's not much difference between them apart from looks to me.
 
Beerbaron said:
Just ditch Mac OS as its nasty.
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Come on, you can't make a statement like that and not qualify it. :p

Back to the OP, why not try them all out? You've got VMware Fusion, so just download the ISOs from different distros and see what takes your fancy. I prefer Ubuntu myself as it just works. Plus it seems to be the one of the many Linux OS that 3rd party software houses have proper support for.

Kubuntu was ghastly, how anyone can manage with that weird KDE window manager, I shall never know. :D
 
What about Linux Mint, nice minty green theme :) Based on Ubuntu, comes with good software.

Cheers

Von
 
Unix != Linux

Unix =
*BSD (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, DragonflyBSD, PCBSD etc.)

Solaris (though OpenIndiana/illumos distros is currently taking over as Oracle are changing the price/licensing)

IBM AIX/HP-UX. AIX is only available on PPC, HP-UX is now only available on itanium/PArisc.



MacOSX is actually a FreeBSD derivative, making it closer to Unix than Linux

edit: there are some other unix types out there - but maybe a bit to niche for this
 
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Ubuntu for a home Linux first timer.
Solaris or FreeBSD for something closer to Unix.
Windows 7 for Gaming.

So basically, dual boot Ubuntu and Windows 7 and run Solaris in a virtual machine if needed.
 
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