Switching distro - ubuntu?

NotAGolf

NotAGolf

NotAGolf

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A little while ago I installed fedora 11. It was the first time I've used linux. I got a few things up and running and had a bit of a play, but I seemed to have screwed things up over time. I'm pretty sure it was the way I was doing all the updates; switching between yum/using the software updater GUI/downloading packages, as now none of my 3 options on grub menu work so I can't get back into it!!

Anyway, that's not my question. I'm going to wipe the partition and install a new distro to have a little play to try and learn a bit more. What distro would you suggest? I will be using it mostly for learning bash scripting and other programming in linux, but it will also be used for web browsing and listening to music and watching videos.

I understand ubuntu is the most popular, but I'm a bit worried that it comes with a lot 'attached', is this the case? Not that I want a barebone distro, I want one where my wireless usb dongle will work off the bat without having to fiddle for days to get it to work, but I don't need all kinds of funky software included.

Would also like one that has a fair bit of documentation, especially aimed at getting to know linux and how to use it properly (so I don't repeat my fedora experience!).

Any suggestions?
Thanks.
 
For what you're after I'd recommend Mint. It's the latest Ubuntu but with extra polish (custom themes, custom menu etc) and all multimedia codecs and plugins are already installed and configured for you. That includes JRE, Flash, QuickTime, MP3, DivX and all the usual suspects, working out of the box.

As it's based on Ubuntu, you have the massive community (and software repos) to fall back on, while keeping a nice easy front-end. It's also well supported and has a friendly, local (Europe, mostly Ireland and UK) community behind it. Well worth a look. :)
 
I'd recommend Crunchbang, access to the Ubuntu repos because it's based on Ubuntu, lightweight as heck, easily customisable with a good community (and any help you need you can generally get in the ubuntu forums anyway). I've converted a good few folk to it now, most of whom have never even used a linux distro in their life.
 
i've not tried mint/puppy... but arch (if you want to go H@RDCORE) or crunchbang if you want it all setup nicely straight from the beginning, and very easy to customise yourself!
 
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