What Distro for a beginner

prescott28

prescott28

prescott28

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What would be a good distro for me to try and learn Linux? I would need something that would install easily and canget basic networking going via SAMBA as I would rather get it going first and then learn how SAMBA works.
 
Ubuntu. Definitely. I was a Linux noob too and needed a beginner distro. Ubuntu helps you through many things and stuff, and now I can rely on myself to try fix my own problems as I have understood it so well after 2 weeks.

Download the Live CD from ubuntu.com and try out if you like it. The Live CD also acts as a installer, by click Install on the Live CD desktop. By the way, if you want to keep windows, its really easy to dual boot. I did it using one hard drive, resized the windows partition and stuck Ubuntu onto the space left from the resize operation. It's that easy! If you have any questions, I'm usually on these forums, or add me to msn (in profile) or the ubuntuforums.org
 
Personally i use Fedora and CentOS but for complete beginner then go ubuntu, might also be an idea to lookup for somme beginners guides to get you going
 
Go for Ubuntu 6.06. It's pretty and easy to use. There are a couple of scripts around that you can run that will install all the codecs you need for flash, media playback, etc.
 
I agree with Ubuntu.

Ive dabbled in linux for years but always found myself reinstalling windows due to the fact linux just doesnt work for me.

But two weeks ago I figured i'd give Ubuntu a go. So far I havent looked back. Ive bought another HDD for storage and formatted it to ext3 and now got all my stuff on it.

Everything works in Linux and im quite happy. Im learning as i go along and generally enjoying the experiance of learning to use Linux again :)
 
Well, thanks for the suggestions guys. I am downloading the Ubuntu CD now to have alook at; I like the idea of a bootable CD to have a look around. I think I'll have a look at the Fedora one too alittle later.

Apart from learing something about LInux, I will also have the machine folding; it's running on Win2K folding at the moment; so getting the folding software running will be a priority.
 
prescott28 said:
Apart from learing something about Linux, I will also have the machine folding; it's running on Win2K folding at the moment; so getting the folding software running will be a priority.
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It's all nicely covered in the FAH sticky, sir. :)
 
I dont understand why so many ppl like ubuntu. I've tried various distro's over the past year or so and i found suse the best. Ubuntu was absolutely hidious. It's the ugliest OS i've ever seen.
 
Gentoo is great for the beginner who really does want to learn about Linux. Having said that, I have since moved to Debian (Etch).

If you aren't really interested in learning about the details, then one of Fedora, Suse or Ubuntu would suit you.
 
EKsparky said:
As for game servers and web servers Fedora is the most stable and easiest to use in my opinion
also Yum kicks arse :D
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Have to disagree with you here. Fedora changes too quickly therefore Distros such as Red Hat Enterprise and CentOS are more suited for servers.

Ubuntu is definatley the one for desktop use for beginners.
 
Ubuntu is the latest flavour of the month, much like Gentoo was before it and people will soon get bored of it (though it is a nice operating system).

For beginners you could choose SUSE, Ubuntu, Fedora Core, Mandriva or Mepis.
 
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