Which version of Linux for a new user

Right, going to watch a movie but after that I'll burn the ISO, read up on the OS a wee bit and then install it.

Sorry for hi-jacking your thread Happy. xD If I have any problems though, I'll either post them here or make a new thread.
 
.Sean

I'm assuming you went with Ubuntu... So, When it finishes installing and reboots.

Don't do anything.
Thats it.. Leave it alone... for a couple of mins anyway.

Reason ?... It's getting it's No Swearing! together.

you will then get a couple of pop-ups.. saying something like.. Software updates available.. and another pop-up that annoying overlaps t'other one about hardware drivers for your graphics etc.

When thats all finished and you rebooted. go into applications/Add/Remover and select all available applications from the requester.. then type restr and install Ubuntu restricted extras. <---- That takes a fair while to install msstcorefonts etc
 
pingwing said:
Humm i say gentoo is a good place to start (provided reading is your fortay)

But dont really bother with 64bit yet, you can adress 64 gig of ram in 32bit linux with a pae switch in the kernel which works pretty well.
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To be honest - I don't know why you keep recommending Gentoo for new users: it's almost guaranteed to put the majority of them off linux for good.

I agree that Gentoo is a very good way to really get to know linux, but most new users will be coming from a Windows environment and will want something that just works with no faffing.

For example - Portage is an excellent package manager that gives you a phenomenal amount of control over your system, but generally, for new users - it's hard enough for them to get their heads rounds apt / yum / pacman / whatever, let alone setting use flags, etc.

OK - so this isn't true for every new user - but I'd say it is for 99% of them.
 
.walls said:
To be honest - I don't know why you keep recommending Gentoo for new users: it's almost guaranteed to put the majority of them off linux for good.
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Ah i know its not technically the best thing to recomend to anyone, due to the power of portage and the nessesity to have some sort of plan to what you want opposed to just a quick play with linux. But i do feel an attempt at a gentoo install is the best way to get some good computing in general practices going fo someone looking to find an alternatve to windows (it encoraged a bit of googleing to at least find out where your going).

For my it was the first Linux distro introduced to me (by a crul friend) and since then i always found it a more interesting way of doing linux than a quick ubuntu install to find most thing work (and when they dont it sounds even more daunting with venturing into the comandline and even compiling something, if you've never done it before...)

Of course most people wont actually take me up on Gentoo for the first distro suggestion, but its always good to voice all sides of an argument either way :)
 
.walls said:
To be honest - I don't know why you keep recommending Gentoo for new users: it's almost guaranteed to put the majority of them off linux for good.

I agree that Gentoo is a very good way to really get to know linux, but most new users will be coming from a Windows environment and will want something that just works with no faffing.

For example - Portage is an excellent package manager that gives you a phenomenal amount of control over your system, but generally, for new users - it's hard enough for them to get their heads rounds apt / yum / pacman / whatever, let alone setting use flags, etc.

OK - so this isn't true for every new user - but I'd say it is for 99% of them.
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I have been dual booting ubuntu/xp for about 2 years on and off. I feel now I am ready to consider Gentoo/ARch. However, after seeing ubuntu 8.10 and reading up about the changes I may not even bother with Arch/Gentoo as this release seems to have everything sorted.
 
FoxEye said:
One of Ubuntu's strengths is the enormous amount of How-To's and forums posts about just about everything.

There will be a howto/wiki for both nV drivers and ATI drivers, and sound is handled very well by ALSA, which is already installed but may need a little configuration if you're fussy (like me).
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That's partly why I switched, there wasn't much info on mephis howtos compared to ubuntu.

I'm now tri booting with XP, Vista and Ubuntu.
 
I've decided to wait until Ubuntu 8.10 comes out. It's only 3 days away, so not a huge wait. :D

(Also, Pineapple Express is awesome.)
 
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