Where To Start?

[ProTech Support]

I will be honest here, I have not messed around with Linux too much. The last time I touched it was about 3-4 years ago in which I had a battle trying to use my wireless card. At that time I was using both Ubuntu & Knoppix, but it did not last very long. I liked the operating system, was just not ready to mess with it at that point.

Anyway, I would definitely like to get back into it. Which version do you guys recommend I start with to get my hands dirty?

[0gr3]

Call me a noob :P but I like Ubuntu 9.04. Easy to learn on and lots and lots of support. You don't have to manually compile and the packet manager is pretty nice. I don't have a lot of Linux knowladge but it keeps me happy.

[DanF]

I haven't worked much with Linux, but I liked Fedora :) The only reason, literally, that I went back to Windows was that my sound card wasn't supported. Now I don't have the time to mess up with Linux anymore :p

[0gr3]

I find Ubuntu has a lot driver support so you shoudn't have to many issues.

[NYJimbo]

Redhat used to be the choice, then it was Centos. Now it seems to be Ubuntu for new users. I personally use Freebsd so I am the odd man out, but everyone I know who gets into linux now seems to jump on Ubuntu.

[Reset]

how about opensuse? i personaly use Debian. If you have time why not just setup a vmware player (free and runs in windows 2000 - Vista) and run a virtual os? very easy to do and theres a ton of support for it.

[ProTech Support]

Thanks for all the responses! I am definitely going to grab the latest Ubuntu and give it a shot.

[jj2000]

i know that this is probably not the best suggestion but i have just downloaded and installed ubuntu ultimate edition 2.0 and installed it on an old laptop for a customer i let it update itself to ubuntu 9.04 jaunty jakalope and i have to say this thing rocks,it absolutely flies on this old lappy and the customer is blown away.she had windows xp running previously and it was dog slow but she is now one very happy lady and yet another convert.

[ProTech Support]

[QUOTE=jj2000;50901]i know that this is probably not the best suggestion but i have just downloaded and installed ubuntu ultimate edition 2.0QUOTE]


I downloaded 9.04, what is the "Ultimate Edition 2.0" about?

[jj2000]

"Ultimate Edition 2.0" is basically a highly customised version of of 8.10 ubuntu which i let upgrade to 9.04 it seems very stable to me and it contains almost all of the software that i require when giving it to a client it also looks very pretty:D which a lot of my customers seem to like :confused:
http://www.planetoss.com/detail.php?id=19 i agree that it is not for everyone but for my older clients who are sick of vista it makes a good all round setup.

[krutoi]

Count me in on the "keep meaning to install it on a 486 and play around with it" club... About once a year or so I download the latest flavor but never seem to get around to installing it or playing with it. I think the trick would be to have a project that would not work without it, in which case there would be no choice in the matter. Something like setting up ALP (http://www.nerdclub.net/alp/index.php) for a LAN party might qualify :-)

[thor999]

Ditto on Ubuntu, and I feel that some money can be made mastering that and mythTV! I am currently in battle w/ MCE remote codes, of all things, got everything else to work. Gotta love that sudo apt-get install!

[Airframer]

I am be no means a linux power user, but have been experimenting after doing a dual boot xp/ kubuntu on an old laptop.
I love it. It takes some getting used to, but I am learning more about it, especially terminal commands (although the package manager Adept that comes with it is quite good, you will come to love the simple "sudo apt-get install" command). I think as a linux educational tool ubuntu/ kubuntu rocks, while still providing useability for the linux noob (ie- me).
Kubuntu (KDE interface instead of GNOME) is gorgeous, which is why I chose it over Ubuntu. All the older hardware on the laptop is supported out of the box including my wireless. Had some glitches with v9.04 Jaunty (taskbar and kmix dissappearing now and then), so I'm running v8.10 Intrepid Ibex. Highly recommended for the linux newbie.

Plus, when's the last time you could surf the net while installing an os (like I did with the Kubuntu live cd)

[ProTech Support]

Just as an update I did get Ubuntu 9.04 installed. It worked fine with my wireless and I am absolutley loving it. I do have a lot of learning to do, but I look forward to it.

Thanks for all the help guys.

[joe25]

I think at any particular time in the shareware community there seems to be one place that is on the top of its game in development. I think right now for linux desktop it is Ubunto. Early on it was Red Hat and Suse. By the way, Centos is straight out Red Hat source code without any costs. So if you want to play around with Red Hat server, download Centos server it is the same thing.

[matt6solutions]

I like to recommend using Wubi for people who want to try linux, it makes installing dual boot Ubuntu a snap, and if you decide you do not like linux, you can unistall it from Windows Add/remove programs. I made the jump earlier this year after getting my linux + cert (I don't recommend the cert, I just needed it for my corporate job) anywho, after getting over the learning curve, I love open source. I even converted my wife to it, and now we only use linux. I have a copy of XP on a virtualbox for a few things like Quickbooks, Crossloop, ADUC, but essentially I run linux for the most part.

[Kermit]

Great posts here, I too would like learn more about this! There are so many older systems that can run it (ubuntu). It really might be a OS that would open the doors for some who can't afford new computers. (Yeah, I know, could be new headaches too) Or, good service calls... ;-)

I tried it on my old HP ME wouldn't work off the Cd.. ? I found out in live mode it needs almost 400 MB of ram... oops. I got only 128... Looking through my parts box.....

I seem to recall that when DVD first came out 250 Mhz was min for playing. I'm not sure about Xvid.. but that was through windows... would ubuntu work with VLC and movie CD's. I could me wrong here.

I have a female friend that loves older movies and I have a bunch on CD's Her birthday is coming (NOV) I'd like to give her a working System to play with and have fun watching old movies on. As well as get her in the computer age.

I know once she gets over the fear and sees what she can do with it.... Well, you all know... addictited!! :-) Any thoughts will be great.

Kermit

[matt6solutions]

Hey Kermit,

Not to sure about Multimedia myself, but for older systems like that, and with an ubuntu flavored distro, I can't recommend Xubuntu enough. It uses the XFCE lightweight desktop manager, so not as bulky as Ubuntu. As far as media players you can try XMBC or Moovidia, but I have not had much expirience with either. Keep plugging away and defeat that learning curve!

[Kermit]

Hey Kermit,

Not to sure about Multimedia myself, but for older systems like that, and with an ubuntu flavored distro, I can't recommend Xubuntu enough. It uses the XFCE lightweight desktop manager, so not as bulky as Ubuntu. As far as media players you can try XMBC or Moovidia, but I have not had much expirience with either. Keep plugging away and defeat that learning curve!

I was hoping for VLC, as I use that a lot. Just not sure how it will work with older SV output Vid cards like ATI's mach 64 It shows 800X600 on a TV. Most of the CPU's I have now are 400 Mhz and up.

I haven't seen the difference of a Xvid on TV yet. As none of the sys's I have running now supports a TV. While I know a TV isn't even remotely close to a computer screen, I'm hoping it's close enough to still enjoy.

Will be nice to give some new life to older sys's and people too. ;-)

Kermit

[thebeardedone]

Well, I have played about with loads of distros and I have to say, so far, Linux Mint has been my favourite.

[msherman]

Ive used OpenSuse for a few years. Never really checked out Ubuntu. Doesnt interest me.

Before that it was Slackware. Used that from '97 to like 2000 or so i think? Back than if you could get things to run smooth you knew your PC like the back of your hand as well as the linux console. Plug and play? What is that? LOL!

After you learn linux decently well i would recommend checking out FreeBSD.

[wepo]

If it's enterprise or mission critical and you want solid tech support to lean on, Red Hat. Easy to use and bullet proof once setup correctly.

For anything else, I agree with everyone that ubuntu has really matured in the last few releases.

[ataylor]

If you want to actually learn the ins and outs of Linux, I'd recommend Arch Linux. Have to install everything yourself, but there is excellent documentation and probably the best Linux community I've found. That said, you need to be willing to put the time in.

[Smooth Gecko]

I love SuSE.
Despite being one of the mostest, it is easy to get things done in the YaST interface. This is your "control panel" in SuSE.
Use VLC for all your media.
Evolution for email.
Firefox for browser.
You can effectively partition Windows drives too.
I have an apache web server running with MySQL & vTiger for my business database.
From this machine I can download and md5 check software, ready to put on my lockable flash card with USB adapter, without fear of my last virus removal getting on my toolkit.
I put Linux on my router too, now I plug my USB modem into the router, and they get onto the net without me. Linux and ethernet are very easy, so I can enable my ethernet port and I am on the net.
(I don't reboot much)
SuSE is the one that has taken off in Europe for banking and government machines, so I am glad I had this prophecy made to me many years ago.
I run virtual box so that I can look at a windows machine when I have too.
All my web development is done with Quanta and The Gimp.
Runs as fast as I need with 1GB RAM !