Sherman wrote:

> I want to install and use Linux. I did a google and it just confused me
> more.
>
> What is the best Linux to install. I see Redhat, Mandrake etc.
> I see Gnome and others. I want to replace Windows and have a good
> selection of software to use.
>
>

Sherman

There is not such thing as a 'best Linux to install. What you are actually
asking is what distro would work best for me as a newbie with Linux.

I would suggest the following:

Ubuntu - releatively new and has a very active support community

Mandriva (used to be called Mandrake) - the newest version of this 2007, is
available as a liveCD so you can try it out without needing t touch your
hard disk. It will also co-exist well with your current Windows
installation, which I would suggest you keep at present.

I personally use Mandriva (not latest version yet), and have found it very
easy to get used to, having orignally come from Windows.

Whichever linux distro (distribution) you end up with, please remember that
Linux is *not* Windows and that many things are done differently. Also
learning to use the command line would greatly simplify your move to Linux.
Many operations can be done by the excellent GUI applications, but not all,
so the command line option needs to be *eventually* learnt, at least at a
simple level, by any newbie who looks after their computer themselves.

Try to research any questions you have - via Google for example. Then, if
you are still confused come here and someone will try to help you work out
what is going wrong.

HTH

Rob.

Sherman wrote:
> I want to install and use Linux. I did a google and it just confused me
> more.
>
> What is the best Linux to install. I see Redhat, Mandrake etc.
> I see Gnome and others. I want to replace Windows and have a good
> selection of software to use.
>
> Help??

First of all, linux is has a background of being for 'techies' , and
this has not yet disappeared completely. I'll try to be as comprehensive
as possible.

In the first place Linux is a 'kernel' , think of it as a basic
operating system that handles the scheduling of your programs and the
handling of your hardware.

That kernel is not much of use without user software such as browsers,
editors, office tools etc ...

Now different companies and/or groups assembled different compilations
of kernels with software that get you running. Those are companies as
Redhat, Mandrake, etc .. What they deliver are called 'distributions'.

To complicate things, also the graphical shell (that's all the windows
handling stuff and the backgrounds and the decorations ...) is fully
open. In the graphical shells there is again a myriad of choice, the
majors being Gnome and KDE. Gnome is positioning itself as a rather
basic, fast, C-based graphical shell. KDE is positiong itself rather as
a fancy , Windows-like, graphical shell, based on C++ and a bit slower
which can be important on older hardware. Most distributions can be
run with both graphical shells (and tons of others for that matter ...)


Having said this , I can recommend my *personal* choice and that is
kubuntu. Kubuntu is a branch of ubuntu, a very user friendly, largely
graphical oriented Linux, with a very good user community support.
Unlike the original ubuntu it is KDE base rather than Gnome.

Provided that you are a little bit lucky with your hardware and you do
not have to fancy requirements with respect to customization, it will
probably run out of the box with only 'point and click' type of
configuration like in Windows.

If you do want however to customize further, you still can fall back to
what others call the command line configuration. Think of it as the
configuration you got to do as in the old DOS time. That means adapting
all kind of configuration files to fully tweak to your needs.

HTH

Jon Smid wrote:

> Having said this , I can recommend my *personal* choice and that is
> kubuntu. Kubuntu is a branch of ubuntu, a very user friendly, largely
> graphical oriented Linux, with a very good user community support.
> Unlike the original ubuntu it is KDE base rather than Gnome.
>
If you want ubuntu and KDE i would rather recommend Mepis since the
graphical configuration tools are better then kubuntu's.

Sherman wrote:

> I want to install and use Linux. I did a google and it just confused me
> more.
>
> What is the best Linux to install. I see Redhat, Mandrake etc.
> I see Gnome and others. I want to replace Windows and have a good
> selection of software to use.
>
> Help??

I recommend Mandriva. It's the only distro I've ever used, but I've found
it so good I haven't felt the need to change. It's good for the desktop as
it's easy to set & has a good selection of software.

Here's some quizzes which will help you choose a distro:

http://polishlinux.org/choose/quiz/
http://www.tuxs.org/chooser/
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

Some good advice also here:
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/...x_distribution

A big list of distros: http://distrowatch.com/

Lists of software available for Linux:

http://linuxappfinder.com/
http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html

Have fun . Of course, one of the great things about Linux is that, if you
don't like your current distro, you can just install others until you find
the one that suits you best.

Cheers.

--
Nothing's Too Sacred - http://scott2096.blogspot.com/
Email: seaeaglesrule-donotspam@gmail.com (remove "-donotspam")

Registered Linux User # 384081 http://counter.li.org/

On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 13:47:50 GMT, Sherman wrote:

> I want to install and use Linux. I did a google and it just confused me
> more.

What's confusing about putting a cd into a drive and restarting the
machine?

> What is the best Linux to install. I see Redhat, Mandrake etc.
> I see Gnome and others. I want to replace Windows and have a good
> selection of software to use.

The best one will be the one that works for you. Gnome is a desktop, not a
distro.

> Help??

--
Linux: because I work with Windows, and that's bad enough.
AOLM FAQ - http://blinkynet.net/comp/faq_aolm.html
RLU #300033 - MDV 2006 - WindowMaker 0.92.0

Sherman wrote:

> I want to install and use Linux. I did a google and it just confused me
> more.
>
> What is the best Linux to install. I see Redhat, Mandrake etc.
> I see Gnome and others. I want to replace Windows and have a good
> selection of software to use.
>
> Help??

Well for one thing, Mandrake has been Mandriva for well over 12 months so I
would not use that.

Dave

On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 13:47:50 +0000, Sherman wrote:

> I want to install and use Linux. I did a google and it just confused me
> more.
>
> What is the best Linux to install. I see Redhat, Mandrake etc.
> I see Gnome and others. I want to replace Windows and have a good
> selection of software to use.
>
> Help??

Really. If there were a 'best Linux to install' then there would not be
350 active Linux distributions. Gnome is not a Linux distribution - it is
a desktop - most users use either Gnome or KDE but there are lots of other
options as well.

I use: Kubuntu (Ubuntu normally comes with Gnome - Kubuntu is the same
distro but with KDE) on several desktops and my laptop. I use Gentoo on my
mini-itx desktop because I am able to fully optimize it. And I use Elive
on old hardware - I've installed it on a P166 with 64mb RAM and it runs
pleasingly well.

You should start by learning a bit about Linux distros - visit
distrowatch.com and do some reading.

There are a number of Live CDs of Linux available - a Live CD will boot
and run from the CD without any install - I'd suggest you try some of
these - my personal favourites are Knoppix (the standard by which the
others are judged) and Elive - Elive uses the Enlightenment desktop which
is much lighter and faster than Gnome or KDE - it is also a lot different
from MS if that means anything to you - it's worth a boot up.

On Sun, 14 Jan 2007, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandrake, in article
, Sherman wrote:

>I want to install and use Linux. I did a google and it just confused me
>more.

We appreciate you doing a search at google - you may also want to learn
something about newsgroups - that 'be.comp.os.linux' is a Belgian news
group. While many readers of that group can read English, you might have
better luck trying one of the international groups. Try using one of
the regular "Big Eight" newsgroups, like

[compton ~]$ grep linux big.8.list.12.15.06 | cut -f1 | column
comp.os.linux.advocacy comp.os.linux.misc
comp.os.linux.alpha comp.os.linux.networking
comp.os.linux.announce comp.os.linux.portable
comp.os.linux.answers comp.os.linux.powerpc
comp.os.linux.development.apps comp.os.linux.security
comp.os.linux.development.system comp.os.linux.setup
comp.os.linux.embedded comp.os.linux.x
comp.os.linux.hardware comp.os.linux.xbox
comp.os.linux.m68k
[compton ~]$

>What is the best Linux to install. I see Redhat, Mandrake etc.
>I see Gnome and others.

What's the best car to buy? I see Ford, Chevrolet, Plymouth, BMW, Honda,
Toyota, Fiat... Or maybe you are into food or drink - what's the best
beer - the best ice cream?

>I want to replace Windows and have a good selection of software to use.

http://www.distrowatch.com/ - the average "popular" Linux distribution
comes with many thousands of applications - yes, I said thousands.

Are you in a city with a decent public library? Check out the books there,
and you'll find a number with CDs that contain a Linux distribution. They
will probably be old - but it will give you a feel for free. Any book
stores? You'll have to buy the book, but they'll be more recent - perhaps
even currently supported. That web page above has links to places
where you can buy sampler packs - six to twenty different distributions
just waiting for you to try them out and see which you like best.

>Help??

Personally, I like Sapporo - it's a nice Japanese beer, and I like black
cherry ice cream... separately of course.

Old guy

On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 15:30:14 -0600, Moe Trin wrote:

>
> Personally, I like Sapporo - it's a nice Japanese beer, and I like black
> cherry ice cream... separately of course.
>
> Old guy

have you tried a cognac on that ice cream ?

--
Andy