T-Shirt Ninja

I'm trying to make the switch to linux and was wondering if theres anyone on here that has experience with linux that could recommend an easy to use distro of linux?

I tried installing Gentoo but everytime I try to install it I get errors and have to start over again, quite frustrating, Im on my third reinstall and it wouldnt recognize my videocard (ati aiw 8500dv).

So I'm looking towards Suse 8.2 or possibly Mandrake.

The rig id be running it on is an athlon xp 2000+ with 512 mb DDR RAM, ATI AIW 8500DV, ASUS Geforce2 chipset mobo with onboard sound and 3com LAN. TIA!

imported_jj2ii3344

Hi Greg!
I use Redhat Linux 8 myself for a web server, so I don't know how good it is in terms of graphic (X).

Good luck!!

T-Shirt Ninja

Gonna try out Mandrak 9.1, im d/l the iso right now, gonna install it tomorrow during my 6 hour break (hope thats enough time lol)

DaRizzla

use REDHAT 1st if you need experience..... redhat is a good way to learn unix.... trust me

smileypaul

Boo to Mandrake... start with Redhat, you will thank yourself later.. it is the easiest distro of linux... good luck.

imported_MartinGouda

i use it but not for businees only for server and back end stuff

imported_gatherer

I've used red hat it's good..... I've used Mandrake ... it's just the same thing in my opinion .... both are a good starting base dude

T-Shirt Ninja

Yea, I installed Mandrake 9, Im actually posting from the computer I installed it from using mozilla. Have a question though, I d/l mozilla firebird web browser, but I cant figure out how to install it, im sposed to be looking for an rpm file or something but I dont see it.

imported_MartinGouda

why are you wanting linux anyways?

if oyu are just looking for a change then i would recomend jsut new programs...get opera or something

shlammed

if you're a hardcore beginner then use madrake or redhat (mandrake is a rip off of redhat for even stupider linux noobs). But, once you develop any kind of linux skills I would seriously consider moving to Slackware or Debian.

imported_Syphon

To be honost, if you are seriously new at linux, get a distro called Knoppix.. it is based of Debian, which is not the most userfriendly but Knoppix has a few very nice features, like the ability to boot of CD and not install.. so Have an entire 2-3gb distro all running off 1 cd.. full featured, from there you can install knoppix as a full distro, or just experiment with stuff from the cd.. Or go full out and get something like Mandrake or JAMD, which is a home desktop user version of Redhat 9 (its actually a direct port of it), the server stuff has been taken out but stuff like Synaptic has been put in.. VERY VERY easy to get new software for it.

90EFHB

Use Redhat if you are planning a future in Linux Support.

IBM is backing the Redhat distro....That is what is shipped with their linux servers....and this also means redhat will have the $$$ to survive. In fact AIX 5L is a bastardized version of Linux...they are moving to the open standard model and the fact that you can now easily use any linux app on AIX...easy portability.
Currently AIX 5L is still only available for RISC processors...well they have a version for Intel platforms, but how many people are using Intel Itanium servers.....not many.
Future versions of AIX will have even more linux affinity and eventually it will be another linux distro.

I personally like Debian too......the are like the solaris of linux....very focused on security. But the learning curve is.........high