[buddhafabio]

hi i have used and installed redhat 8.1 a while ago. but found my motherboard did not like installing xp over a hard drive that had linux ever installed i was wondering after giving my earlier dabble with linux a rest what would be a good beginner linux for me to try

[Regicide]

I am new to Linux as well. I was told by my friends that Slackware was a good beginning Linux distro. I've fallen in love with Slackware. My suggestion is get Slackware 9.1 with KDE.

[Whiteskin]

It depends on how into linux you want to go. I'm going to go get the distro section from the FAQ i'm currently struggling through (Load ** 2).

[Whiteskin]

Because there are so many distributions, each has choosen its own path. Here i will seperate them into three catagories. Easy, Medium, and Advanced. And easy distribution is simple to install, with little or no choices needing to be made by the user. An advanced distro is the opposite: The user is given complete control into what goes into the system, and how it is set up.

RedHat Linux (RH9, Fedora core 1 and 2): Easy/Medium
Redhat was one of the early distros. It has since become one of the most popular. When one purchases a book about linux, chances are high that it is a redhat linux book. Recently Redhat discontinued it's free Redhat Linux line. That has been replaced with the community project, the Fedora Core. Redhat can be classified as either an easy or a medium distro. Its install is quite simple, however, it does not neccicarily have all the "amenities" of an easier disto.

Mandrake Linux: Easy
Mandrakesoft is a french company. They put out a popular distribution called Mandrake Linux. Mandrake linux is definatly an "easy" distro. Mandrake has one of the best (user friendly) installers in the business.

Debian Gnu/Linux. Medium / hard
Debian is a community run Linux distro. It was one of the first to be developed in this manner. Before debian almost all distros were being created by companies or by single individuals. In 1994, when Debian was created, its founder Ian Murdock put out what is now called the "Debian Manifesto". To get an idea of what debian is about, I will now quote part of that Manifesto.

What is Debian Linux?
=====================

Debian Linux is a brand-new kind of Linux distribution. Rather than
being developed by one isolated individual or group, as other
distributions of Linux have been developed in the past, Debian is being
developed openly in the spirit of Linux and GNU. The primary purpose
of the Debian project is to finally create a distribution that lives up
to the Linux name. Debian is being carefully and conscientiously put
together and will be maintained and supported with similar care.

It was as a result of this manifesto that debian's Social Contract was written, a document defining what Debian GNU/Linux is all about. Freedom. (Free software). Read the Social contract here.

Debian's installer can be daunting, however it gives alot of power. A hint, just take the options in order.

Gentoo: Medium/hard
Gentoo is a source distro. This means the user compiles most everything from source. This is both good and bad. Good, is because its simple(ish) and improves performance, especially on older machines. The bad is because this takes time. Especially on older machines. (feel free to add to this... i'm kind handing this over to the forums... i havent the time to really complete the FAQ. For now. I will get around to it one day. Check Unix Linux for the thread to Add to.

LFS (Linux from scratch) : Hard.

Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a project that provides you with the steps necessary to build your own custom Linux system.
"Why would I want an LFS system?"
There are a lot of reasons why somebody would want to install an LFS system. The question most people raise is "why go through all the hassle of manually installing a Linux system from scratch when you can just download an existing distribution?". That is a valid question which I hope to answer for you.

The most important reason for LFS's existence is teaching people how a Linux system works internally. Building an LFS system teaches you about all that makes Linux tick, how things work together, and depend on each other. And most importantly, how to customize it to your own taste and needs...

[buddhafabio]

i liked red hat but was saddened when they pulled the plug on the average user series. i tried mandrake but at the time i tried it my video card was new so the drivers were not on the mandrake distro i was using. so i reformated and had a malfunction with windows and had to reinstall it