[AhrenBa]

Hello,
I am sure you all have heard this question a million times by now, so please don't get made. I am looking into to possibly installing Linux, and with all the distros, I have no clue where to start and/or which one is good. Could someone maybe give me some the best/most popular distros and maybe some advantages and/or disadvantages of a few. Thanks!

[prunejuice]

Take your pick.

[HenryVI]

this question is all about preference. Do you want: a graphical installer, a text installer; KDE, GNOME; RPM based packages, installing through apt; ETC.

[CouchMaster]

Try Damn Small Linux first - it's a live cd that has a very small foot print (quick, easy to DL) and if you like it you can install it to the HD with the click of a button...

[prunejuice]

Although DamnSmall is small, it's not what I'd consider a n00b friendly,
starter distro.

PCLinux is still the king of Linux LiveCD's I would recommend to someone coming from a strictly Windows environment. (Or KNOPPIX).

[CouchMaster]

Originally Posted by prunejuice

Although DamnSmall is small, it's not what I'd consider a n00b friendly,
starter distro.

PCLinux is still the king of Linux LiveCD's I would recommend to someone coming from a strictly Windows environment. (Or KNOPPIX).

If 'n00b friendly' = easy, then try DSL (provided you have a high speed connection). I would have recommended Puppy as my first choice but you have to run the connection wizard to get on line where as DSL does it for you. If you are on dialup then you have to run a connection wizard anyway so it doesn't really matter.
Almost all distros have a live version nowdays, but at 600+mb up to 4 or 5 cd's you might want to try the smaller ones just to see if you actually like linux, and save a few coasters you might have to give away to friends for Christmas...

[prunejuice]

Okay, DSL, Puppy or Feather to get an idea of how Linux boots, general idea....but....
a distro like PCLinux or KNOPPIX with KDE/Gnome, K3b, and a better graphical "n00b" friendly file manager is still what I'd recommend.

Before I'd tell someone how to load up DSL with APT packages, I'd rather walk to their house
and hand deliver KNOPPIX.

"I have no clue where to start..."

This didn't get by me.

[AhrenBa]

Wow, thank you all very much for your help. I think I have a very good idea on what some good distros are. I am leaning towards Knoppix right now because I like some of the things people said about that.

One thing I have heard before and am unsure how to do is "partition" a hard drive. Could someone explain to me what this means and how I could go about doing it? Thank you very much. And feel free to keep adding info on some distros! Thanks!

[prunejuice]

If you go with KNOPPIX (), the hard drive installer can resize your drive and prepare the necessary partitioning for you.

I recommend you get comfy with Linux in a LiveCD environment before you plunge into a HD install so that you are sure of the distro and all the compatibilities.

[AhrenBa]

Ok, that is probably the best thing to do. Thank you for your help. Would you recommend that I download Knoppix and then burn it to a CD or purchase the pre-made CD? Thanks

[prunejuice]

Just download the ISO and burn the ISO image with the burning software of your choice, preferably at a lower burning speed.

There is no difference between this and the similar CD you would order. If you have broadband internet, you could have this downloaded and burned in less than 2 hours.

[AhrenBa]

Oh and also, is the most current version of Knoppix 4.0.2? Thanks, just wondering. I was looking on eBay for the Knoppix CD, looks like it would be the way to go. Do you think that would be a good idea? Thanks

-EDIT- Oh, ok, should I download directly from Knoppix or something like a Torrent? thanks

[prunejuice]

Get it here:

http://iso.linuxquestions.org/distro.php?distro=5

Why buy the KNOPPIX disk?

[AhrenBa]

I was just saying for a couple bucks might save the download time, but it's fine, I'll just download it.

I haven't burned to much stuff so I was just wondering what burning at a lower speed does? And how to do it? Thanks

-EDIT- Oh and whats the advantage of getting the DVD ISO? Is there more stuff on that one?

[prunejuice]

Yeah, there's more stuff on the LiveDVD. Not entirely necessary, the LiveCD is good enough, but it's your choice.

Burning at a lower speed (4x-8x) will prevent critical errors, which aren't terribly important on
an audio CD or DVD movie, but could be problematic for a compressed operating system.

If you're using NERO Burning ROM, open Nero, turn off the wizard, click the Recorder tab, click Burn Image, select the ISO you downloaded, and set the burning speed for 4x or 8x, then burn.