[RESOLVED] Which Linux to Use

[ProphetBeal]

YEAH, I get to ask a Linux question!

I'm new to Linux, well more like I've never used Linux but i want to . So my question is which version should I be using? I'm sure some are better than others, so where would be a good place to start?

[wossname]

Personally I would recommend a conventional Linux distro such as Fedora Core 6 or RedHat Enterprise Linux. You could also consider LiveCD ones like Knoppix.

I use Fedora Core 4 at home and several Linux distros at work, I find Fedora intuitive to use and well layed-out.

Which distro you go for is best decided by what you plan to use it for. I'd generally avoid Ubuntu (despite its recent popularity) though.

I went straight from Windows XP to Fedora overnight (literally) and I've not had any reason to go back at all.

[ProphetBeal]

Personally I would recommend a conventional Linux distro such as Fedora Core 6 or RedHat Enterprise Linux. You could also consider LiveCD ones like Knoppix.

I use Fedora Core 4 at home and several Linux distros at work, I find Fedora intuitive to use and well layed-out.

Which distro you go for is best decided by what you plan to use it for. I'd generally avoid Ubuntu (despite its recent popularity) though.

I went straight from Windows XP to Fedora overnight (literally) and I've not had any reason to go back at all.

Thanks for the info, I'm going to look into these when i get home from work

[TomGibbons]

I also recommend Fedora Core. The current version, 6, supports a lot of hardware right out of the box too, even for laptops, which I think helps beginners out a lot.

Fedora is very friendly for beginners but also very powerful, it runs on my desktops, my laptop and my servers. Let us know if you have any problems.

[space_monkey]

I've used Ubuntu and Suse both seem like good starter distro's.

[litlewiki]

Ubuntu is a good choice for beginners.I would prefer it over openSuse .

The problem of running proprietary codecs and DVDs are gone when universal and meta repos are enabled.

For playing games,you can try the cedega suite from transgaming.org

[TomGibbons]

...
For playing games,you can try the cedega suite from transgaming.org

Which is not free, unless you want to compile it and then you don't get the GUI. It's good though, I'd recommend it.

[wossname]

Gaming, for most people, is not a motivating factor for moving to Linux. And rightfully so I think.

[sunburnt]

YEAH, I get to ask a Linux question!

I'm new to Linux, well more like I've never used Linux but i want to . So my question is which version should I be using? I'm sure some are better than others, so where would be a good place to start?

Among the most popular distros, there are very few differences with regards to quality. I would place openSUSE, Ubuntu, and Fedora Core in this category.

All of them are very user-friendly, and have good hardware support. A lot of people will tell you that they are not good for "advanced" users, but this is nonsense. If a certain piece of software you want to use is missing, installing it is extremely easy. If you want to change default settings, you can still do that.

I consider myself an advanced user -- and I love Ubuntu. Almost certainly, FC or SUSE are just as good, although I haven't used either one lately.

Ubuntu is a good choice for beginners.I would prefer it over openSuse .

The problem of running proprietary codecs and DVDs are gone when universal and meta repos are enabled.

For playing games,you can try the cedega suite from transgaming.org

I'm running the newest beta version of Ubuntu, due to be released this month, and it's gotten even better. On a default install, when you try to play a file that requires a codec that is not installed, it tells you what package needs to be installed explains the legal ramifications (if any), and then asks you if you want to install it. If you choose yes, the package is installed and your file begins to play immediately.

For playing games,you can try the cedega suite from transgaming.org

I paid for transgaming for one month, and immediately canceled my subscription. The "support" you are paying for is practically non-existant unless you play the same games as 90% of the other cedega users.

With that said, cedega works great -- I ran Baldur's Gate II, Civilization IV, etc, without problems. World of Warcraft will also run, but with nowhere near the speed/graphics you would get natively. If you want to run the latest and greatest games, keep a windows partition around.

I'd generally avoid Ubuntu (despite its recent popularity) though.

Just curious, why?

[wossname]

Its fairly eccentric with regard to certain things like user management and permissions.

Call me a purist. *shrug*

[Jenova]

I have been looking into Mandriva, apparently that is supposed to be quite good. What are your opinions on it?

[wossname]

It's got a strong user base and a lengthy history behind it, probably a safe bet. I've not used it myself but I hear good things.

[TomGibbons]

I tend to dislike Debian based systems for the same reasons that I dislike Debian. The only thing I like about Ubuntu is the fact that it's made Linux more well known.

I agree with sunburnt's point on cedega; only pay for it once. The support isn't worth it. Battlefield 2 runs very well in it too, so long as you have an NVIDIA card.

[TomGibbons]

Mandriva was one of my first Linux distributions back when it was Mandrake. It's relatively good, definitely friendly. I don't remember it being too configurable though.

[Jenova]

Sorted. I will have Mandriva on my laptop by the weekend my dad has agreed to install it for seeing as i have never touched Linux lol. Can't wait, what's Mono like any who ?

[TomGibbons]

Check http://vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=461096 from #4 onward. Mono's coming along. It's not very to use for ASP.NET but it works.

By the way, try watching your father install it. I don't remember what installer Mandriva uses but it's worthwhile learning how to install a Linux distro and what options you have.

[kleinma]

I just installed SUSE 10.2 on Virtual Server today.

MS has a beta of VS tools for SUSE Linux if you are a member of the connect beta for Virtual Server, so you get the goodies like the enhanced display and input functionality on Virtual Server.

I still think VMWare may be a better virtualization product for Linux, but supporting SUSE is a start. It likely has to do with the partnership MS and Novell made not that far back.

[TomGibbons]

...but supporting SUSE is a start....

It's likely not going to get much further than SUSE either.

[Jenova]

Check http://vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=461096 from #4 onward. Mono's coming along. It's not very to use for ASP.NET but it works.

By the way, try watching your father install it. I don't remember what installer Mandriva uses but it's worthwhile learning how to install a Linux distro and what options you have.

Thanks for the link Tom , i'll definately watch my dad install it as i will be trying out the other Linux flavours some time soon. At the moment i am looking for a ground point to start building up Linux knowledge, Mandriva was the only Linux OS that came to mind since i hear it is one of the most recent ones.

As for SUSE, that's the one my Dad uses and that will probably be the next i will look into. Linux is something i have been interested in since reading about RedHat, it's just i have never been able to find time to try them out because of college, courswork and work etc. I'm off for easter now so i can have fun with Mandriva.

Thanks for the input guys. Good idea having the Linux forum

[brad jones]

I'm running Ubuntu in a virtual window (MS VPC). Some troubles installing it in VPC 2004 with video support, but there are a number of articles on how to address that. I'm likely drop Ubuntu for Novell's Suse since it is one of the only distros to come with Mono. Additionally, I think that long term it has the best chances of being interoperable with Windows.

Brad!

Disclaimer: My usage of any specific versions does not constitute an endorsement of said product.

[TomGibbons]

...I'm likely drop Ubuntu for Novell's Suse since it is one of the only distros to come with Mono....

If you add the mono yum repository to your yum.repos.d directory then mono is as easy to install on Fedora as running

yum install mono

as root at the terminal.

I know you can do it via a GUI but I don't know how. I'm sure it's very easy.

[sunburnt]

If you add the mono yum repository to your yum.repos.d directory then mono is as easy to install on Fedora as running

yum install mono

as root at the terminal.

I know you can do it via a GUI but I don't know how. I'm sure it's very easy.

It should also be easy to install mono on Ubuntu, either by choosing "mono" in Synaptic package manager, or typing "sudo apt-get install mono". I'm surprised that your version of Ubuntu doesn't included mono by default; I think most recent versions do.

[DeadEyes]

It should also be easy to install mono on Ubuntu, either by choosing "mono" in Synaptic package manager, or typing "sudo apt-get install mono". I'm surprised that your version of Ubuntu doesn't included mono by default; I think most recent versions do.

AFAIK Ubuntu is beginner desktop orientated and dosn't come with any dev tools on the initial install, you have to add them yourself later.
I've used a number of distros and Ubuntu is the one I stuck with, it was just good timing the release matched my hardware better than anything else I'd tried previously. But its the newbie friendly community support that I like best.

Edit:
Actually I've just remembered why I tried it in the first place, ShipIt!
I was on a dial up at the time and they'd send me out a CD for free no P&P either.

[brad jones]

The other nice thing about Ubuntu is that you can boot to the OS from the CD. This let's you check out Linux without actually installing it on any machine. It is a good way to get an idea of what Linux (and open office) can actually do without going through the hoops of an operating system installation.

Brad!

[TomGibbons]

The Fedora Project have recently released the tools needed to create your own livecds. I know that they have planned on making these livecds installable like Ubuntu but I don't recall if they have done this yet.

[kleinma]

Tom, you LOOOOOVE fedora don't you

[TomGibbons]

I'm quite a fan, yes What can I say, I really do think it's the most well put together operating system yet. Great for both beginners and developers, easy enough to use and fully featured enough for desktop use while also being powerful and secure enough for a server environment.

Fedora is what finally convinced me to ditch my Windows partition altogether. Same with Woss, though his situation was a little different.

Oh and it doesn't have a stupid name, which is a plus.

[wossname]

I agree with Tom on all the points he mentioned. I switched to Fedora Core 4 when my WinXP partition went insane. I just leaped into the deep end and installed FC4 on the entire hard drive (no dual booting, no virtual machines).

It's very tempting to have a windows partition to fall back on, but thats a false economy in my opinion. I can't think of any good reason not to install linux on any machine that will support it (you won't find a machine that won't support linux though I've got a server install of FC4 running happily on a 200Mhz Pentium 1, 64MB RAM, circa 1997. Actually that box originally had Win95 on it and the USB never worked until I put linux on it ).

[ProphetBeal]

Just to give you guys an update I downloaded Fedora and Ubuntu last night and I started installing Fedora on a VPC (just to play around with it ) I'm gonna mess around with both of them for a while before i choose which to intall on my main PC (As a duel boot). Thanks for the info guys.

[zynder]

Thanks for the info. I've had my Ubuntu installers but never got to play around with it. In our office we're running Windows 2003 server and to tell you honestly, windows really sucked. We're having troubles with the policy. We set it up just right and the admin account cant access or restricted in other workstations. We're planning to ditch windows 2003 server and go for Novell enterprise with linux. What can you advice?

[wossname]

We're planning to ditch windows 2003 server and go for Novell enterprise with linux. What can you advice?

You've just answered your own question there

[kleinma]

Thanks for the info. I've had my Ubuntu installers but never got to play around with it. In our office we're running Windows 2003 server and to tell you honestly, windows really sucked. We're having troubles with the policy. We set it up just right and the admin account cant access or restricted in other workstations. We're planning to ditch windows 2003 server and go for Novell enterprise with linux. What can you advice?

I won't get into any kind of debate about linux versus windows, but I will say that Windows 2003 Server obviously DOES work fine for millions of users that employ policies across a domain, so I would imagine that the policies not working right is *probably* due to an incorrect configuration...

[wossname]

I would tend to concur.

[zynder]

I won't get into any kind of debate about linux versus windows, but I will say that Windows 2003 Server obviously DOES work fine for millions of users that employ policies across a domain, so I would imagine that the policies not working right is *probably* due to an incorrect configuration...

I don't think so. The group policy is working fine for a couple of months. I don't know what happened until my account can't access some workstations.
Anyway, thanks for the reply. Right now I'll play around with Fedora.

[TomGibbons]

Good choice. Open up a thread if you have any problems

[Jenova]

Well switching over to Linux has proven more problamatic for me so far. My dad said Ubuntu was the best one to install so i gave him my laptop to install it as he was going to multiboot it with XP and i ended up with no OS afterwards. No Linux and No XP.

[wossname]

Maybe you should get your Dad to post on here and we can help him out.

[CyberSurfer]

Thanks for the info. I've had my Ubuntu installers but never got to play around with it. In our office we're running Windows 2003 server and to tell you honestly, windows really sucked. We're having troubles with the policy. We set it up just right and the admin account cant access or restricted in other workstations. We're planning to ditch windows 2003 server and go for Novell enterprise with linux. What can you advice?

I'd advise if you're planning to do this you sit down and figure out exactly what advantage you feel enterprise Linux will give you....the overheads (both administrative and educational) in this project will be significant...speaking from experience, migrating from Active Directory to eDirectory (which I assume is what you're planning, given the use of Novell Enterprise Linux) is not that easy unless you know what you're doing and have a very good idea of what you want to achieve and why. If I was you I'd put your effort into figuring out why your policies aren't working before taking such drastic action.

[TomGibbons]

Oh and if you get into LDAP, it's a massive step up from Active Directory. Make sure you read into it very thoroughly.

[CyberSurfer]

That's not such a problem with packages such as Novell Enterprise as eDirectory is designed to be as easy to use as Active Directory but it's sufficiently different that a goodly amount of reading is recommended!!