good free linux distro?

**sytaylor** · 12-18-02, 02:25 PM

first of all i'd like to say im a linux n00b x 10...
secondly, i dont wanna start a distro flame war

k?

so for someone in my shoes with a nice lil celeron 400 box sat there looking pretty which distro/shell would be best for meeee?

netviper13 · 12-18-02, 04:45 PM

Well I'm a Linux n00b too, and I've tried Mandrake 9 and Redhat 8 so far. Didn't get very far with Mandrake 9, because for some reason it refused to work with DHCP, so I can't tell you much about it; but Redhat 8 was a great experience. A little hard to get everything tweaked the way I wanted to because it doesn't include much in the way of multimedia, but for office apps and such it's a great distro.

From what I've read, SUSE 8.1 is a sweet distro for beginners and experienced users alike. If I re-install Linux again, it'll be SUSE.

volt · 12-18-02, 05:03 PM

Linux is free

So is ~90% of the software for that platform

For a total noob, I'd go with Suse 8.1. Mandrake is -ok- but it *may* stutter on slower machines with less juices (especially while using KDE 3.x, same applies to Suse, Redhat 8) But either way Suse is a great distribution

I haven't used 8.1 though. I only used version 7.3

Here are some reviews:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...,644911,00.asp
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6408
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=1887

Also a Redhat 8 review:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...,643563,00.asp
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=1842
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/4460/1/

It's quite a bit of reading, but once you do your homework you should be able to choose the distro based on your preferences

**sytaylor** · 12-19-02, 11:53 AM

thx guys ill do some reading

The Analog Kid · 12-26-02, 09:41 PM

The Linux Kernel is free but not all Distros are like Lindows.

Mandarb1 · 12-26-02, 09:48 PM

Bah to Lindows, you dont get all of the apps you would in a regular distro (SuSE, Mandrake, etc) and if you want any of the other apps, you have to pay a yearly subscription fee (I believe its either $99 or $149) to use their online store to get those apps. Lockergnome did a review on Lindows and didnt like it.

DaMaxx · 12-28-02, 02:25 AM

first of all just about all linux distros are free. I have also had huge success with Redhat. It always does what i need it to and you can just about find a src.rpm for every program you could ever want. Plus if i can use it, its gotta be almost idiot proof.

I would suggest any version of redhat from 7.1 up to 8. 8.0's installer is second to none also.

12-18-02, 02:25 PM	#1
sytaylor Cerebral Barbarian Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Leeds, UK Posts: 1,656	good free linux distro? first of all i'd like to say im a linux n00b x 10... secondly, i dont wanna start a distro flame war k? so for someone in my shoes with a nice lil celeron 400 box sat there looking pretty which distro/shell would be best for meeee? __________________ Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 @ 3.42GHz \| Abit IP35 Pro \| GeIL 4GB DDR2 Gainward BLISS GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB 770/1920/1070 Creative Audigy 2ZS on Logitech Z-680s Yuraku 24" Widescreen monitor It saddens me that I need the following to post here: Disclaimer: Any views expressed in the above post under the psuedonym "sytaylor" are entirely subjective and do not reflect the views of any business, company or entity associated with Simon Taylor. The use, copying of or editing of any materials within this post for professional purposes without written permission is stricly prohibitted under the UK Right of Privacy as provided in the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights: Article 10 ECHR. Any attempt to use the information herin shall be subject to the Data Protection Act and Freedom of Information act, with damages being saught for defamation. This disclaimer applies to all text, images or media on this domain. You have been warned. My Blog

12-18-02, 05:03 PM	#3
volt Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: /dev/null Posts: 1,556	Linux is free So is ~90% of the software for that platform For a total noob, I'd go with Suse 8.1. Mandrake is -ok- but it may stutter on slower machines with less juices (especially while using KDE 3.x, same applies to Suse, Redhat 8) But either way Suse is a great distribution I haven't used 8.1 though. I only used version 7.3 Here are some reviews: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...,644911,00.asp http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6408 http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=1887 Also a Redhat 8 review: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...,643563,00.asp http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=1842 http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/4460/1/ It's quite a bit of reading, but once you do your homework you should be able to choose the distro based on your preferences __________________ [b]Optimization guidelines by Koji Ashida of NVIDIA:[/b][list][]Use fx12 instructions whenever possible[]Use lowest pixel shader version[/list][url=http://developer.nvidia.com/docs/IO/10878/ChinaJoy2004_OptimizationAndTools.pdf]source[/url] [size=1]The politics are invading the technology. We don't really like to mess with politics because that kind of adversarial relationship has nothing to do with pure technical operations and the technical specifications of what we like to play with, the hardware![/size]

12-19-02, 11:53 AM	#4
sytaylor Cerebral Barbarian Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Leeds, UK Posts: 1,656	thx guys ill do some reading __________________ Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 @ 3.42GHz \| Abit IP35 Pro \| GeIL 4GB DDR2 Gainward BLISS GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB 770/1920/1070 Creative Audigy 2ZS on Logitech Z-680s Yuraku 24" Widescreen monitor It saddens me that I need the following to post here: Disclaimer: Any views expressed in the above post under the psuedonym "sytaylor" are entirely subjective and do not reflect the views of any business, company or entity associated with Simon Taylor. The use, copying of or editing of any materials within this post for professional purposes without written permission is stricly prohibitted under the UK Right of Privacy as provided in the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights: Article 10 ECHR. Any attempt to use the information herin shall be subject to the Data Protection Act and Freedom of Information act, with damages being saught for defamation. This disclaimer applies to all text, images or media on this domain. You have been warned. My Blog

12-26-02, 09:41 PM	#5
The Analog Kid Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: New Jersey, USA Posts: 75	The Linux Kernel is free but not all Distros are like Lindows. __________________ Microsoft Palladium:Where will we let you go today?

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12-18-02, 04:45 PM	#2
netviper13 Treehugger Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 942	Well I'm a Linux n00b too, and I've tried Mandrake 9 and Redhat 8 so far. Didn't get very far with Mandrake 9, because for some reason it refused to work with DHCP, so I can't tell you much about it; but Redhat 8 was a great experience. A little hard to get everything tweaked the way I wanted to because it doesn't include much in the way of multimedia, but for office apps and such it's a great distro. From what I've read, SUSE 8.1 is a sweet distro for beginners and experienced users alike. If I re-install Linux again, it'll be SUSE.

12-26-02, 09:48 PM	#6
Mandarb1 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 113	Bah to Lindows, you dont get all of the apps you would in a regular distro (SuSE, Mandrake, etc) and if you want any of the other apps, you have to pay a yearly subscription fee (I believe its either $99 or $149) to use their online store to get those apps. Lockergnome did a review on Lindows and didnt like it.

12-28-02, 02:25 AM	#7
DaMaxx GeForce4ti4200 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 23	first of all just about all linux distros are free. I have also had huge success with Redhat. It always does what i need it to and you can just about find a src.rpm for every program you could ever want. Plus if i can use it, its gotta be almost idiot proof. I would suggest any version of redhat from 7.1 up to 8. 8.0's installer is second to none also.