Linux - What can it offer me?

[cyfm]

Hi,

Im interested in Linux and have tried a Live DVD of SUSE 10, very nice! At the moment I use both a mac and a windows laptop both have their good and bad points, what I want to know is what can linux offer me which windows and mac's can't Im thinking of getting a windows box and I may install Linux on it, feedback please :D

[jbennet]

uh well suse10 might not be the best place to start its kinda broken

[cyfm]

lol ok, any suggestions then?

[jbennet]

Debian - its so easy to install things just do apt-get update then apt-gte install (whatever you want) and it will sort out all its requirements and do it via the net. Currently its text based installer but its well laid out, cant go wrong apart maybe from in partitioning but if youve managed to install an nt system before it should be ok

Dont go for the sarge (stable) version, its too old, go for Etch (testing) version - download the 40mb netinstall businesscard cd rather than the 15cds and it just installs what you select

I have been using it for ages its so stable and i keep it up to date with

apt-get updgrade OR apt-get dist-upgrade

[jbennet]

If you have quite alot of ram download m$ virtual pc and try out debian on it first to see if u like it (its the daddy of ubuntu etc.... and is about the most opensource as you can get)

[John A]

Hello,

Linux has many advantages over Windows. However, Windows does have some advantages over Linux, so it's worth researching before you jump into Linux.

• Linux is easier to use if you use standard hardware. It will be much harder to install Linux on a laptop with SATA hard drives (although not impossible) than to install on a regular desktop PC.
• Linux requires an adjustment period. If you're quite comfortable with Windows or Mac, Linux will seem quite a bit different, and you will have to allow lots of time to get used to the new enviroment.
• The distro you choose is very important. Choose one too hard, and you'll get frustrated very easily. Choose one too slow, and it won't run acceptably on your machine. For beginners, good distros are SuSE, Mandriva, Debian, and Xandros. These are very easy to use and shouldn't give you too many problems.

Good luck, and have fun.

[sn4rf3r]

for a n00b, I would suggest Fedora or Ubuntu. SuSE is broke, debian is ok, anything else and you will hate yourself for trying. After you get a few installs under your belt, drop upooptu and grab a real distro like gentoo or even a bsd.

[jbennet]

yeah i went (using the modern names here)

Mandriva
Fedora
Suse
Ubuntu
Debian

Mandriva is too bloated, fedoras release cycle sucks, suse is broken and ubuntu is too noobish for me anyomre so i used debian. I like it as its an easy transition for ubuntu users who have settled into linux but want to go a bit more advanced. I usually get netinstall cd and do a minimal one then apt-get whatever i need, usually i can get a gnome system set up in just a few hours which runs in like 54mb of RAM

When is FC6 coming out anyway in a full release version?
i plan to set my aunt up with it

[sn4rf3r]

I wouldn't set her up with the latest FC release, i'vwe done that and spent hours supporting it down the road. stick with 5 for now.