Hello,

 

Just wondering what people thought of the different versions of linux which are available. I plan to install one soon so any thoughts?

If its your first time, you probably want to go with something that has a fairly Windows-esque installer and a package system. I found that Mandrake has a really nice installer that takes you through all the steps carefully. It will even resize Windows partitions to make room for a dual-boot Linux setup without reformatting. Red Hat's Fedora, Debian, and SuSE are reputed to have similar simple install system.

 

If you're especially brave, you might try something a bit more 'hard core'. I was working on getting the Core Linux distribution working at one point; it basically gets you to the point where it boots and has a text editor and a compiler; they give you instructions on getting a DHCP client and a web browser, you're supposed to download/install everything you need from there.

Debian was a snap to set up for me, and it has given me far less problems than Mandrake ever did. I'd recommend it.

If you just want to give Linux a go, there are various Live CDs that will boot you into a fully-functional Linux environment without messing with your hard drive. They are usually based on a major distribution (Knoppix, for example, is based on Debian, I think there is also one based on Red hat). If you find one you like, there's usually a script included that copies the system to a hard disk, basically circumventing the need for an installation proceedure.

I'm partial to Slackware. Debian is also a good choice.

The last Linux install I did was Gentoo. It is not for newbies, but, you get one lean install after you are done.