Which Linux?


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I have 2.5GB partition that i was gonna put windows 2000 on, in addition to my 60GB partition for XP Pro. which linux should i get? i downloaded ALT linux awhile ago, and it sucked on my Pentium 200Mhz, but now i have a 2500+ with 512MB and a radeon 9500 pro so.... should i put linux as my 2nd OS, or just use 2000 as my 2nd OS? and how would i set linux up as a 2nd OS that can read NTFS Partitions... and WHICH LINUX (thers like 7 billion different ones)

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I was a total n00b and I had played around with both Mandrake and Redhat, then I heard about Gentoo Linux 1.2, installation was a pain in the a$$, even though they have a really good installation manual on their website. But Oh Man! once I got it sucessfully installed and properly configured, I was in Computer nirvana. There's a steep learning curve to linux, all it takes is determination and RTFM, it helps to have lots of courteous and knowledgeable people who are willing to help out when problems are overwhelming you. Stay away from Debian, if you go to a Debian forum looking for help, other Debian users will just beat you over the head with "RTFM".

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maybe mandrake redhat to learn, but GENTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO is awesome, and really it's the hardcore way to learn linux. I did mandrake before i heard of gentoo, and it was a good route to go simply because i knew at least a little of linux, but it's not necessary.

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Please let me put a plug in for Mandrake. The reason I like it so much is that, if you use Partition Magic (or some other partitioning program) and partition or reformat a space for Linux (ext3), it will automatically install on that space and place a bootloader at the front end of the MBR. It is not too hard to learn and is probably closer to what you are used to. I recommend http://www.justlinux.com for info and it is a great forum.

Also, I would stick with distribution 9.1 at this time. Although 9.2 is out, there are a few bugs that need to be worked out and 9.1 is really stable and secure. I have tried RedHat, but I clearly prefer Mandrake for ease of use and downloading updates. Go to http://www.linuxmandrake.com for downloading.

Barney :rolleyes:

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Well I guess my favorite distro is Slackware. It's easy to use. But since your completly new to Linux I would say either use a live on CD version of Linux or try Mandrake. Mandrake is a great distro, perfect for sinking your teeth into Linux.

But I'd give a live on CD version a quick try first. Here's a link to Slackware live on CD....

http://www.slackware-live.org/

Hope that helps you out a bit.

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  • 2 weeks later...

thanks, i already got knoppix - std, but I want to get a permanent install of linux eventually, but is gentoo easy to install and learn for a n00b? or should I stick with mandrake?

Edited by lonelypilgrim
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gentoo is probably the hardest distro to install...personally I find Slackware to the THE EASIEST...but that's just me I gather since everybody keeps saying how hard it is....

and you can do a permanant install of knoppix.....

For a newb distro I'd go for Jamd though

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Want a secure stable os to use thats fairly easy to install... use FreeBSD 4.8 Stable.

Ports are easy to use, pkg_add, pkg_delete and pkg_version are easier than rpms to use :)

Once you get it running, XFree86 being the hardest thing to configure ( and thats ONLY if you don't know your own hardware) You will prolly never even wanna try Gentoo, although for those hardcore linux people Gentoo is great.

Also it takes LESS time to get *BSD boxes running than most other OS's.. even windows. :yes:

BTW Im using FreeBSD 5.1 Current and Gnome 2.2

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gentoo is probably the hardest distro to install...personally I find Slackware to the THE EASIEST...but that's just me I gather since everybody keeps saying how hard it is....

Slackware is easy to install, most people who are used to auto partitioning might get confused with fdisk and naming the partitions.

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