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I have recently got ISDN (which is quite fast for a connection in South Africa) and I want to download the latest Linux Distribution and put the latest version of GNOME on it.

I basically want the most up-to-date version of linux on my system with the latest GNOME desktop.

What I want to know is which distro would be the best to use? I would think either Fedora 2 Core 2 or Gentoo? I am not very proficient in linux just yet.

Secondly, I'd like to know the EASIEST way of downloading and installing GNOME 2.6?

Many thanks

Boggit

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i would suggest mandrake 10 myself, i just installed it and i must say im impressed. but really it comes down to preference. i have tried about 5 different distros and i have found this mandrake 10 to be the easiest and nicest to use. but this is just me. however nothing comes with gnome 2.6 to my knowledge anyway otherwise that is one VERY up to date distro, lol.

if some1 could suggest a good way to get gnome 2.6 i'd like to know because i need it also but im on 56k :(

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Installing Fedora Core 2 is easy, but it doesn't come with a real nice package manager built-in. You can get rpm-get or something like that for it which will download all files and install them needed for a package, solving the dependency hell.

Installing Gentoo is a little harder (not all that much, but it's not a GUI install), but if you can follow directions, the install guide will get you through an install with no problems. Gentoo comes with a nice package management system, Portage. To install something it's just 'emerge packagename'. So it's very easy to stay up to date. You can even keep your whole system up to date with 'emerge -u world'.

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I have recently got ISDN (which is quite fast for a connection in South Africa) and I want to download the latest Linux Distribution and put the latest version of GNOME on it.

I basically want the most up-to-date version of linux on my system with the latest GNOME desktop.

What I want to know is which distro would be the best to use? I would think either Fedora 2 Core 2 or Gentoo? I am not very proficient in linux just yet.

Secondly, I'd like to know the EASIEST way of downloading and installing GNOME 2.6?

Many thanks

Boggit

If you want to stay up to date then you NEED a Debian-based system so that you can run apt-get. RPM-based installations (Redhat, Fedora, Mandrake) are much more difficult to keep current. Often users will reinstall Linux just to become more up to date (i.e. to move from Mandrake 9 to Mandrake 10). With a Debian-based system you can install even a very old copy and then use apt-get to update all of the compents even including the kernel.

I use apt-get to download the latest editions each and every night. Over the past week I have progressed through Gnome 2.6.0-1, 2.6.0-2 and 2.6.0-3. I had problems with a crashing clock panel applet in 2.6.0-1 but that was solved a night or two later with 2.6.0-2.

Since Debian itself is difficult to install, I would recommend installing Knoppix. Once you use the supplied hard disk install script it becomes 99% the same as Debian. There is another Debian-based distro called Gnoppix that includes Gnome from the get-go but I believe it includes Gnome 2.4 still so it's not of much value. You might as well start with Knoppix (even though it comes with KDE as its default) and then use apt-get to get Debian 2.6.0-x. You can also use apt-get to remove KDE if you want.

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Installing Fedora Core 2 is easy, but it doesn't come with a real nice package manager built-in. You can get rpm-get or something like that for it which will download all files and install them needed for a package, solving the dependency hell.

I believe it is called apt4rpm but I have never used it myself so I can't say if it's a good as Debian's apt-get system.

I did bother to install Gentoo and I had it up and running for a brief moment. It too waay to long to install and it was completely not worth the bother, IMO. You can be up and running with Knoppix in 30 minutes and you can compile your own kernel if you really feel the need to optimize performance.

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If you want to stay up to date then you NEED a Debian-based system so that you can run apt-get. RPM-based installations (Redhat, Fedora, Mandrake) are much more difficult to keep current. Often users will reinstall Linux just to become more up to date (i.e. to move from Mandrake 9 to Mandrake 10). With a Debian-based system you can install even a very old copy and then use apt-get to update all of the compents even including the kernel.

I use apt-get to download the latest editions each and every night. Over the past week I have progressed through Gnome 2.6.0-1, 2.6.0-2 and 2.6.0-3. I had problems with a crashing clock panel applet in 2.6.0-1 but that was solved a night or two later with 2.6.0-2.

Since Debian itself is difficult to install, I would recommend installing Knoppix. Once you use the supplied hard disk install script it becomes 99% the same as Debian. There is another Debian-based distro called Gnoppix that includes Gnome from the get-go but I believe it includes Gnome 2.4 still so it's not of much value. You might as well start with Knoppix (even though it comes with KDE as its default) and then use apt-get to get Debian 2.6.0-x. You can also use apt-get to remove KDE if you want.

actually gentoo is usually the most up to date in portage, however any linux distro can be provided the user compiles stuff manually. I could have installed gnome 2.6.0-4 (in reality the actaul 2.6 release) on gentoo the day after 2.6 officially came out (almost a week ago). This is due to the fact that you have to compile it yourself and the ebuilds supplied in portage for gnome 2.6.0-4 link to the actual 2.6 source, downloads it, and compiles it in order. This means that nobody has to make the binaries for it and then get those on the web. Additionally the longest part of gentoo was getting it installed, however once your base is installed (including x and either gnome or kde if you want one of those) it takes about the same amount to keep it updated as any other distro. Once all that is installed you can be doing other stuff while the ebuild is compiling and installing.

no offense to you fred, but your bias towards knoppix and debian is starting to get on my nerves. It isn't the most up to date most of the time (I give that crown to gentoo as the ebuilds can link to the source and there is no middle man to make the binaries and put them up for you to download). Its apt-get is no better than the apt-get for rpm distros as far as I am concerned (I used apt with synaptic on fedora and my system was always up to date and synaptic is a wonderful gui for installing packages and their dependencies). And In many instances compiling from the source will significantly help the speed of the system. Debian is not the best distro, no distro is the best distro. Some are better than others for some people, while other people might hate that distro: this is the beauty of linux. I for one prefer non-rpm distros because I dislike the extra baggage those provide. I prefer slackware and gentoo. However I havent' tried debian (I won't do it through a knoppix install as I don't like kde and knoppix also includes alot of stuff I don't need/want). I know you can pick and choose what to install with debian, but I just never had an urge to when slackware and gentoo suit me perfectly. Right now I am using slackware and I really enjoy it.

As per the original poster I will suggest slackware as it does just as good as anyother distro for isdn. However it isn't the easiest distro to use at first, but what you learn from slackware is useful in almost every linux distro. Learning how to not use gui setup applications for things like networking, modems, printing, and most anything is a very vital part of learning to use linux. Guis make linux easy, but that are not guaranteed to be 100% correct in their function and they might not work the way you need them. And you just might get stuck in the console oneday with out a gui and knowing what to do will save you a lot of time. This applies equally for gentoo.

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Thank you for all your replies. fred666: Where would you suggest I download these distributions form? http://www.linuxiso.org ?

They should have it.

Distro Watch also has a nice little populatity counter. I'm not sure it's scientifically accurate but you can also find some good information there.

If you are interested in Knoppix then go to www.knopper.net

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no offense to you fred, but your bias towards knoppix and debian is starting to get on my nerves. It isn't the most up to date most of the time (I give that crown to gentoo as the ebuilds can link to the source and there is no middle man to make the binaries and put them up for you to download). Its apt-get is no better than the apt-get for rpm distros as far as I am concerned (I used apt with synaptic on fedora and my system was always up to date and synaptic is a wonderful gui for installing packages and their dependencies). And In many instances compiling from the source will significantly help the speed of the system. Debian is not the best distro, no distro is the best distro. Some are better than others for some people, while other people might hate that distro: this is the beauty of linux. I for one prefer non-rpm distros because I dislike the extra baggage those provide. I prefer slackware and gentoo. However I havent' tried debian (I won't do it through a knoppix install as I don't like kde and knoppix also includes alot of stuff I don't need/want). I know you can pick and choose what to install with debian, but I just never had an urge to when slackware and gentoo suit me perfectly. Right now I am using slackware and I really enjoy it.

Yes, I admit, I think everyone should be running a Debian-based distro. I am using Knoppix to learn Debian because I think Debian is where it's at. Debian does not need to make money, there is no corporation, no employees, nothing. It's the most open-source of all the open-source distributions. It's also perfectly good for either a desktop OS or a server OS.

Yes, I have even recommended somebody interested in Debian to run Knoppix instead. Why? Well, it's one of those things that if you need to ask how to do it then you're probably not ready. Knoppix is good for noobs as you can get nearly instant results (up and running in 30 minutes).

I would recommend Gnoppix if they were a bit more organized since I too prefer Gnome.

In terms of apt-get being up to date or not... A week or two behind the install from source community isn't too bad, all things considered.

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Yes, I have even recommended somebody interested in Debian to run Knoppix instead. Why? Well, it's one of those things that if you need to ask how to do it then you're probably not ready. Knoppix is good for noobs as you can get nearly instant results (up and running in 30 minutes).

I would recommend Gnoppix if they were a bit more organized since I too prefer Gnome.

In terms of apt-get being up to date or not... A week or two behind the install from source community isn't too bad, all things considered.

I agree completely with these three statements.

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fred you should put all your debian influences in your sig, will cut back on your posting ;-) kind of like kill 2 birds with one stone type of thing

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