A Neowin Guide to Linux Distributions


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dewy: It would have been nice had you contacted me before "publishing" my guide on your personal webspace. I am flattered that you found it to your tastes but I do not appreciate you claiming part-authorship of my work. I have noted in the below passage that you have removed Configures name and replaced it with your own email address.

This was a guide I put together for neowin members to aid them in getting started with Linux. You were not involved in its creation and I would very much appreciate it if my guide remains exclusive to neowin unless permission is otherwise given.

Thankyou.

it was just there as a way of sumbmission and i would PM it to u

  • 2 months later...

i have a suggestion.., many new linux users who come in the forum will ask "help..!! i'm a linux newbie.., which distro should i install?". The Distro guide is very well written, but they would also like to know which distro is used more widely among neowin members, so they might want to choose the mostly used one, and will be able to get more feedback that way.... so i suggest to add a poll to this thread if its possible....

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Knoppix is cool, but PCLinuxOS is better. PCLinuxOS is a Mandrake based distro that runs off of a CD. It is very good looking and easy to configure. PCLinuxOS has a Control Center which allows you to configure most settings. It has Mozilla Firebird, Java, Flash, and nVidia drivers all by default. It also doesn't have more than one program to do one task, so it is cleaner to navigate. I use it whenever I install Gentoo so that at least I can listen to music and surf the web while everything is compiling. By the way, it uses ALSA, unlike Knoppix. It is the most advanced, yet easy to use live-cd that I have ever used.

http://www.pclinuxonline.com/

Knoppix is cool, but PCLinuxOS is better. PCLinuxOS is a Mandrake based distro that runs off of a CD. It is very good looking and easy to configure. PCLinuxOS has a Control Center which allows you to configure most settings. It has Mozilla Firebird, Java, Flash, and nVidia drivers all by default. It also doesn't have more than one program to do one task, so it is cleaner to navigate. I use it whenever I install Gentoo so that at least I can listen to music and surf the web while everything is compiling. By the way, it uses ALSA, unlike Knoppix. It is the most advanced, yet easy to use live-cd that I have ever used.

http://www.pclinuxonline.com/

I will try it.

  • 2 weeks later...
Linux Live Systems (Knoppix, Gentoo LiveCD)

http://www.knoppix.net , http://www.gentoo.org

This kind of distro will completely run from CD, so you don't need to install it and maybe waste your partitions or something. It's a great way to see linux running on your system. There are many different distros, each with different goals. If you just want to "see linux in action", i'd suggest you go for a full-featured distro like Knoppix.

Many people also use these distros for recovering data from PCs or repairing their Linux/Windows installation.

The key point that is missing here is that Knoppix is based on Debian. That's its number one strength. Once you install Knoppix on the HD (with the provided install script) then you essentially have Debian.

Another interesting Debian-based Live CD system is Morphix but v0.5 is still pending. The advantage here is that you get download ISO's preconfigured for GNOME 2.4 (HeavyGUI), KDE 3.1, XFCE4 (LightGUI) or gaming.

  • 2 weeks later...

i have an old win95 laptop, Pentuim 1 , 133 mhz, 32 MB of ram , it runs fine with win 95 .. its my mobile word processor .. to cheap to buy a new laptop .. i was wondering if there is a linux disrto lite enuf to run on it bu still as engouh features to use as a word processor/web surfer/msn/neowin poster/downloader

anybody can help me??

[edit] damn i cant type tired [/edit]

i have an old win95 laptop, Pentuim 1 , 133 mhz, 32 MB of ram , it runs fine with win 95 .. its my mobile word processor .. to cheap to buy a new laptop .. i was wondering if there is a linux distro lite enuf to run on it bu still as engouh features to use as a word processor/web surfer/msn/neowin poster/downloader

anybody can help me??

Sounds a bit stingy on RAM to go with a full-blown Desktop Environment such as Gnome or KDE. You could go something like TWM for a Window Manager on it and be OK, I think. Or maybe iceWM. Perhaps someone else will have suggestions for preferred Window Managers.

Any distro will work on it, you just need to pick what to install, and what will consume too much resources. For example, don't install OpenOffice on this machine. Use something like kedit for basic word processing. Firefox should be runnable, but there are probably lighter-weight browsers if it is too slow on that PC.

Give it a try and see what is acceptable to you and what is not. Not sure if you might want to consider an older version of Linux. I would recommend against it, but again, it is ultimately your choice.

i have an old win95 laptop, Pentuim 1 , 133 mhz, 32 MB of ram , it runs fine with win 95 .. its my mobile word processor .. to cheap to buy a new laptop .. i was wondering if there is a linux disrto lite enuf to run on it bu still as engouh features to use as a word processor/web surfer/msn/neowin poster/downloader

anybody can help me??

You might want to consider Damn Small Linux. It is very lightweight, running Kdrive as an X server, Fluxbox as a window manager, and various lightweight apps like Dillo for browsing the web. It has a word processor and media players. It'll fit on a business card sized CD. It has Naim for the AIM and IRC networks, but it doesn't support MSN out of the box. Check it out.

  • 2 weeks later...
SuSE 9.1 will be the best.

Kernel 2.6.3 (or whatever the latest is at release)

KDE 3.2

reiser4? hopefully.

:o

I think you may have not seen the poster's hardware specs:

i have an old win95 laptop,

Pentuim 1 ,

133 mhz,

32 MB of ram

Me thinks that KDE would CRUSH the poor PC :(

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    • I have never been a huge fan of libre, it feels really good but exactly when you need an advance feature for data wrangling it falls short every time or has bugs. I am all for euro office if they can deliver a good and usable alternative to MS office with backing of govt function.
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    • Is your Apple Watch supported? Check the watchOS 27 compatibility list by Aditya Tiwari Apple kicked off WWDC 2026 with a ton of announcements, mostly centered around Apple Intelligence improvements, the Siri AI, and Liquid Glass updates. However, there is a lot of other stuff that couldn't catch the limelight. Let's talk about watchOS 27 and which models are supported by the newest operating system. According to the Cupertino giant, watchOS 27 will be supported on the following Apple Watch models when it arrives later this year: Apple Watch Ultra 3 Apple Watch Series 11 Apple Watch SE 3 Apple Watch Series 10 Apple Watch Ultra 2 It's a stark contrast with last year's watchOS 26 update, which had almost a dozen Apple Watch models in its list of supported devices. Apple supported models all the way back to Apple Watch Series 6. That said, if you own one of the five models, you'll need an iPhone 11 (or later) with iOS 27 to install the latest update. Yes, Apple has shown some extra love to the iPhone 11, and it old horse supports the iOS 27 update. watchOS 27 beta 1 is now available for developers and interested power users through the Apple Developer Program. So, if you're among those who like to play with fire, you can download it to your supported Apple Watch. Otherwise, the public beta for watchOS 27 will be available next month. The freshly baked Apple Watch update comes with Siri AI - an advanced, fully conversational version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence due for later this year. A new dynamic app grid features icons for five Siri-suggested apps. You can use a new tap gesture to open a widget in the Smart Stack, and a new Find My app finally clears the mess of Find Devices, Find Items, and Find People on Apple Watch. Workout Buddy can run without an iPhone nearby and offers new insights based on data, including your progress for pace, distance, and workout duration. Apple improved its motion tracking algorithms to measure the distance of indoor treadmill runs and walks more precisely. Speaking of other changes, the music playback on watchOS 27 starts faster and you can create custom passes for any membership or card that uses a QR code or barcode, then easily access them in the Wallet app or pin in the Smart Stack.
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