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Originally Posted by ChefSalad  At some point in the future, after you're somewhat comfortable in your daily tasks, break out a crappy old computer and do Linux From Scratch on it. It will produce a usable system completely from scratch, and it'll give you an in depth knowledge of how Linux works. |
I'm going to strongly consider doing that for my next computer. After successfully installing and maintaining Gentoo, I feel I'm up to the challenge.
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Originally Posted by poisian I've been working with Ubuntu recently and trying to break into Linux. But I have read some not-so-good things about Ubuntu and I am not sure this is where I want to begin with Linux.
As a knowledgeable Linux user, what distribution would you recommend for a beginner? |
Really? I'm curious - what "not-so-good things" have you heard? I've never used Ubuntu personally, but I don't recall hearing anything but the best. Even some of the most knowledgeable people I know use it, even though it is mostly meant for newbies.
Aside from that, my personal recommendation would be
Xandros (it's a company, but there is a free version of the OS). Xandros was my first successful attempt at running a non-Windows system. Once I got good and tried to tweak things, it didn't work so well, though; as a result, I wouldn't recommend it on a system that you aren't going to want to reinstall later. If you want to break out of the Debian base entirely, try
Mandriva. There are others, of course, but both of these are fairly popular distros which will offer support if you run into trouble.
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Originally Posted by moltar If you want to make the jump, just make a list of the software you use daily and can't live without. Find alternatives for Linux, and go ahead and install a copy as a secondary system, play around and if you like it, ditch the Windows.
I've tried switching to Linux twice, and both times returned to Windows. I just couldn't find replacement for two programs that I can't live without. |
Excellent idea. It's best to try out a live CD if you're not sure. What programs were you unable to find replacements for? You probably just weren't looking hard enough.
