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So many variations of Linux ..

Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 9:44 pm
by erupt
For somebody who wants to start learning Linux on his own and play around with it (me) :) which variation would you recommend?

Preferably a live cd version where i can run it from a cd, also one that supports Intel would be nice as well :) I'm not very Linux literate (yet) so I'll need all the advice I can get.

Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 11:31 pm
by feyd
ubuntu?

Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 6:46 am
by Chris Corbyn
You'll struggle to find a linux distro that doesn't support intel. Most support PPC these days but they were first built for x86 machines.

I'll second feyd's advice. Ubuntu couldn't be simpler. They've really got the balance right in terms of making it easy to adapt if your new to linux and also giving you the control if you know your way around.

Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 8:33 am
by derchris
For a Live CD System, I can recommend Knoppix.

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index.html

Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 9:25 am
by erupt
Thanks, I will check out one of these two or both and give a diagnosis.

Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:33 pm
by defect
i started out with slackware which i believe is considered a pretty difficult ditribution to start with.
but i think it taught me the basic things i needed to know, such as compiling programs and so on.
im pretty sure i wouldnt have done it without the help from friends who already were pretty advanced linux users though and that is what i think is most important.

Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 6:02 pm
by timvw
Imho there is no such thing as a (too) hard to install distribution... Most of the distributions i've tried untill now had a good and extensive manual.. The problem lies usually with the users that are too lazy/unwilling/... to actually read that manual.

Most softwares come with source, and have a README and/or INSTALL file included with pretty good information. Usually it's as simple as configure && make && make install && make clean.

I do agree that the learning curve is pretty steep, and even after a couple of years you'll still have the feeling that there is so much that you don't know much about ;) (Well, that's the feeling i have after 9years...)