From a Newbie perspective

[MASONTX]

I get that the great thing about linux is freedom of choice. What the community could do to help newbie's find their way is to provide a way for newbie's, who don't know enough yet to make an intelligent choice, to make wise choices. Specifically, instead of advice like "download a bunch of disto's and see which one you like best", give a half dozen distro's that are beginner friendly. It is easy for a beginner to get discouraged if they download a distro that requires a lot of command line knowledge to get running correctly.

[oz]

Specifically, instead of advice like "download a bunch of disto's and see which one you like best", give a half dozen distro's that are beginner friendly.

That's been done already:

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/cof...rs-2010-a.html

Not only do they get a listing of new user friendly distros, but they get to see a vote on the distros indicating which ones might actually be the easiest. There isn't any one distribution that will be the easiest for everyone, so that's why the vote is important.

[MASONTX]

True. I've missed what I was trying to get at, and can't really nail the thought down to a concrete example.

I guess what I'm looking for is a linux that just loads, downloads aps, and plain works without having to resort to command line or scripting. I want to get to the point I can do scripting someday, but it is intimidating to a newbie. As a new convert who wants to convert my friends, I see "command line" and "scripting" as advantages for the intermediate user, but an impediment to the novice.

[MASONTX]

Must be having a bad brain day. If I didn't know me, I'ld think I was rambling, brain dead idiot from this post. Sorry all!

[ted61]

I am with you on the easy distribution that just works. I have been tinkering with Linux for more than 10 years and Ubuntu 10.04 is the first distribution to flat out take over my computer. I do not use any other OS at home.

The Ubunutu software center from the applications menu on the left hand side of the screen has just about any software you will need. I have a couple of web sites and a lot of pictures for my sites that require coding and an ftp client. Everything I need is here.

Run Ubuntu on an AMD dual core something with a 40 gig SSD primary hard drive and a 500 gig external hard drive. I also have an AMD/ATI 4850 video card that works flawlessly. I do not know about games. I downloaded Linux gamers live 9.6 but I have not tried it yet. The ISO copy software was a bit confusing to figure out but I got it without reading the instructions.

[zrdc28]

Go to distrowatch and download pclinuxos. mepis or mint, you will need to know if you have a 32 or 64 bit computer, download the one you want. All three of the above has a live cd that will run on your computer, to check them out, If the video, sound,mouse, keyboard and internet works then install it. You will need to answer a few questions language, what type keyboard, and what time zone you are in. After you install it run in for a couple of years then learn command line. The three listed above all have everything in the distro to do most anything you will want to do.

[MASONTX]

I've been running Ubuntu and been happy with it. My old laptop with Puppy was a little harder to get up and running, but with the help of the forum and some digging in the help section, I've got it working.

[Gravitas]

If you haven't already, I'd take a look at Puppy Project's recent release. It's marks a new direction for Puppy in that it's Ubuntu based but Puppy remains small, powerful, & user friendly. Its called Lucid 5.0... A real improvement of the font problem in the major broswers. In Lucid 5.0, you simply select the browser you want (Firefox, Opera, Etc) and it's auto installed as the default.

Other distros worth looking at are gOS & Open GEU. In my opinion Ubuntu and the Ubuntu family has become too big and slow. Linux Mint 9 (not an official Ubuntu family project) is superior to Ubuntu family distros largely due to its near immediate boot and shut down processes & out of the "box" inclusion of plug ins that are not pure GNU standard "free" It still has Ubuntu like size and slowness when compared to Lucid 5.0, which boots & runs in RAM memory.

I played /looked over Linux distros for several years, looking for an alternative to Windows that did not rob a lot of my productive time. The first one that I installed and used on a regular basis was Xubuntu 8.XX. I currently have Linux Mint 9 installed on two laptops and an older Dell desktop (GX60). I also have Puppy 431 and Lucid 5.0 installed on USB Stick drives. For a few years, I used Linux for 50% of my computing. Now I use Linux Mint 9 & Lucid for 95% of my computing and rarely use Windows (Vista Ultimate and XP Pro).

I've always hated Windows, considering it from the start an inferior O/S... Gates crushed an inexpensive, tiny gui O/S I used (when I wasn't using command line MS-DOS and CPM). It was called GEOSWORKS, by Berkelly Softworks. By MS Windows '95, Gates managed to build a monopoly computing cartel with enough muscle in the market to "force" most users to use Windows, despite the fact that Windows 3.xx, '95, & 98, 98SE, ME were very unstable, glichy, & serious user time consumers.

I am delighted that many Linux power users & experts evolved from the community's original
tendency for a macho geek attitude, an attitude that kept Linux Distros from becoming real competition for money machine O/S Windows (& Apple) & its equally greedy hardware and software cartel members.

We should be vigilant about becoming emotionally attached to Ubuntu. It's owned by Canonical, a money making corporation. The founder has made considerable profit from Ubuntu & the Project is beginning to look like a wannabe commercial enterprise.

Huge Google corporation is also looking like a major commercial enterprise. Already, people should not trust Google with their personal habit and personal information data.

We should consider this. Are there money (and power) hungry venture capital types out there who realize that developing O/S & software on a GNU "free" basis can get them invaluable free talent innovating for them at a level impossible within a corporate structure, intending all along to slickly pull the trigger on patents and copyright in order to speed down the huge money machine highway that Microsoft, Google, & eBay luxuriate on?

Keep in mind Apple co-partner Steve Wozniac quit years ago. He left Apple so cash rich that he owns the 3 three largest yachts in the world (larger than MOST nation's biggest naval ship). He lives like a oil cartel king! Apple has been a much smaller corporation than Microsoft!

Meg Ryan (ethical shortcut Meg) who built eBay into a giant left with so much cash she may be buying her own seat in the US government. She apparently wants to apply her ethics short cuts
to government, another unoriginal Meg idea.

[MASONTX]

Yes, I have tried Puppy 5.0, and kept it on an old laptop with a PIII 500 cpu. I've also tried Mepis, ubuntu, openSuse, PClinuxOS, an a couple of others. Right now I have Ubuntu lynx on my desktop, and am trying to figure out which distro would be best to ease my wife into on her desktop and laptop.

[kpbotbot]

My choice (Fedora) was actually from an online distribution chooser, and a couple of researches and looking for more information about some stuff on some stuff by looking at the major distributions page on distrowatch.com.

The choice is actually on the user, but I do recommend these for absolute starters:

- Linux Mint
- SuperOS
- Mandriva

Just my thoughts.