which Linux should a newbie use?

[bearzilla333]

Sorry if this had been asked a lot, but I really do not know much about Linux and next spring I will be taking a course for it to prepare for the certification. I thought I would try to get a head start and play around with it, I got a spare PC I can load it on. I just found out which book I will be studying from "CompTIA Linux+ Complete Study Guide, by Smith BK w/CD" If any one has any input as to which flavor of Linux to start out with It would be greatly appreciated, and or any tips as a newbie with Linux. Thank you.

[jayd512]

Hello and Welcome!

Since you are going to be studying for a certification, I would advise an RHEL clone such as CentOS or Scientific Linux.
Many companies that use Linux will be using RHEL, so these would give you the familiarity you are looking for.
Some companies use SLED, though, so openSUSE might work, as well.

[allwimb]

don't care about what distro you need. Some will say that Redhat is good some other will says that Ubuntu is better but they are all the same they all got Linux as a kernel. The first distro I used was Redhat 7.0 and then I switched to Fedora/RHEL/CentOS after that to Ubuntu/Kubuntu and now I'm using Debian. However I used Suse, Mandriva, Knoppix, etc.

[MASONTX]

That's kind of like asking which girl should I marry. The beauty of linux is that there are a lot of different possibilities, so you can find one that is just what you like. In general though, you can go to distrowatch.com and scroll down to where the top 100 distros are on the right hand side of the page, then start at the top and work down until you find one you like. Ubuntu is the #1 download, but opensuse, centos, fedora, and debian are all in the top 10. Experiment and have fun.

[Tsquad]

I started on Ubuntu just because it was the most user friendly distro that i found for switching from windows. Im now using linux mint 11 which is built off of ubuntu, which is built off of Debian, and i love it. I also ran Fedora for a bit, that wasn't to hard to use either. There all good, its just about personal preference.

If you have the time, i would download the Live CD's for the top few you want to try out, and try them that way. It all runs off the CD so there is no changes to your HD.

[oz]

That's kind of like asking which girl should I marry.

lol... that's one analogy that I've not seen before, but it is an interesting way to think about it!

Welcome to the forums, bearzilla333!

You can check the link in my signature for lots of good information on getting started with Linux.

Good luck to you with your choice of distribution choice, and with your upcoming Linux course.

[bearzilla333]

thanx for all the replies. I think I am going to try OpenSUSE. I checked out some of the links under "new users", and some where I found a qustionaire about which distribution is right for you.

[Hyp0tez]

Apples and Pears question it certainly is =)
Good thing this forum is so helpful and not "1337!" hehe
I remember checking on IRC when i started out, and most of the replies to questions there where RT*M, and "thats for me to know and you to find out".
I am just happy that sites like this excist nowwadays

[lugoteehalt]

People always get tense about this. Might be best to use the one you fancy.

[kiwiland]

well what kind of version is Ubuntu? I have just installed it and it looks quite like windows