Very Very new To Nix

[HoE]

I am very new to Linux, I installed Linspire 4.5 and absolutely forgot about Winblows, So I decided I wanted A full Linux Core install, I guess thats what i really wanted. A friend gave me his mandrake 7.2 and I had install problem after problem, So I downloaded Redhat 9.0. Install was easy, and setting up net connection was easier. My question is this. I have only been trying Linux this week, Never seen it on a machine before I installed it on this one, Is there an actual verion of another distro that would be better for me to learn with and try out? I seen Debian on TechTV and kinda liked it and they had good reviews of it. When i go to download it there are like 6 or 7 iso's to download. If I were to download any of them which would I want to use to install on my HDD? and if another distro is recommended pleease point me in the direction of the one you recommend and give me some install pointers.

Thanx in advance!

[fudg3tunn3l]

For the first timer I'd recommend SuSE or Mandrake. They are extremely easy to install and use and although I've never really clicked with Mandrake I do appreciate that lots and lots of people love it. My preference is SuSE 8.2 Professional which works like a dream. Go to a cheap CD shop here or search on eBay for Mandrake or SuSE you'll find lots to buy at very cheap prices - much less than a certain OS I could mention

[kriss]

Check out the Slackware distro if you want to learn real fast. Its not a very easy-to-use distro, but it teaches you what you need to know a lot faster than eg. Redhat.

Good luck

[jeremy1701]

Mandrake, Fedora or Suse are great for beginers. Usually Slackware and Gentoo are for more advanced users that want a little more power of control over there system.

Both Mandrake and Fedora offer free ISO downloads on there web-site, although they might be a little hard to find b/c they really want you to give a little $$ first. Suse, on the other hand, won't let you download ISO's. You have to intall by FTP. I've found that most noob's find that a little intimidating.

Try them all out and see which you like best. When I started, I tried them all. I found a certain comfort with Mandrake, so that's what I stuck with, but to each his own, right?

Good luck!
Jeremy

[nomar]

Stick with Redhat 9 for now. Get used to linux, try some stuff out and enjoy it.

You may be happy with what you got, but if you want to learn more, get comfortable using the command line (terminal). After a while, if you still fancy looking at something different then go ahead.

If you want to give debian a go, use the new debian installer from here:

http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

it's still in beta but very good. It's a net install on one CD.

By the way redhat 9 was followed by Fedora Core 1 - use this if you want to update.