What version is right for me?

[rofler]

Hello, this is my first post here, It looks like a great site for all my linux questions.

I am going to get a dual-core windows computer, quite fast, and I want to do the following things:

-Run Windows Vista/XP (one or the other, haven't quite decided yet) and linux on the same computer
-Command line interface with a wide range of commands
-Wireless internet connection
-Graphical user interface of some kind (Like a web browser and a GNOME desktop, doesn't have to be that great)
-Run small windows programs on it (I can use them from a CD if I have to)
-very fast speed
-free
(-allows me to tweak to my hearts desire)

Which version of linux would be right for me?

All suggestions welcome.

Cheers, Rofler.

Edit: It's a laptop actually

[adwilson99]

Honestly, I think all linux distros fit your list of criteria, but here's some pointers.

-Command line interface with a wide range of commands
All the distros will come with this, some will boot to the command line by default. others will go to a graphical login and then you can open up an "xterm","terminal","shell" or some similar program to get to the command line.

Wireless internet connection
The success you have with this will depend very much on your hardware, some distros will make it easy for you with wizards to help you set it up. Others require a more manual approach, but it is always a great way to get to learn what happens under the hood. much google searching maybe required though.

Graphical user interface of some kind
Most of the modern distros will come with both gnome and KDE as well as many other choices, just install any you fancy... you'll probably go through a few before you find one that fits you just right.

Run small windows programs on it
Wine is your key here, most distros would have it on their CD's. Wine can run simplistic windows programs, but for the latest games, I would stick to the real thing for now, though wine and it's siblings are getting better all the time.

very fast speed
Always a subjective topic, but from my experience, some of the bigger distro's Mandrake, SuSE, Fedora, Ubuntu etc may seem slow when you first start off, this is normally cause they haven't been optimized for your hardware, they are designed to work on as many pc's as possible out of the box. At the other extreme you have distro's such as gentoo which you compile yourself specific to your hardware requirements. For myself I prefer the "lighter" distros which are designed to work on older hardware. I like these cause if they are fast on old hardware, then they usually run like lighting on new hardware! (though you should note, sometimes it takes a while for the latest and greatest piece of hardware kit to be supported on linux)

-allows me to tweak to my hearts desire
They all do! it all depends on how much you want to get your hands dirty... at the real extreme you can build your own linux distro!

Ok here's a few distro's you might like to look at, like I said these are "lighter" distros which is my personal preference, they are all free!

1) Puppy linux (LIVE CD!) Puppy Linux (this should run like lighting on your setup)
2) Vector Linux VectorLinux - VectorLinux.com
3) Zenwalk www.zenwalk.org - Ever tried zen computing?
4) Damn Small Linux (LIVE CD!) DSL information
5) Xubuntu Xubuntu Home Page | Xubuntu.org

And there are hundreds more out there! have fun!

[rofler]

Thank you for the advice, I was going to get SUSE or UBUNTU without considering speed. I will probably use xubuntu, since it's almost ubuntu, and much faster. I hope i works out.

Cheers, Rofler.

[techieMoe]

Honestly, I think all linux distros fit your list of criteria...

Agreed. This is why we try to redirect questions like this to our tutorials, which say roughly the same things you suggested:

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/lin...ead-first.html