From where to start?

[Danny Lawson]

I was using windows for several years. Currently I'm using Win MCE on my computer. I'm very much impressed by Linux and wish to switch from Windows.
My friend gave me CD's for RHEL version 4 to start with. Is it good to start with RHEL ver 4 as a newbie?
What are the basic things that I need to know about Linux before switching from windows?

[fatra2]

I would suggest taking a look at some web site talking about Linux and it's philsophy. I found this one very explicit.http://www.tldp.org/LDP/gs/node5.html

[Roxoff]

The best place to look is on www.distrowatch.com, there you will find all kinds of information about the strengths of the various distributions.

My personal fave is Fedora Core 6, which comes from the RedHat camp (and is supposedly the platform upon which the upcoming RHEL 5 will be based), but your favourite may be something completely different. There are 'windows-like' distros, mainstream distros, distros where the packages are built from souce, distros for the power user, even a media centre distro (take a look at KnoppMyth - it's based on MythTV, and is significantly better than Windows MCE).

[techieMoe]

I would also suggest you take a look at the articles and threads listed here:

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

They've been compiled over the last few years from common questions asked by those new to Linux.

[Danny Lawson]

Thanks everybody. I'll go through the links to get enough knowledge.

[burntfuse]

If you're just starting out with Linux and want a completely working-out-of-the-box setup, IMHO you should consider the latest versions of Ubuntu or SuSE. After you get a feel for what's going on, you could try RHEL or FC6 or one of the other distros.

[weknowtheworld]

I think you should go through the following url before changing from Windows to Linux :
http://www.reallylinux.com/docs/windowstolinux.shtml

[burntfuse]

Not a bad introduction, but it makes some things (like running programs and browsing files) sound more complex than they actually are - don't be scared away.