If you're thinking of getting into Linux, there's no easier way to dip your toe in those waters than Knoppix (knoppix.org). It boots from CD, configures its own drivers with a relatively high success rate (it even managed to pick up the Belkin 54g card in my laptop and connected straight to my wireless network/Internet router). And booting from CD means it doesn't even touch the contents of your hard drive. Just make sure you've got plenty of memory (512Mb is good enough). Of course, Knoppix is not the alpha and omega of what you can do with Linux (for starters, KDE, the desktop interface that Knoppix uses, is only one of many different alternative GUIs), but it's a fine introduction to the world of Linux.
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Anonymous2005-02-05 8:09
what about redhat? it seems very popular
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Anonymous2005-02-05 8:14
btw, theres GamesKnoppix and KNOPPIX
whats the difference?
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Anonymous2005-02-05 9:05
Knoppix is the way to go, really. And you practically speaking can get away with using 256 megs of ram (probably only 128 megs, but it would get sluggish and weird).
Knoppix stuffs the CD with a variety of applications (office, productivity stuff etc.), while GamesKnoppix stuffs the CD mostly with games and such. Found brief reviews of the games in GamesKnoppix here -
Try Suse 9.1, you can burn it to cd and boot from it to try it out. Its got one of the simplest installs of any linux around as well so you shouldn't have much trouble gettting it up and running if you do install it.
suse sucks shit and is an overrated peice of crap.
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Anonymous2005-02-07 1:12
He's looking for something to test out. Recommending gentoo is fucking retarded. gj lol
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Anonymous2005-02-07 14:29
i learned on slackware cus it had the least bullshit at the time, ie it was the most generic and had sysv style init so what you learned applied across the board mostly
spending your time learning a particular distros stupid config tools is really a waste of time... though i like debians stupid tools better than mandrakes, suses, redhats etc.. (fedora is a nice project tho)
these days i'd suggest you build an lfs or two, do a few pages a day at your own pace.. you will understand linux more than you ever understood windows
then you will build your own distro that does exactly what you need with no wasted garbage hanging off it
gentoo is practically an automated lfs that ripped off bsd's ports tree.. though its last "stage" can be fast for distributed installs, its no faster than any other precompiled binary distros.. meh to gentoo
freebsd is fun for a nonlinux desktop, openbsd is the best for a firewall, netbsd is the best to run on a toaster
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Anonymous2005-02-07 18:30
Just get one you can burn to disc and boot from to try it out, then you can install whatever after playing around for a few days to see if you care enough to bother.
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kreegan!2N3fSy58QE2005-02-07 19:06
You should try out FreeBSD becouse ports & portaudit > *.
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Anonymous2005-02-08 23:47
can I use Mona even if I'm a gaijin and hardly know basic Jap?
Ubuntu is good for newbies. Boots off the CD for you to test it, fast install when you're ready to commit, comes with OpenOffice, a sexy Gnome (try saying that with a straight face) and a GUI package manager so you never have to go trawling to web looking for that program you need and then figuring out how the hell to install it. Recommended by Jesus.