/r/ Linux info

I'm looking at getting away from Microsoft OS's, and trying one of the open source OS's.

My question is, "Which one"? I've seen many versions on the shelves, but I don't know which is better for the first time user.
So instead of browsing the magic google, I decided to try here.

>>16
If the program you want is not in the repositories, you can download the deb package from the project's website and gdebi will install it for you.

If the author only makes his work available as source code, then obviously you will have to compile it. You can't expect binaries to magically appear.