Which Linux distro? (me=noob)

[nybergh]

I'm a complete n00b when it comes to Linux, but since I'm going online (NO MORE DIALUP ) in two weeks I want some kind of server.

I have an extra Pentium III/800 mhz, and since most of my friends have a server (at least for ftp-sharing some mp3s) I feel that I should have one too.

The thing is that this computer is going to be used for light desktop applications by my sister (mostly word processing, irc/im & of cource solitary/mine sweeper ) and now and then too, so what I want is not a dedicated server/firewall distro. There should be no problem running an ftp server for small stuff and chatting in KDE at the same time, right?

One of my Linux guru frinds forced me to test Slackware (10.1), but nothing works properly out of the box. No support for any media (everything related to cd, 3½", audio & usb is dead, but everyting works fine with the knoppix live cd) and I have no idea about how I should configure anything myself at this point.

My friend is willing to administrate/fix my linux box with terminal access from his house, but I want to learn soemthing myself. In other words, Slackware is not the right thing to start with. Now this fiend of mine told me to install Suse instead (he started to laugh when i mentioned mandrake). What should I do?

[griffinn]

Depends on your goal.

If you want a nice out-of-the-box experience, SUSE is a good choice, as is Fedora Core.

Their drawback is that they do things quite differently from the "standard" Linux / Unix way of doing things, regarding for example which kernel patches to apply, which kernel configurations to make as default, where to store configuration files etc. If one day you decide that neither suits your needs and move on to something better , you might need massive re-orientation.

If you want a distro that cares about the standards but still works reasonably well once installed, try Debian. But don't install the standard Debian release, which is terribly outdated. Instead, try the experimental installer: download this ISO image, burn to a CD, boot with it, and follow the instructions. When asked which Debian distribution to use (there are 3 choices: stable, testing and unstable), choose "testing".

[nybergh]

Well, since we're talking about "out of the box experiences", is there some kind of autoupdate function for Fedora, debian or SUSE?

And can somebody explain to me what is wrong with mandrake?

(n00b too)

[will]

ubuntu, its like debian, but is great on the desktop/laptop

[griffinn]

Each distro has its own package updating facility. Fedora's is called "yum", SUSE's is "YaST", and Debian's is "aptitude" (which is the new one; I prefer the old command-line driven "apt-get"). You run the program, tell it to get updates, and it comes back to tell you what updates are available. Essentially it's like Windows Update (if that makes it easier to picture what it's like).

It is possible to automate the updates; each distro is bound to do it in different ways. But I don't recommend doing it anyway because packages often have notices that you should read, questions for you to answer etc.

I don't know if there's anything wrong with Mandrake but other people seem to have had bad experiences with it - hard drive partitions messed up, packages won't install, hardware not detected, that kind of thing. It's all hear-say though.

Hmm ok. Not detected hardware is annoying.

If I would take linux I think I would have chosen mandrake or suse, so thanks for clearing this up.

[mysterious_w]

Is there a way to set up a dual-boot machine, but that it automatically boots into Windows and only into Linux if you tell it too?

[mikm]

That's what your bootloader (usually grub or lilo) is for. You can configure it to do that.

[jerimiah40]

Originally posted by griffinn
...hard drive partitions messed up... hardware not detected

That is exactly what I got with Mandrake

[nybergh]

BTW, before I created this thread, I actually searched the forums a bit (yay!)

I found this thread which I think is at least slightly amusing
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....t=linux+distro

[morgado]

The one and only advice I can give to you about this ...

If you had never ever used Linux before, and you want a really nice first time with it, take your time. If you want get very friendly with it, you have to have spare time and patience to get used to it. I didn't do it when I tried, and I got a trauma with it. So now I'll only try linux again when I have time to !

[k_rock923]

I'm still using redhat quite happily. maybe you should try fedora core.