How can I start Linux and what distribution do you think I should use?

Discussion in 'HOWTO-Related Questions' started by greentwo2, Apr 19, 2013.

  1. greentwo2

    greentwo2 New Member

    I want to use Linux because I have heard that it is significantly better than IE. My entire family is technologically inept and we only have one computer. How do you think I should start and what distribution do you recommend for a beginner who plans on programming and the like?Any helpful suggestions will be appreciated.
     
    greentwo2, Apr 19, 2013
    #1
  2. darinpeterson

    darinpeterson Member

    Hi greentwo2,

    Choosing a distribution on Linux is somewhat of a personal preference. Linux is actually an operating system, where IE (Internet Explorer) is a web browser. The cool thing is that Google Chrome is available in beta form for Linux, which I believe is much better than IE.

    As you can see from the options, there are many distributions: CentOS, Debian, Fedora, SuSE, and Ubuntu being the primary distributions for desktops and servers.

    Distributions based on Redhat: CentOS and Fedora
    Distributions based on Debian: Debian and Ubuntu
    SuSE is/was a German translation of Slackware

    I started using Linux Desktops in 1995 with Redhat 5, and experimented with Slackware, Caldera, and other distributions. Caldera being my favorite, but it died. I primarily used distributions of Redhad during that time.

    From 2003-2005 I started using SuSE Linux and Fedora. SuSE was great, but that distribution is now managed by Oracle, and well it's just not the same.

    Over the past year I have been using Debian Squeeze/Wheezy exclusively for desktops. Recently for my servers, I switched to CentOS for server hardware nodes with Debian Squeeze virtual nodes.

    Since you are new, I would encourage you to try multiple installs and decide what you like best...

    Here are some you can try:
    Debian Squeeze Perfect Desktop
    Fedora 18 Perfect Desktop
    CentOS 6 Perfect Desktop
    Perfect Desktop Ubuntu

    Make sure you understand whether your processor is 32-bit or 64-bit and install the appropriate operating system for your hardware. Generally you'll see AMD64 or x86_64, these are installations for 64-bit hardware.

    I hope that will help you get started in your migration to Linux. Good luck! I hope you enjoy it as much as many of us do...

    Darin
     
    darinpeterson, Apr 20, 2013
    #2
  3. aFoP

    aFoP New Member

    just a remark: actually SuSE is not managed by Oracle, but it was acquired by Novell.

    br,
    aFoP
     
    aFoP, Apr 20, 2013
    #3

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