Hi

I am a Windows user who has been using a Mandriva Linuz live cd for the past couple of weeks, and I must say I like it very much.
So I was thinking of installing it onto my computer, but before I do I was hoping that others may be able to recommend some other version of Linux (the more novice friendly the better)

thanks!

here's a thread that might give you some answers; long-short version: go with Ubuntu 10.04/NBE

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...166#post794166

Go with ubuntu.
Over the last 10+ years I've had a crack at most of the common distros; RedHat/Fedora, Mandrake/Mandriva, Opensuse, Debian etc, but I've been using Ubuntu natively for the last few years and as a windows user moving across to *nix, I'd say you can't beat it for stability, ease of install, and usability.
Of course if you prefer KDE to Gnome go with Kubuntu....

regards,

C

Personally, I'm undecided between Ubuntu, Debian, or Slackware. The former two because they seem to be the most supported. I like Debian over Ubuntu slightly more on principle (I've read, if I recall correctly - corrections are welcome - that Ubuntu uses/includes more proprietary blobs in its code), but they are similar enough that if you don't care as much about extremely strict adherence to open-source ideology, Ubuntu is probably the better choice. It's outgrowing the other versions, and it's got funding to keep it going god knows how long.

The only reason I'm even considering Slackware is the saying that if you learn Slackware, you understand Linux. I'm a fan of understanding things, and am more than happy to make my life harder if there's some knowledge or skill to be gained by it. So for a regular end user I'd recommend Ubuntu.

opensuse, works a dream.
rgds

Ubuntu is probably the best choice. I would go with the alpha of 10.10 as it will be released in October. It might be a little buggy but runs good on my computer.

Make sure to partition it with two partitions. One for root ("/") and one for ("/home"). Where root is not bigger than 10 Gb and /home as big as possible. The swap partition should be 2-4Gb depending on how much ram you have.

And install Avant-window-navigator or Docky. Also the Awoken theme is nice. It can be found on www.gnome-look.org. For torrents use Deluge and IM the Emesene. Wine could be good if you fancy Spotify.

Here is a really good blog: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/

I'll try to summarize what I've learned over the past 13 or so years that I've been using Linux.

Debian - Rock Solid, sometimes a bit old, but always stable. Would recommend running Testing if you use it as a desktop system. Good for customization.

OpenSuse (previously Suse) - Never have liked it. Seems fine if all you do is install it, but don't want to add anything new or use anything except the included software.

Ubuntu - Debian based, but as said before doesn't follow all of Debian's "It must be free, damnit!" philosophy. Also has a better initial setup than Debian, and the project goals have always been to have the latest Gnome.

Arch Linux - Can be a bit bothersome to set up, but once it's there, it's quite a magic distribution. Awesome if you MUST have the latest software.

Slackware - In as much as I have been meaning to, never have tried this oldie, but goodie.

RedHat (Or CentOS) - Rock solid, just like Debian. Good for Servers, not so much for Desktop.

Fedora - This is the real bleeding edge, even more so than Arch. Fedora is like OpenSuse in that it is the 'testbed' for RedHat and OpenSuse is the testbed for Novell Suse. But it seems that more innovative technologies come from Fedora first (Network-manager, pulseaudio, etc) Has far too many growing pains for a new user.

Mandriva (previously Mandrake) is a fairly nice built system, though it is like OpenSuse in that if you install too many things outside of the default repositories, you're looking for major breakage. Also stay away from cooker packages.

As far as installing one version and upgrading to the next, you really can't beat Debian and Ubuntu. I've successfully upgraded my mail server fro Debian Sarge, to Etch to currently Lenny. Yes, that's about 5 years of never re-installing, and that's even through a hardware change or two.

Ubuntu a little less so than Debian, mainly because of their 6 month release schedule, and they don't have as much time to make sure upgrades are clean. But still, they are a debian base... I've never seen any that can touch it (with the exception of CentOS / RedHat that have been able to upgrade versions, but then it was only minor versions (5.2 up to 5.5 was pretty smooth))

Good luck, and welcome to the awesome world of Linux.

slaapliedje

I would suggest Fedora. Check-out the 4 foundations first http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Foundations You could alternatively try a few top distros from http://distrowatch.com/ either with live medias or in a virtualbox.

depends on you goal. for instance, if you want to learn what you would actually use in 90% of the companies using linux in business...then use centos. If you want a centos/redhat type distro that is less stable but more up to date use fedora.

Spend a bit of time browsing Distrowatch.

Also, I can personally recommend Mepis. I've been using it for a number of years and have found it to be rock solid and very useable.