I pretty much agree with the Ubuntu suggestions. IMO, the Ubuntu/ Kubuntu difference is a distraction. Later, maybe in a year, when you know your way around a bit, you might want to try the KDE variant.
I will make another suggestion tho - openSuse. I've been distro- hopping all over the place over the last year to find MY answers to your question. OpenSuSE and Ubuntu have done the best by me, in "just working". I've used some mighty fine distros along the way, and some not so great. These two did the best on a couple of different hardware setups, and are the easiest to use after installation. Ubuntu has great forum activity, and lots of ppl making youtube how-to's. OpenSuSE has less forum activity, but has GREAT documentation - and the forums will help you find that documentation. As to Mint, for some reason (unknown) it is running s-l-o-w-l-y on the machine I installed it on. Since the typical reasons don't apply, I'm moving that machine to a different distro. Good concept, but by default, it is always behind Ubuntu, and Linux distros have been moving light-years in the last 2-3 years. So, a little behind is the same as a LOT behind. Getting codecs, Flash, and Java to work in Ubuntu isn't hard, and has been well covered with how-to's. I will also add this: toss a coin if you need to, but once you've got a distro that will install, stick with it. The distros vary quite a bit in how they make things run, and the differences are in the little knowledges that you are going to have to learn about - one of the steep parts of the learning curve. This is things like: "What files are my startup files?" "Where do my program files go?" "How do I uninstall something?" "How do I install this funky other program that I absolutely HAVE to have, but which isn't in the repository?" These are little pieces of knowledge that we take for granted in the Windows world, but which can really spoil your day when you are looking for the answer. Once you've been around for a year or so, and you know what "ps -A" (and much else) does, then go distro hopping if you like. That's my advice. On Dec 22, 4:59 pm, tuxsun1 <[email protected]> wrote: > The UNIX console was around long before Microsoft even existed. DOS > "borrowed" all its ideas from UNIX and ended up with a subset of the > commands and functionality available in the various UNIX shells. > > Microsoft did with computers what MCI did with telephone technology; > repackage and remarket it... and try to add some frills and features to > make it more user-friendly, but the underlying technology was created by > others. The current Windows was born from a collaboration with IBM, > where MS got all the knowledge they needed, they sent their business > partner packing. MS did the same thing with Sybase. > > Thank goodness for AT&T's Bell Laboratories, DARPA, and XEROX's Palo > Alto Research Center (PARC). Those were the *REAL INNOVATORS*, not Bill > Gates. Solely my opinion, of course. Others may agree or disagree, but > if it weren't for Linus Torvalds and Linux, I doubt MicroSoft (original > spelling of the company name--an abbreviation for microcomputer > software) would even be talking about open source software today. > > My $0.02. > > Welcome to the FREE thinking and FREE knowledge sharing of Linux and the > foundation the INTERNET was originally constructed on! The cost of > FREEDOM here is lost profits for some, but the gains far outweigh any > short-sighted business motivation. > > Now you've had my $0.04 worth. LOL > > timadam wrote: > > I am also. 2 weeks ago I put Ubuntu 9.10 on my 3 year old dell > > notebook and am VERY happy. I only wish I had switched sooner. It > > has performed beautifully. The first thing I noticed was that it was > > not running my hard drive like a whipped horse like WinXP was used to > > doing. Once you are up and running I would suggest you bone up on > > bash commands. If you did much with DOS you will see what DOS was > > supposed to be but MS just couldn't pull it off. My humble opinion. > > > On Dec 11, 9:36 am, MarkIsaN00B <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> I am new to Linux, but I have WAY too long of a history of Windows, so > >> I am not completely lost with computers. What is the best Linux > >> variant for a home system, and where is a safe place to download it > >> from? > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Linux Users Group. To post a message, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit our group at http://groups.google.com/group/linuxusersgroup
