Mandrake is probably best for a beginning linux user. I personally used Red Hat for my first distro(5.1 or something like that) and had no real problem. But then I had a bit of experience using UNIX command lines before that...


As long as the install goes ok, and you are able to figure out how to get some little things done, like open a shell from the desktop, you should have no problem following the excercises that she has in her book. You may need to download and install a new shell, but, that is not terribly difficult, and you can certainly find that kind of help here, and many other places on the web. For example, there is some good info here....

http://www.linuxnewbie.org

Good luck,

Dont hesitate to ask questions about linux and how to do things here. You may hesitate because you see other questions get flamed, but, as long as you are not asking how to hack hotmail(or equivalent) and have at least tried a web search prior to asking questions, you should be ok..

Good Luck,

IchNiSan