Which version of linux??????

Guys, need your opine.

I’m sick and tiered off my winbox. Once in a while I get that *BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH* with no cause. So my mind is set to install a unix system.
I’ve already several threads regarding operating systems. Now I believe that most of you run your box under unix. My question to you all is which OS I should start with. Must say, have no knowledge of unix whatsoever. Many of my friends advice me to start with Red Hat 8.0. But I’ve also heard of Mandrake and SuSe.

Please let me know what to choose. :D

Greetz to you all

I started out with SuSe 8.1. So far, I like it, I'm still working on learning it. It's definetly different. Good luck to you!

This is a question that can start flame wars of near religious zeal.

The right answer is......whichever one works for you.

There are a couple of ditro's which are more newbie friendly than others, but the fact of the matter is......they are all essentially the same.

So now the question becomes which bells and whistles do you want and why? www.distrowatch.com has reviews of all the major distros. www.justlinux.com has had debates about 'which distro is best' more times than I can count.

To give you something concrete though, my recommendations for the total linux newbie:
Lycoris, Red Hat, or Mandrake.

I haven't tried all the ditros out there though.

well, im not exactly a Red Hat fan, im a SuSe kinda guy, Buying SuSe 8.1 professional was cool, i love it, and also, for stuff like this, check out some Linux sites and read threw them and see wich one seems to be more your style, me id say get SuSe

http://www.suse.com

its one you can grow with, its easy enough for a beginner and has advanced tools for the GURUs.

well, for me the better one is Suse 8.1
but to start Mandrake is a very good one...
I've also tested the Knoppix.... it's wonderfull....
and the connectiva .... but it's all in brasilian...
well i leave for last slackware it's very difficuoult to use it at the beginning.....
red hat form me isn't the better you can found but all depend by your tastes

Personally I have been on Redhat since the first time I used linux although I have had some exposure to Suse. I think you can start with any. Make sure that you get to see others too cos if you want to learn much, you cannot afford being a "fanatic" of 1 distro.
Have fun..linux is great(I think)

woohoo! SuSe is winning, lol they should start payin me for promotion....naa

Haha, well, I started out on Mandrake, because it is very, very user friendly, I am thinking about moving to either SuSe, UnitedLinux, Trustix, or Slack, but I suggest you give an easy to use and easy to install distro a shot, I've seen suggestions about Mandrake and RedHat, they're easy, but it all depends on what you want, and how much you already know. Good luck with Linux.

-MicroBurn

yeah it's all really a pref anymore. There are so many flavors, and this looks like this, this does that, you are better off to find out by just reading about each one and thne going for it from there. Or do what I do, use Virtual PC and install each one on it's own "hard drive" and run them like that. Sure you need a fast system, but they really work on anything. Plus that way you can stick with Windows until you decide what you want and get use to it.

Plus if you become hardcore, you'll just get a 486 and run everything command line.

If you REALLY want to learn Linux, and have a highspeed connection, you should consider, http://www.gentoo.org/

best distro I've ever used, I've used RH, slackware, Mandrake, Debian, knoppix, etc...
It takes a long time to install, but once it's working, you'll have a better understanding of how everything works and you'll have a very fast, stable box...