knoppix for newbies?

[stickmansquark]

I was recently talking to some intelligent linux administrators, and I was talking to them about linux and which distro to use. I immediately started the conversation saying that I was going to install Debian first, but they laughed and recomended I started on red hat or knoppix. I was wondering if I should start out learning on knoppix, because i didn't think that was one of the well known distros since I dont know much about the many linux distros that exist.

[cross]

Want an easy answer? there is none...
Want my answer? Install any and all distros you can find. See how each is installed, how much they support your hardware, and how well they fit your needs. The best way to learn is hands on. After you install a distro, install another, or see if you can get 2 on the same computer. This is a great way to get a feel for a lot of different flavors of *.nix, while learning at the same time.

[lepricaun]

don't bother installing, get knoppix!
it is a live on linux cd, which can be booted from cd to have a linux OS, no hdd needed, and no installs needed, it just runs from cd..
get it here:
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html

and burn the image on cd

[mjk]

Knoppix STD is a modified version of Knoppix with many security tools included. I got it and really liked it cause there was nothing to install and I could learn about the different aspects of security (testing on my home lan and reading the included documents).

www.knoppix-std.org

PHLAK is another live distro geared toward security... I'm in the process of downloading it right now. Only a couple more over-night sessions

www.phlak.org

Or you could just go with regular Knoppix

Good luck!

Later,
mjk