*nix should i get?

[the-twinge]

i couldnt find a better place than this place so here it goes
im running win 98se, i like it alot but i want a *nix system too. i would like some ppls thoughts on the supject. also im receving a laptop with 98sc so i was also wondering should i make my desktop full time *nix or should i make it dual boot. thanks for all ur thoughts

[doktorf00bar]

What's your experience level? What do you plan to use the box for?

[tyger_claw]

Well, this has been answered many times before but I'll tell you what you'll probably hear....

Redhat and Mandrake are the most common and easiests to use, so go between the two. Once you know how to use one of them, then you can explore other flavors, or even a Unix type flavor.

As for going full or not, the best thing to know is what is the desktop's purpose?
Is it a gaming machine, wordprocessor, web browser...?

If it's for gaming, then multiboot...
(Linux doesn't offer as many games as Windows on the market and Linux requires configurating at first with OpenGL and such)

If it's only for wordproccessing and e-mail/web browsing, then, if you're comfortable enough, go complete install....

Hope that helps...

[the-twinge]

thanks tyger_claw
and doktorf00bar , im a newbie programmer and security guy, im 15 and planning to get into I/T as a job, im learning c,c++, qbasic,batch, and vbs. im not planning anything bad for qbasic, batch, or vbs but thats my case

[tyger_claw]

Hey, dive in!

Just remember to not take more then you can chew!

Learn one thing at a time and understand it well before moving on to the next project
(Best way to avoid programing flaws)

There's plenty on the net for learning everything, so don't worry about having to buy books at Chapters....

Check out the tutorials in AO's tutorial forum and the ebooks at http://www.hackersplayground.org for programming.

Don't worry about having to say

im not planning anything bad for qbasic, batch, or vbs but thats my case

We don't assume everyone has malicious intent. We'll think it if there's reason....

Good luck with your learning ventures

[doktorf00bar]

The Linux distros Tyger mentioned are a good way to get your feet wet. There is enough hand-holding available there to help you get started. Starting off with a dual boot is a good way to make sure you can still get things done while you are first learning your way around. One sage piece of advice: Be sure to use a non-priviledged account for anything that isn't careful system administraton. This should save you lots of aggrievation, as you can experiment without breaking anything important. That being said, after you realize the full power of the shell, you just might ditch you winblows partition and never look back.......

[roswell1329]

D'oh! I was just about to suggest PhatLinux as a distro you could try on your windows machine before wiping your harddrive clean, but it looks like their site got defaced! (For those of you who are interested, in case the site gets corrected before you can see it, I snagged a copy and put it on my site.)

Anyway, I guess since PhatLinux looks out of commission for now, I would try the recommendations of tyger_claw -- RedHat, SuSE, or Mandrake. Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress!

[the-twinge]

thank you all for your input, it should come in handy

[tyger_claw]

Suse is a good suggestion, but it seems that many beginning users find complications using it as their first distro.

[phaza7]

It seems everybody has their own opinon, on a *nix distro.

but it depends on what your planning to do with your pc

or will it need to be very secure, I like slackware, but I don't

recommend it for beginners. So try redhat or suse also read through

linux journals and unix in a nutshell. It help me alot.

use whatever is best for your needs. Also read up on local *nix security

to secure your box.

it's a qwest so have phun!