The "Linux" discussion

[Kotik]

What is the best version of Linux?

[Malcolm]

depends on what you're doing, I'd say for people running servers the 2.4 kernel would be best, while home/dektop users should have 2.6 running in their box.

Did you mean which distro is best?

[Kotik]

depends on what you're doing, I'd say for people running servers the 2.4 kernel would be best, while home/dektop users should have 2.6 running in their box.

Did you mean which distro is best?

I dont really know...

At school they are removing windows XP from all the computers and installing Linux instead. (not sure which one of em). So I thought I'll start training some Linux now so I know how to handle the computers when Linux is installed. Thats why I asked. Right now I know nothing about Linux except that it is an OS.

and BTW, its a private comp i got. No servers here.

[Malcolm]

Well Linux is actually a Kernel; a program that starts up the system and lets other programs access the hardware in your computer.

Basically it's what does the talking between the computers hardware and your installed software.

What you're asking about is a distribution. Most people say that Mandrake Linux is the easiest distribution of Linux to get installed and use. Others, in my opinion, would be Red Hat, SUSE and Slackware.

I run Gentoo Linux here at home, on my testing server and on my development server at work. It’s a source based distribution and is more advanced then most of the others out there.

If you have anymore questions just ask

[Kotik]

Yeah, it is Gentoo they have installed at school. I'll train gentoo at school a bit and if I can handle it I will install it here at home too.

Btw, is Gentoo the best Linux version/distro for home use?

[Malcolm]

I wouldn't say so, something like Mandrake or Red Hat would be easier on the home user.

[Kotik]

But Gentoo is the only one with GUI. Right?

[overmeer]

Slackware!

But Gentoo is the only one with GUI. Right?

Linux distributions and Unix operating system dont come with a GUI. They do have a graphical server which you can start, this is called 'X', on top of this server you can run many different GUI's: KDE, Gnome, Enlightenment, Xfce etc...there are dozens.

There are Linux distributions that install a GUI during the OS install for you, some pick KDE some pick Gnome (these are probably the 2 most popular), other distributions dont install a GUI and you will have to do it manually. Most Unix operating systems do not come with a GUI already set up (like Solaris or *BSD)

[xskater]

i have a dual boot, windows xp and ubuntu linux. its very user friendly and easy for us non-linux ussers (n00bs) to configure.

[LoneStar]

-i use fedora it's pretty good for me yet i just started with linux

[dafunkymunky]

Now if am to install LINUX... which one do you people think is the best..

[Kotik]

I have only used Gentoo so far and only seen other distros on friends computers but I am pretty sure that Gentoo is the best distro.

http://www.gentoo.org

[SFilip]

its hard to decide...
when my friend got linux a couple of years ago, he had mandrake. he said mandrake is the best linux.
then he had to reinstall and tried red hat (now known as fedora) and when he did that, he said that red hat is much better, stable etc.
a couple of months after he reinstalled again, this time with slackware. then slackware was better, with more functions...
then he reinstalled again and installed ubuntu linux (the one i'm using actually) and again he said it was waaay better than any other he tried.
and finally 2 months ago he installed Gentoo. he said that its the fastest, most stable linux he tried.
so basically every linux is great.

oh and as i said before...my choice is ubuntu linux. it has GUI (X), however it uses Gnome instead of KDE which is why alot of people didn't like it at first.
thats why there is a version of ubuntu that works with kde - kubuntu. i think you should try it aswell

[nighthawk]

Linux is great OS if you haven't used windows. It is too hard to move from windows to linux.

I have tried some and there was one that was wery interesting - Austrumi. It is Live distribution so you don't have to install ti on the hard drive. It has only 50 MB and has many nice programs like gimp, inkscape, opera, abiword... I used older version 0.95.

[dflynn]

I just installed Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex.
So far, so good. I'm just installing a bunch of extras but it really isn't too difficult to get used to from a basic user's pov.

I'm excited to use it more