New to Linux...Which distro?

[003]

Hello, I would like to try out Linux, but I have no idea what distro to get. There are so many of them it's really confusing. The things I would like to see in Linux are as follows:

*Easy to use
*Free
*Needs a good looking GUI
*Needs to be compatiable with most Linux apps
*Fast

Are there any distros like that? Which ones do you guys recommend to me, remember, I have never used Linux before.

 

[furtivefelon]

Easy to use: take a look at fedora core, mandriva, ubuntu, suse, lindows
free: all of the above except lindows and suse
good looking GUI: when you look at feature list, two more popular GUIs are Gnome and KDE, personal preference of the two is KDE..
Compatiable: linux should be compatiable with most linux apps right?
fast: they should be fast, but define what you mean

 

[003]

By fast I mean like it operates fast, I have heard that certian distros are faster than others, like gentoo (i think) is very very fast, but its very very hard to set up.

 

[furtivefelon]

well, i know what fast means, i want to know what hardware you have, if your computer can handle windows xp smoothly, you can handle all the said distro without any problems

 

[GameGURU]

Easy to use: take a look at fedora core, mandriva, ubuntu, suse, lindows
free: all of the above except lindows and suse
good looking GUI: when you look at feature list, two more popular GUIs are Gnome and KDE, personal preference of the two is KDE..
Compatiable: linux should be compatiable with most linux apps right?
fast: they should be fast, but define what you mean

SuSE is Free...

Anyways, SuSE is very good for beginners because you can use YaST to do alot of the hard work.

Mandrake 10.1 IMO is a pain because it's always giving me grief and never starts the the GUI.

Those are the only ones I have tried and I must say that I like SuSE 9.3 (Free) the most.

 

[Spork]

For linux beginners, I would suggest getting two things; a copy of Ubuntu or Knoppix based OS, and a copy of the "Complete Idiot's Guide To Linux". It's well written and is easy to understand. I would be still be completely lost with the command line without it.

 

[003]

Hey can somebody tell me where to download mandriva linux, the website say you have to buy it.

 

[GameGURU]

http://www.linuxiso.org/distro.php?distro=29

Mandrake 10.1 (Mandriva).

 

[003]

Would it be better if I got fedora core 4 because I can get it specifically for amd64?

 

[macdude425]

There is a Mandrive specificially for x64, you just have to look for it.