On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 10:29:07 -0500 Thomas Johnson <tommyj27 at gmail.com> wrote: > rob, > > when i finally learned linux for real i wiped windows, loaded > slackware (www.slackware.com), gave my windows discs to a buddy with > the instruction to not let me have them back for at least a year. > talk about trial by fire. obviously your mileage may vary and mine > might not have been the wisest choice, but i think slackware is a > good distro if you really want to learn about how things work rather > than just use linux. other's here will vehemently disagree with me, > but that's my two cents. I vehemently agree with your recommendation. If you are ok with a little trial by fire I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better distro than slackware. If you're looking for pretty Windows-esque GUI's to configure your sound card best to stay with Redhat, SuSE or Mandrake. After years of frustration I personally refuse to install a distro that's based on RPMs for packages (Redhat, SuSE and others). Debian is also a nice choice that's in the middle-ground if you don't need bleeding edge stuff. None of the above mentioned distros are evil, I just developed by preferences over time. My recomendation, find an old pc you can play with and not worry about, try a distro for a while, if you don't like it try another, or setup a dual/triple-boot. Stick around on the list long enough and someone will eventually be selling cheap hardware if you don't have a spare PC. My $0.02. P.S. I don't think this question will generate nearly as many flames as my personal favorites: PostgreSQL or MySQL? PhP, Perl or Python? What's the best MTA? :) Josh _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota Help beta test TCLUG's potential new home: http://plone.mn-linux.org Got pictures for TCLUG? Beta test http://plone.mn-linux.org/gallery tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list