[Preston] Re: Linux on my Computers

[Andrew King]

Granville Cousins wrote:

Hi there!

I'd give Mandrake (or Red Hat, if you can get hold of it) a go first, as 
these really are aimed to be as easy as possible for people switching 
from Windows - generally the install is straight forward, and they 
usually figure out your hardware.  Some people

Once you're comfortable with it,  it might be worth looking around at 
some of the others.  I've eventually settled with Debian, mainly because 
it's really easy to install new software via the package management 
system, and just generally seems really reliable.  I haven't reinstalled 
for about 14 months now, and use this seven days a week, sometimes for 
 >12 hours a day, for quite a range of stuff- currently got 1,391 
packages installed, and I've messed with all sorts.  You might also hear 
people telling you that the Debian install is more complex.  I guess 
that it is (and for 3.0r0 at least it seems to ask a few unnecessary 
things about mime types and stuff that most ppl would rather it just 
'did the right thing'), but as I see it, this just provides more 
flexibility over what actually gets installed.

I think we also have some Gentoo and Slackware fans here, who I'm sure 
have legitimate claims as to advantages their oses have over Debian 
(like Gentoo being bang up to date and so on).  I'm just lazy, and stuck 
with Debian :)  Lots of ppl are also happy just to stick with Mandrake 
and Red Hat too.

Andrew