[Sussex] New & fairly incompetent Linux user

[Stephen Williams]

On Thu, 2004-09-23 at 18:27, Paul Baines wrote:
> Hey People,
> Ta for all the helpful advice. I was reassured to find that I've
> already tried all of those suggestions so it must just be the norm for
> crappy dial-up!
> 
> Just wanted to throw a bone out for you all to chew on... 
> 
> I'm thinking of buying a cheapo second-hand desktop to Linux-it (rid
> that evil Microsoft beast from the face of the earth i say) and then
> use for some fairly light work, and i'm mulling over which distro to
> go with. My current (stereo-typed) views are as follows:
> 
> Mandrake - Good for Linux-virgins as it has lots of nice GUI's and can
> do lots for you but a bit restrictive and cumbersome once you know
> what you are doing. (Particularly unimpressed by most of the Mandrake
> Control Centre progs). So, I want a change...
> 

Never tried it, but it seems to be popular with new Linux users.

> Debian - Awe-inspiring, seems to be the holy-grail to most Linux
> enthusiasts that I've spoken to. But needs a decent web-connection i
> think?
> 

I think you've been paying too much attention to Steve Dobson here. It's
not to say that Debian isn't a good distro - it's excellent - but the
holy grail of Linux is of course Gentoo.

> Red Hat - Linux people doing their best to immitate Microsoft.
> 

Quite.

> SuSe - Not really sure about this one, not met any users but seems
> fairly popular...
> 

Very comprehensive and easy to use for the newcomer. I'd recommend this
one if you're new to Linux.

> Gentoo - Bit quirky, used by the bloke who introduced me to Linux but
> again I'd appreciate any info...
> 

The one and only holy grail...... I think it's great and I'm far from
being a linux guru.

> Knoppix - Good for diagnostics. Thats it.
> 

Great for demonstrating to sceptical M$ addicts.

> Any others?
> So, basically... I'd appreciate any suggestions to correct my
> misconceptions and show me the way! Go on, convince me...
> 
> Paul Baines.
> (Still using his cacky dial-up internet connection).
> 

Steve Williams.

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