Which Linux Should I try?

[sorehead]

Curious but which of the freebie Linux OS should I get. Will it run with the usual load of Microsoft stuff? Browser? Someone fill me in. Is it stable?

 

[themightyplatypus]

Try Mandrake,Suse or deadrat. They run pretty much straight out of the box with little to no tweaking to get you started.

 

[Nothinman]

And no for the most part you can't run the "usual load of Microsoft stuff". There are ways around that (i.e. wine, VMWare, etc) but it's better to just find native Linux alternatives because they generally work better and IMO are better all around.

Linux is a completely different OS from Windows, don't go in looking for a Windows replacement because you won't find it.

 

[Ynog]

Most linux distrobutions are free.

They can be downloaded at linuxiso.org. Or you can find torrents on the net for their isos.

The best distros for people new to linux would be either Mandrake or Redhat (or Fedora).

Not sure what you mean by run with the usual load of microsoft stuff? Its not Microsoft, so
microsoft applications aren't going to run on it. If you mean can you run a dual boot, with Microsoft OS and
Linux on the same machine, then yes you can do that.

As for browser, most browsers are available for use with linux, except IE, Firebird or Mozilla are good choices, and mozilla comes
with some distributions.

Most distributions are out of the box are pretty stable.

 

[drag]

Most every Distro works fine. Very stable. Give Mandrake a try.


You can find install CD's easily from links provided by linuxiso.org. You can also find linux-on-a-cd distros like Knoppix. Using those you can run a OS from a CD without having to install anything. Then later you can install a OS if you like it.

Doing a search in google will provide plenty of information. Like linux microsoft application alternatives. Think of search engines like google as your online help resource, much more usefull then anything I've ever seen for any other major peice of software like a OS.

You have Mozilla for a internet browser, but you also have Galeon, Netscape, Opera, Ephiny, Konquerer, and a whole host of other browsers to choose from.

For office applications you have Openoffice.org or Staroffice, which are entire office suites ment to replicate and improve on the functioning aviable from MS office, but they can be had at little to no charge in price. Then you have office suites made up of individaul programs like abiword, that are provided by GNOME or KDE desktop enviroments. These are very good.

You can find most everything you'd ever use in Windows installed by default in most every linux distro.

 

[sorehead]

Thanks for the responses. Will do some more homework and go from there. Thanks.

 

[Washuu]

if u want something quick... thats off a CD .. get DSL -- http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
50mb, its neat.