OS ideas

[vhunter]

I am getting fed up with Windows, so I want to get another OS. I've been looking at Fedora Core 4, so I would appreciate it very much if you could give feedback on what you like about this OS, or some other Linux distros that you feel worthy of mentioning.

 

[SNGX1275]

Ubuntu seems to be a popular choice for people just venturing into the linux world.

 

[Nodsu]

Fedora/RedHat (still) is the de facto standard of Linux and is supported by almost every piece of Linux software. That's pretty much all you can like about Fedora. IMHO it is buggy as hell and not as streamlined as other distros :\

Other user friendly Linuxes:
Ubuntu (Debian for Dummies)
SuSE (The only enterprise grade distro besides RedHat)
Mandriva (The pioneer of user-friendliness)

 

[smtkr]

Ubuntu (Debian for Dummies)

Yeah, it is a dummed down version of Debain, but for a clean install, I would pick it over Debian because the releases are more current and I don't have to spend the next month applying updates, etc.

 

[vhunter]

I've heard that Ubuntu has a Live CD available for download, so I would think that this would give me a chance to get used to Linux before I decide to switch to it. I'm probably going to run off of the Live CD for a while to get the feel of Linux.

 

[smtkr]

Yes, you can get a LiveCD for ubuntu and probably derivatives like kubuntu, edubuntu, et al

 

[deki]

I have latest Debian Sarge on laptop, it runs perfectly, I picked it among 20
different distros as most reliable one. What I would do is try to read reviews,
make sure hardware is supported and test out every version by acctually
installing them, most of them have ftp install, where you can install only basic stuff very fast if you have DSL or Cable. LiveCD is not the best way to
properly test the OS to meet you needs.

 

[kens8]

I used to use FC4, but I couldn't get it stable enough for everyday use. I'm using SUSE 10 now and the only problem I had was a bad video driver, which was easily fixed with a more current driver. Aside from that, it runs like a dream. SUSE does have a Live CD that you can download and run for a while to see if you like it.

Also, check out http://www.distrowatch.com.

 

[kayway8]

Has anyone heard anything eles about the rumored Google OS?

 

[smtkr]

forget about it. I realize that everyone has a hardon for google, but google is too far behind in the OS game to compete. The options are to write one from scratch (years of development time, even for google) or to make a linux distro, which would just be another flavor and pretty pointless with such mature platforms as Ubuntu. And, you have to compete with the ridiculous base that Microsoft has in the market.

 

[Nodsu]

Just like Ubuntu is Debian for Dummies and not a real distro, Google could put together Slackware for Dummies or NetBSD for Dummies or whatever in a year. Doesn't take that much effort to make a pretty frontend to a mature platform.

For a dumbuser, it doesn't matter what is under the hood - if it's user-friendly and Just Works (TM), then they are happy.