Now that I have a couple extra hard drives and can therefore install Linux without doing any fancy-schmancy partitioning, I was thinking of giving it a shot again. Except this time, I want to ask you guys first what distribution I should use. Being a beginner, I want something that's stable and relatively easy to learn. Also it would be great if it wasn't too hard to get a wireless internet connection working with it.

I hear Ubuntu has some fancy stuff for wireless. Debian in general is probably a good way to go if you really want the easy route.

Otherwise, Gentoo is fun, and you'll learn a lot more about how Linux works, and how to tweak things to your liking.

Debian is good, but the install process is not exactly painless if you're new to linux.

Despite the whole "compile your own kernel" thing, I found Gentoo very easy to install. Easier, in fact, than Debian. And so, I'd personally recommend Gentoo- especially if you're installing linux just for the sake of it, because as Matty said, you'll learn a lot about how linux works.

I personally don't think you learn a lot by installing Gentoo. For most people, they probably just go through the motions and leave without knowing too much more. I do think it is a good linux distribution though; I use to run it a couple of years ago.

If you are feeling adventurous, you could try PC-BSD. It's an easy to use version of FreeBSD 6.1. It has a graphical package manager, graphical installers, and graphical administration tools. If you ever want to try building from source, you can still use the ports system (which portage borrowed heavily off of).

Gentoo does teach you a lot of things, such as working in a command line, messing with config files (many times you have to do it yourself too, so it's not just a copy-paste fest), partitioning, permissions, etc.

I wouldn't say you are a Linux pro after using Gentoo, by no means is it a tutorial for all things Linux. But I do believe that if something stops working or something odd happens (which just does happen in Linux), you'll be better prepared, and less scared, to fix it.

Yeah, I had better luck with ubuntu and wireless than anything else. At least it's based on debian, even though I hate the whole root account handling crud they do.

What is the purpose of linux?

http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=41703

Does it do anything else apart from that? Can it play games yet?

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]many times you have to do it yourself too, so it's not just a copy-paste fest[/QUOTE]

No, the whole installation is a copy-paste fest. You just follow the guide and hope for the best. Sure, you might pick up something on the way, but following the lengthy install process doesn't teach you that much. You would be better off buying O'Reilly's Unix in a Nutshell to learn the basics. Personally, I learned more from administering the system on a day to day basis than installing it. This is my experience though, so I suppose that other may feel that they could learn something useful from the long, drawn out installation process.

Debian. I use it for everything -- servers, workstations, desktops, embedded systems -- everything.


Not really, but if thats all you use a computer for you should stick with your Wintendo.

What if I do work on my computer? You know, like video, motion graphics, etc... would linux be useless to me?

It would be useless to anyone more than an amateur.

Probably. You have to use what works for you. If none of the programs you use regularly have linux ports or comparable native apps you will find it quite difficult to use.

Except for:

A. Partitioning
B. FSTAB
C. Xorg
D. Kernel drivers
E. Bootloaders
F. Make options
G. Services

etc etc etc.

There's Cinelerra, and that's it. There's no real high-end software available for that yet.

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]I hear Ubuntu has some fancy stuff for wireless.[/QUOTE]
Dapper has greatly improved the wireless support for most cards, however mine is not one of them. The Broadcom 4318 is a huge pain int he *** to get working and it seems Dapper broke ndiswrapper so I couldn't even use that.

First time I tried using ndiswrapper was with my 4318 in Dapper Flight 6, I got it working just fine.

ndiswrapper used to work or me (when I was using Breezy or Hoary) but it wouldn't work with Dapper.