On Fri, 2004-07-02 at 16:07, Riley wrote:
> I want to use Linux as a second OS.  Can anybody tell me what the best make
> of Linux is and which ones (if any) to stay away from?

2 excellent distributions for newbies are Fedora and Mandrake.  Both are
very easy and user friendly to set up.  Both come with fips(a tool for
non-destructively resizing partitions).  Very easy to use, almost
fool-proof.  Both can be downloaded at no cost or purchased for about
$2.00 per CD from online vendors like cheapbytes.com.  Allow at least 10
gigs for Linux, more if possible.  Online help can be found at
www.linuxquestions.org, a great site for newbies.  As far as Linux has
progressed in the last 5 years, it can still be frustrating for newbies
to set up and configure.  The up side is that once you have it the way
you want it, it doesn't change.  I have been using for 6 years and have
never had a BSOD, system crash, trojan, worm, virus, or spyware.
Downside is that new software, usually over the internet, installs
differently than in windows.  Of course, each distribution is chock full
of software such as office suites, media players, web authoring tools,
database software like mysql and sql, graphic software, CD and DVD
burning software, chat clients, irc, games, email clients, browsers,
compilers, servers(dns, http, ftp, mail, etc.), financial software,
etc.  Good luck, have fun, and don't be afraid to play with it.

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