Nucleocide on Linux Distributions
Q: What is linux?
A: You know how your computer runs Windows (or OS X)? Well, it's not windows.
Q: What are packages?
A: They are programs in easy to manage form. Windows does something similar when you download a program and install it, however packages are a more intuitive way of doing so.
Q: I'm not that good at computers. Is linux for me?
A: No.
Q: I'm okay with computers. Is linux for me?
A: No.
Q: I want to play with linux but I don't want to risk hurting my computer. What should I do?
A: Google the word knoppix and download the first thing that comes up. Burn it to a CD and run it. This will run linux without hurting your computer and it's pretty idiot friendly.
Mandriva (Mandrake): This is my second favorite disrobution. It has user friendliness without being as friendly as apple or windows. It has customization options that are more in depth than Fedora Core, without leaving the unexperienced user too far in over their head. I've crashed this disrobution more than any other distro, however I've been using it the longest. Finding software for Mandriva is relatively easy.
Mandrake 7.2 was my first version of linux I ever used, after the beloved 'I Love You' virus hit my first computer (Compaq laptop) and I didn't want to buy $100 worth of windows 98. This is the only linux I've ever paid for, too. I think I paid $30 for it from Walmart or something and I still have the box laying around somewhere.
Slackware: This is by far my favorite distro. It is also by far the most difficult to use. If you are very good with computers and understand a lot about linux, give this a shot as it is the purest linux distro you can get, as all the other just add a ton of programs on top to make it 'simpler'. I have yet to crash a slack install obviously making it stable. Slack has the smallest footprint compared to other distro's on this list for not only hard drive space but also memory usage. Finding packages is very easy. Well, trick answer. You'll download the source code and compile it for just about any software you want to install, and 95% of packages have source code available with it.
I've been searching long and hard for the distro I like most, and as of yet this is undefeated. It was the searching and random downloading that found this for me, however I was unexperienced when I installed this for the first time and was turned off by it's difficulty. It wasn't until later that a devout Slack follower convinced me to give it another shot.
Fedora Core (Red Hat): I've never liked the Red Hat's. Every now and then I'll download the latest build, only to be reminded of why I left it to begin with. The configuration options have always seemed lacking to me. As far as finding software for this distro is concerned, it's one of the most popular distros and has (from what I've seen) the most packages available.
Ubuntu: This is by far the easiest and least-linux distro that you can get. It's basically like running open source windows. Personally I hate it, however it's the best distro to get your feet wet with. Packages are extremely easy to obtain; it comes with a program that puts 90% of all programs you could want at your fingertips in a nicely set up download manager. I'll never use it, and I'll never call anyone using it a hacker, but it is the best way to lead into the 'grown up' distro's.
