Help For An Absolute Newbie To Chose A New OS

[1mck]

I've absolutely had it with Windoze 98 SE, and I want to slowly migrate away from it, and so I was wondering which of the different flavours of Linux would be the easiest for a "Newbie" Like myself? I want one that is very, very user friendly, and that is very, very easy to install. I have been sort of eyeing Lindows, but it isn't ready yet, and someone mentioned Mandrake Linux, but I have thus far been unsuccessful at getting any help whatsoever from Mandrake, and I am really confused as to what to download. I would appreciate any help, so I can get rid of this bloody, blue screen of death, OS.

Just one more thing, I had written a letter to the editor of this site, and I know that he's busy, so I thought I would include it so that everyone can see why I want to do my migration to another OS.

Thanks in advance for any help:)

Hello,

Because of your listings of other operating systems, I will be doing
a gradual migration over to, probably, "Lindows," as I've absolutely
had it with Windows!

I have read about how "draconian" that they are about their products,
but I really didn't understand anything about that until I purchased
their "Intellimouse Explorer Mouse." I updated the driver for it, and
during the installation there was a screen that asked me if I wanted
the software to check for updates automatically. I like to be in
control of my computer, and I also like to have only the basics
running in the background, so that my systems resources aren't being
used up, so I unchecked the box to not have it check for updates, and
every time....I repeat, every time when I click the next button to go
to the next screen I always see it suddenly rechecking again! I
thought I was just seeing things, but later on I had it confirmed
that it was indeed trying to check for an update by ZoneAlarm
alerting me of it.

I tried to contact Microsoft about this, but I can't seem to find a
contact e-mail for just a general question, and I'm not going to go
through their passport crap just to ask why the software is doing
this.

Why the hell would they have posed the question to check for updates
if it they were going to ignore my wishes in the first place? All I
can think of is that it is for show, or I think that it is a rather
sneaky way for them to check up on me, and I'm not going to stand for
it, so what I've done is re-installed to older driver for it. It is
much more unstable, but at least it's not doing something that I
don't want it to do. (other than crashing)

I think that it's high time that I started my migration away from
this "blue screen of death, buggy Operating System (Windows 98 SE),"
and try something that isn't as invasive, or draconian, so as soon as
Lindows is finally ready for the general public, then I will be a
brand new customer, and I will continue to be one as long as they
live up to what they are claiming.

"FUCK MICROSOFT!!!!" These are words that everyone should have in
their vocabulary! Thanks for enlightening me as to other
alternatives, and also information that these fuckers don't want me
to know about.

Sincerely,
1mck

[Master of Reality]

Lycoris desktop/lx or Mandrake Linux would be the best two i think for user friendliness.

[Neuro7]

If you have a CD burner, you can download the ISO disks of Mandrake Linux from the Mandrake site or from linuxiso.org
I had no problem at all installing it and getting it to run on my hmoe built system.

Enjoy,
    Neuro7

[creedon]

I think that the one thing you DON'T want to do is use Lindows; it encourages the user to go on the internet as "root"; that's a SERIOUS security breach.
I agree with the other posters reccomendations and I'll add one :Libranet 2.0.  It's Debian based, and easy enough for a newbie who does his homework and can read (and follow)  instructions to install.

[choasforages]

mandrake, nah, i went straight for the real stuff, redhat. i find that redhat 7.3 easy to use, and redhat 8.0 is coming out soon, so it should be pretty good

[1mck]

Wow! Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I don't know much about the Linux world, and you sure have helped me out by pointing me in the right direction so that I can get into this world, and out of the blue screens of death world. Now the hard part is actually making a decision about which one I want!lol

I'm kind of leaning towards the Lycoris OS because of the (Yes, I'm going to say a bad word!) Microsoft feel to it, but I'm still going to keep an open mind about all the others.

Oh yeah, just a few minutes ago my mouse caused such instability "AGAIN!!!!!!!" that I had to reboot...Hey, does anyone know if any of the Linux OS's will support this Intellimouse Explorer? (I will never forgive myself for purchasing it!) The only feature that I like about it is 2 extra side buttons, and I'd like to be able to use them, but I'm almost sure that I'm going to have to invest some money on a different optical mouse to run it on a Linux OS...any suggestions?

Thanks once again everyone your suggestions.

1mck

[Master of Reality]

Of course Linux will support your mouse. They support some of microsofts stuff even though MS is hateful towards linux.

[choasforages]

i have one of those mice, one with 5 buttons total. im going to have to find out how to get the other buttons working though, but it works like a 3 button mouse

[1mck]

Well, I'm glad that I'll be able to hopefully still use the $80 buck mouse. Is there an alternative brand (with the laser instead of the ball) that works well on the Linux platforms? How about Logitech?
Oh yeah, (Real Newbie Question) I was wondering if all the software that are "Linux" software, are these programs compatible with all of the flavours of the Linux Operating Systems? For example, does Star Office work on Lycoris, and Mandrake Linux, or does Sun have put individual versions of it for each individual OS?
I should point out that I am also a "BOB." I will be staking my claim, very shortly, into the Linux world:) Thanks all for your support!

[Calum]

it's a shame that so many people go 'i am confused, think i'll use lindows', however you made the smart move in asking somebody first! that's most of the battle won, asking people...

[creedon]

quote:Originally posted by 1mck:
Well, I'm glad that I'll be able to hopefully still use the $80 buck mouse. Is there an alternative brand (with the laser instead of the ball) that works well on the Linux platforms? How about Logitech?
Oh yeah, (Real Newbie Question) I was wondering if all the software that are "Linux" software, are these programs compatible with all of the flavours of the Linux Operating Systems? For example, does Star Office work on Lycoris, and Mandrake Linux, or does Sun have put individual versions of it for each individual OS?
I should point out that I am also a "BOB." I will be staking my claim, very shortly, into the Linux world:) Thanks all for your support!

Support between platforms is spotty; it depends on the package management system your particular distro ues.  Mandrake, Redhat, and Lycoris (I think) use the RPM format, the Debian-based distros use the .deb format with dpkg/apt as the package manager; my PERSONAL preference is dpkg/apt (note that I said "PERSONAL"; package management is a hot topic among Linux users.)  Also, most apps are available as source code; however, if you're new to Linux, you might not want to start out compiling source code.
On the same note, I'd reccomend using the command line whenever you can; Linux is a command line OS; that's where you'll learn the fastest.