I’m interested in trying Linux. This would be as a second OS that I could basically just fool around with. I’m currently running XP Home.
I know nothing about it except everyone says it is really cool. Is it worth fooling with? What should I know before I do any downloads? What version is the best?
All advice appreciated.
What is your experience in general? If it is little to none then I suggest Mandrake or SuSe. If you are willing to learn fast and hard then Debian or Slackware.
It is well worth trying, and, depending on your gaming needs, replacing Windows entirely. There is nothing that a Windows system can do that a Linux system cannot do at least as well. The exception remains in gaming at this stage
If you want the “fast and hard” approach, I’d recommend Gentoo (www.gentoo.org) instead of Debian or Slackware.
It’s better documented and has more software available than Slackware, and has less annoying quirks and glitches than Debian.
There is always LinuxFromScratch for the truly masochistic…
What I would really recomend is that you first try a disk called Knoppix, which will run off your CD rom without having to load any thing on your hard drive. If you end up liking it , there are a myriad of other distros out there for you to try your hand at.
Declan
I’m biased but I’m going to recommend you try Novell LInux Desktop http://www.novell.com/products/desktop/eval.html . It’s a combination of SuSE 9 and Ximian desktop, you can choose either Gnome or KDE.
I second Knoppix Live CD.
I’ve been trying out various LiveCD distros, and Knoppix is the one I’ve had the least trouble with. It boots, it detects all the odd hardware in my system (with one exception–see below), it auto-configured the network interface and connected to my cable modem without problem or even a dialogue box (I could just type a net address into the browser and it connected), and it seems to be the least annoying.
I must warn you that it didn’t see my previously-configured hardware-driven RAID array as one drive, but no Linux I’ve tried has been able to do that out of the box. It will support RAID, but you have to set up the RAID under Linux. (If I’m wrong about this, I’d really like to know about it.)
I’m downloading it now for a friend. 
The above advice about distros is good (I was in the same position as you, tried Suse and Mandrake, and quickly moved to Debian where you get a real sense of controlling exactly what’s going on to your system).
My two cents: forget partitioning, dual-booting etc. Get a cheap secondhand computer, and put Linux on that. You needn’t worry about endless screwups (some of which can be caused by Linux installers), because your day-to-day machine is unaffected. Once the base system is installed, you needn’t worry about the shitty monitor and antique mouse that’s attached to that computer, because one of the joys of Linux is being able to do everything remotely (I’m currently on XP, with both graphical and console windows accessing my Linux box trying to figure out a particular ‘issue’…)
None of the posts so far have dealt with the ways to get Linux. Obviously, you can buy CDs. But it’s also possible to download - indeed, with Debian and similar distros, there are no official CDs on sale. Unless you’re on dialup, this is a good way to go. Give us the details of what you’re working with, and we’ll take it from there 
A big thanks to all for your advice.
One of the best and most succinct comparisons I’ve ever heard between Linux and Windows is by Jennifer Government author Max Barry: “Windows thinks you’re an idiot; Linux thinks you’re a genius.” Basically, Windows (generally) designed for ease of use, while Linux is so customizable that it can be overbearing.
I’d definitely second the advice to get a cheap PC and use that to play around with Linux… That way, you’re not scrambling to recover your computer when something goes wrong.
Bleah, mucked up the coding there. That link is supposed to go here.
I’m going to recommend Ubuntu as a starter distro. The installer isn’t prettied-up like SuSE’s or Mandrake’s, but it uses apt instead of rpm as its package system.
To clarify: rpm is basically like a Install Shield for Windows; it puts the files in the archive where they need to go. However, rpm checks dependencies and, if it finds that something’s missing, will simply complain and not install.
apt, on the other hand, doesn’t even require you to manually download one package. You simply type “apt-get install packagename” and apt gets the package, checks the dependencies, gets them, checks those packages for dependencies; and so on until you have all the packages you need to run the first one. It then automatically installs them all in the proper order. Compared to hunting down rpms for things you need to get something to work, this saves a lot of time and headache (trust me, I’ve been there).
Finally, here’s some must-have software for Linux (and a few non-must-have cool games):
Firefox - If you’re not running Firefox right now, you are wrong.
Thunderbird - see Firefox.
xmms - A very Winamp-like music player.
OpenOffice.org - if you need an office suite, this is the way to go. Compatible with Microsoft Office file formats, for those annoying people who insist on sending you .doc files.
gaim - All-in-one instant messenger. If you have buddies who use AIM, MSN, Y!IM, and the like, this one app keeps you in touch with all of them.
leafpad - A Notepad-like text editor. A lot easier than messing with vi.
k3b - Hands-down the best burning software I’ve ever used.
The GIMP - Incredible free image manipulation program.
gqview - If you just want a good image viewer, I’ve found this one the best. Alternately, try gtksee.
Frozen Bubble - If you liked Bust-A-Move/Puzzle Bobble, you’ll love this. Great music.
armagetron - Remember the light-cycles in Tron? Here you go.
Neverball - It’s like Super Monkey Ball, sans the monkeys.
pysol - Like Solitaire? I don’t. But sweet Jesus, this game has over 200 variants of it.
abuse - Side-scrollin’ alien-blastin’ action. Formerly commercial, made freeware.
UnwrittenNocturne wrote
I’m a huge Linux fan, a non-game-player and I completely disagree. Linux is the greatest server out there, but it’s just not ready for the desktop if you use your computer for more than the most basic things. Every year or so, I try to switch my desktop to Linux, and I end up switching back to Windows disgusted after a few weeks. It is getting closer and closer, but it’s just not there. The biggest issue is the applications. OO is ok for the most basic uses of things, but if you do anything even a little advanced, it sucks bad. And worst of all, it is completely useless in working with MS Office documents, which like it or not is the industry standard. Many applications just aren’t available for Linux, take Quicken or Project for example. And Wine is cool, but it’s far from cooked. And like OO, there are Linux wanna-be’s for these and other apps, but again they lack all but the basic functionality and don’t work with the standard formats.
As a server, Linux rocks. Love it, need it, can’t live without it. But as a desktop it still sucks.
As a side-note, I use Cygwin heavily on my Windows desktop. So, I’m able to do a lot of the Linux-like things that are important to me in Windows.
As far as an OS to try, my recommendation is Redhat.
As others have said, by all means use apt. It doesn’t ship with Redhat, but it’s always the first thing I install.
Without wanting this to turn into simple OS-flaming, there’s many things Linux can’t do as well. Automatically dealing with USB devices is an obvious one. And there’s plenty of speciality Windows (or Mac)-based software for which there’s no adequate Linux alternative.
Have you tried SuSE 9.2 Pro ?
What are talking about? I have Suse 9.1 on my 64 bit Athlon. My usb printer works fine. My usb camera downloads work fine. My usb thumbdrive works fine. What usb devices don’t work?
My machine is dual boot. I used Windows for my taxes, and my kids play a game or two on it. To be honest, they prefer the free Linux games. I have to admit I prefer Quicken and Money to GnuCash, but GnuCash is free and the others aren’t. Suse is coming out with 9.3 in two weeks. A dvd should cost about 1/3rd of Windows XP, and it will have Open Office 2.0. I’d give that a shot.
The only problem with Linux tends to be lack of driver support. For example, ATI is just learning to play nice with Linux.
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/download/
Get a LiveCD and try it out. Get the regular distro if you like it.
Suse 9.1 choked on my printer, didn’t identify my MP3 player, and as for my Midi adaptor, forget it. (Mandrake 10 did at least cope with my ADSL modem.)
As with all things, Your Mileage May Vary. Some hardware still doesn’t work quite right in Linux. And getting things to work automagically is still hit-or-miss. On the other hand, if you’re willing to do the research, look up the documentation, and edit configuration files yourself; then most of the hardware you can buy will work for you.
One of the main reasons I switched to Gentoo from SuSE was the fact that, for some reason, SuSE kept rewriting my /etc/fstab file and that was choking my Neuros when I tried to load music on it. I’m thinking it was because I was editing it manually and SuSE wanted me to do it the way SuSE does most everything: through KDE and YaST2. I don’t play like that.
I will say this, though: KDE, Gnome, and other full-featured Linux desktop environments actually get faster and more efficient with every release. Can’t say that for Windows or even MacOS.