Differences between version 36 and predecessor to the previous major change of SelectingADistribution.
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| Newer page: | version 36 | Last edited on Wednesday, July 6, 2005 5:18:01 pm | by PeterHewett | Revert |
| Older page: | version 35 | Last edited on Wednesday, July 6, 2005 11:14:35 am | by CraigBox | Revert |
@@ -25,17 +25,18 @@
SUSE (as it's currently capitilised) is a very european distro, popular in Europe but used worldwide. Recently (2003ish) Novell purchased SuSE and is marketing and supporting it as a business desktop/server system. Default desktop is [KDE] and package management is YaST (Yet Another Setup Tool).
[Xandros | http://www.xandros.org]:
Previously Corel Linux. A Debian based distribution. Commercial, but there's an [open circulation | http://www.xandros.org/products/home/desktopoc/dsk_oc_intro.html] edition that's crippled. [KDE] only, no [GNOME].
-Which one should you pick? If you don't know where to start, get the one that is used by your friends or at your local LUG. Best approach is to try a few and choose for yourself what you prefer. As of July 2005, we really think you should look at Ubuntu. It is that good. If you feel like trying something a little different
, have a look at [Mandriva]
. Europeans might prefer
[Suse
], but it's never been very big in NewZealand
.
+Which one should you pick? If you don't know where to start, get the one that is used by your friends or at your local LUG. Best approach is to try a few and choose for yourself what you prefer. As of July 2005, we really think you should look at Ubuntu. It is that good. All the above distros are great
, and each has enthusiastic followers
. Also see the list of
[Linux Distributions | LinuxDistribution
].
!! Appliance style user
-You're going to install it and walk away. The user (maybe you, maybe your folks or grandparents) knows nothing about computers and will not be changing any system settings and doing nothing more than surfing the 'net, sending email, and maybe light office tasks (word processing, etc). You could look at something designed for this exact task. The following LinuxDistribution~s exist only to pretend they are MicrosoftWindows. Please note that __almost no-one in [WLUG] runs any of these distributions__. Choice is a double edged sword, but if you feel the user's needs may be better met, these are all still [Linux] too
.
+You're going to install it and walk away. The user (maybe you, maybe your folks or grandparents) knows nothing about computers and will not be changing any system settings and doing nothing more than surfing the 'net, sending email, and maybe light office tasks (word processing, etc).
-[Ubuntu]:
- As above
, Ubuntu is great
for this purpose
too.
+One approach is to use one of the main distros (like
[Ubuntu], [Mandriva], FedoraCore, [Suse], etc). This might be the way to go if you are already familiar with one of these distros.
+
+Or you could look at a distro designed
for this exact task. The following LinuxDistribution~s exist only to pretend they are MicrosoftWindows. Please note that __almost no-one in [WLUG] runs any of these distributions__. Choice is a double edged sword, but if you feel the user's needs may be better met, these are all still [Linux]
too.
[Lycoris Desktop/LX | http://www.lycoris.org]:
Previously known as Redmond Linux (to emphasize it's Windows-clone-ness), this has grown into a reasonable desktop distribution. It has a unbelieavably smooth install and sets itself up looking almost exactly like [Windows], so users coming from it should have __no__ problem whatsoever. Like many other distros, it has an auto-update feature that will upgrade the software for you without any major issues. However, as it is mainly for offices and new users, Lycoris locks the system down very tight. Root is hidden (and in fact never mentioned -- you set up an "administrative password" for system maintenance) and some files are in unusual places. For a hard-core customizer, this distro would be incredibly frustrating... about as frustrating to the customizer as it is helpful and friendly to newbies. It's freely downloadable (mind the difference between lycoris.com and .org.)
[Linspire]:
