Easy Linux download, anyone?
 

So then, I have an old system here gathering dust and ball hair, so I've decided that I'd like to put some form of Linux on it to play with, maybe make it a mirror of my server, who knows. I started searching for a simple way to download a friendly flavor of Linux so I can burn it on cd and install on that old box. But thus far nothing seems friendly about those Nix sites. They are really geared for enthusiasts, not ugly little schmoes like myself who just want a simple to download and install OS.

Does anyone know of a user-friendly Linux site? I'm not fond of going to download pages only to find 70 different files with no indication of which ones I should download or what to do with them after that. Argh...

you could start with knoppix.net and download a liveCD -- and run linux right from the CD without having to reformat.

If you are moderately comfortable with Windows, and want something that will just 'transition' then you probably want to take a look at Xandros. Xandros Deluxe is $90 or so and includes Crossover Office so that you can run windows applications. If you're not comfortable grabbing Xandros from the p2p networks, I can put the non-deluxe .iso up somewhere for you to download. I think they use bittorrent.

Novell has a version (Suse) as does Sun that are fairly user friendly. Sun's version is very dependent on Java (big surprise there), but, is quite well done.

Personally, if you want something windowslike that is reasonably easy to master, Xandros is probably what I would recommend.

I would grab a copy of fedora from redhat, its the free version of their version of linux and is a good standard to get started from.

cheers,
Luke

Knoppix is pretty easy and you can acutally run it from the CD to see how your hardware will do before you nuke your old OS and install to the harddrive.

Ubuntu is also a good choice, other than the butt-ugly brown and orange default color scheme. I put Ubuntu on my old laptop and everything worked on the first try- sound, 802.11, modem, and video.

If you don't want to wait for a download you can try your local Barnes and Noble/Borders and look in the magazine section for the imported Linux magazines from the UK. They run about $15 but feature a CD or DVD with a different linux distribution each month.

So far, I have downloaded Knoppix, but my system keeps freezing when I try to burn it. The duct tape must need to be changed. Or maybe the rubber bands are loose.

I really want something that I can install permanently on that old box, so I may take a look at Redhat. Either way, I must first break out the duct tape and a polo club to fix my main system.

The site http://distrowatch.com/ has links to all the latest downloads. For a beginner, I would suggest Redhat, Mandriva (formerly Mandrake) or Suse. They are the largest companies and they have the best install programs IMHO. If you can't complete the downloading and burning process, you might want to try purchasing a Linux magazine at your local large book retailer. All the magazines have a free dvd/cd to give away and they always have a distribution.

--Art