LINUX NEWBIE: trying to decide which linux to use

[Merknaan]

what distribution would you recommend for a noob to linux??? I've been leaning towards MANDRIVA but because i'm running vista, which is very demanding on my computer, i'm thinking maybe MANDRAKE 10.1 .

[smurfy]

If your PC can handle Vista, it will handle any current Linux distro with ease.
Did you see this thread?
The test will pick one of the following as a recommendation:
Fedora Core 7
Mandriva 2008
OpenSuSE 10.3
Debian 4.0
(Simply-)MEPIS 6.0
Ubuntu, Kubuntu 7.10
Linspire 6
Freespire 2
Xandros 4
PCLinuxOS 2007
Gentoo 2007.1
Slackware 12
Arch Linux 2007.08
Foresight Linux 1.4.1

[jmtjet]

Probably the easiest to install and use is Ubuntu. It'll take longer to update after the install than the install itself.
http://www.ubuntu.com/

Good luck and have fun.

[Merknaan]

hey thanks a lot for the help! i think i'm going to give SuSE 10.3 a try. mostly because it seems like it'll be easy to set up a dual boot.

[jmtjet]

Do your homework before you attempt to set up a dual boot. In the worst case scenario you can lose the ability to boot to Vista. So read a few tutorials before you start.
Here's a place to start:
http://apcmag.com/5162/the_definitiv...x_vista_and_xp

Here's a read on it:
http://www.apcstart.com/3895/how_vis...ooting_nirvana

Good luck and have fun.

[renegade600]

before installing any of them, boot to the live cd version of the distros to see which one you like the best.