Mandriva IMO is the best distro for a beginner to play with. I started with Mandrake 9.0. I had previous unix experience in college, so some console didn't bother me, however, there wasn't really any need to use console in Mandrake. My memory is getting kind of bad, but I think I eventually moved from Mandrake to Slackware because of speed and stability. Mandrake seemed kind of slow at the time, but spead up when 10.0 came out with the 2.6 kernel. The 2.6 kernel is taking a while to get stable, though. At 10.1 is when I switched to Slackware when Slackware 10 came out. After I left Mandrake they merged with another distro and became Mandriva. One annoying thing about them, is you have to pay to join their club to get the distro on time and with some of the extra programs. I tried RedHat and Suse while I was using Mandrake, but neither one of them convinced me to switch. RedHat at the time was a boring Mandrake. SuSE, for some reason didn't impress me. For a non-paying user it's just as hard to get the nVidia drivers on any of them. (Debian, by the way, comes with the nVidia driver, but only for the 2.4 kernel) I always install it the nVidia way which requires you to turn X off. Translation: It's better to use the console to install the nVidia driver. It also requires the modification of the X .conf file to use the nvidia driver instead of the nv driver. At some point, you're probably going to have to edit some configuration files.

Slackware was my second main system. By the way, each distro seems to be sensitive to somewhat different BIOS settings. Slackware seems to be the worst. When I say sensitive I mean that they are less forgiving of the WRONG BIOS settings. Once I got them set properly, Slackware was fast and played DVD's well. Slackware is stable and fast. I stuck with it for a year. I also drove my wife crazy because I was always trying to install something that doesn't come with the distro. nvidia was the worst thing to install in Slackware and I got it working, sort of, by making concessions for it in lilo. I still have it installed and I plan to keep up with it. It is still using the 2.4 kernel which takes away some drivers for my ASUS motherboard. There is a 2.6 kernel as an option that most people use whether they run -stable (10.1) or -current (future 10.2). Ultimately, Debian finally came out with a new release and when I tried it, I liked it. Slackware is one of the best distro's for someone wanting to dig into the system and make their own changes. It has a fairly clear structure for configuration and the files are well documented to help determine what changes to make. It's a great system for the person ready to rely on CLI.

When I loaded Debian Sarge it took me two tries. The net install disk didn't install much and I had to try again with the first two install disks. Once I figured out to load the 2nd disc when the 1st one kicked out, it started installing KDE and Gnome. After the install it's a good idea to set up your sources so that you can download and install packages off of the rest of the cd's. There's a lot of pitfalls in Debian for a first time installer. Aptitude works great now that I've had some experience with it. With aptitude, if you want to remove something completely including config files, you press "_". You install by pressing "+" and then go through the dependencies one at a time to make sure everything it needs and nothing else get installed. It's essential to have the right source before trying "aptitude" because there will be broken packages it won't have the files for. In fact, having the right sources is probably one of the most important things to set up in Debian before updating/installing. It's OK to use outside sources at times, but they should be commented out unless you need them for something. I'd list my sources file, but I'm at work right now. I can post a link to a thread where I got some help setting it up. Scotsnewsletter forum--All things Linux

What I like about Debian: It has the things I like about Slackware with the wealth of programs available like Mandriva. It has stability and choices. When you install a program, it's placed in the menu. When I install programs, they work on the first attempt. The nvidia driver went without a hitch, once I realized that Debian uses "telinit 1" to shut off X. "telinit 2" returns it to the GUI.

I dabbled with FreeBSD 4.10 and had a little fun, but 5.3 didn't like my computer and refused to install. I'm about to try 5.4.

Ah, good point. So no broadband connection and CD burner, eh?

Probably a moot point, since you don't have Mepis available to you, but every Debian-based distro has this installer program (apt-get/Synaptic) and the packages available are not distro-specific. It all depends on what repositories you enable.

If you're willing to tough it out through Debian-pure, I think you'll learn a lot and have a more stable distro in the end. I just don't want you to get frustrated that it's not all point-and-click.

Try going here to get mepis spidertools

Or http://cheapiso.com/

Frankly, I think you have one of two paths you can take:

1. You can just say, "Screw it. I love GUI, but I'm going to learn the command-line and start to love the console." In that case, I'd go with Debian pure.

2. You can download or order Mepis. If you have dial-up or don't have a CD burner, maybe you can find a friend has broadband and/or a CD burner.

As someone new to Linux, i can offer you my experience with four distro's
(3 plus BSD, actually)...

1) Fedora Core - installed easily, straight to gui. i think they use yum over RPM for
management of packages. I just couldn't find a lot of online reading for FC assistance.
I was also put off by (i read somewhere) the fact that they change the distributiion
frequently, and users are pretty much forced to go with the current release i don't know
if that's true. Anyway i like that Redhat has split FC off for open development, definitely
a plus for the long term.

2) FreeBSD. INstalled easily, but was very different in terms of configuration files, and other
things. The related support sites and groups are very off-putting and aloof. Oh, and the fact
that (4 whatever reason i don't know) my partition table vanished on a dual-boot XP machine...
...well anyway i no longer have any interest.

3) SUSE 9.2 (distributed by free download of DVD ISO). Very nice, not a single problem
installing and using for a couple of months. Then i did a YAST thingy wrongly, i guess and
got broken dependencies and what not. very difficult to sort out anything from a console, I found.
And the fact that it's Novell, and they're selling the distro leads me to think about long-term issues -
ie. it wont be free for very long...

4) Debian. I had installed debian as a minimal installation and have been running it on a minimal
server h/w platform as my first linux project. It hadn't occured to me to try a desktop instllation of the
newest stable (sarge). When Sarge came out in june, i decided to try it - WOW. Its definitely the
best for me. The install was a bit more difficult than the others; i had to worm my way thru a number
of problems, reformats, etc. But i finally got it to come up with Gnome using 2.4. From there, i had
some issues and was about to abandon; then came across a way to get 2.6 going with a simple
kernel-image apt-install. Ever since, i've been sold. The gui is great, the hot-plugging is great
the applications are endless. Anyone who's used apt packaging can tell u it is top-class.

Summary

If you want easy install and point and click; go with SUSE or FC3.

If you want good desktop gui, plus long term stability, and LOADS of EASILY installed program
packages, get your feet a little wet (maybe suffer a little) and use debian.

my .04cents.
danimal

PS - you may know that there are "live CDs" for both SUSE and FC3 and i am sure many others.
These simply boot from your CD drive and come up 'live'. Knoppix (Suse) also. This is a good way
to test-drive a distro, my opin...

If you really want to learn Linux, here's a little advice:
1. Start off with a LIVECD like Knoppix to get a feel for things.
2. Install a reasonably newbie friendly distro. Mepis, PCLinuxOS, and Xandros are good choices.
3. Forget everything you ever thought you knew about Windows.
4. Start with a clean slate and an open mind.
5. Accept the fact that the CLI is far more flexible and powerful than a GUI. Learn how to use it.
6. Read the man pages for the various programs.
7. Accept the fact that it takes time to learn a new system.
8. When trying to address a problem or figure something out: a) search the forums. b) google c) ask smart questions.
9. Stick with a single distro for a while until you've actually learned how to use it.
10. If something isn't working correctly learn WHY it isn't. It could be YOU did something WRONG. Or it could be a simple configuration change.
11. Always remember Linux doesn't assume you're stupid, unlike windows."masonm
12. Read Getting Linux Help HOWTO



"MEPIS and Xandros are considered the best for new Linux users who want to get productive in Linux as soon as possible without having to master all its complexities. On the other end of the spectrum, Gentoo, Debian, Slackware and FreeBSD are more advanced distributions that require plenty of learning before they can be used effectively. Mandriva, Red Hat, Ubuntu and SUSE can be classified as good "middle-road" distributions. Knoppix is a so-called live CD - it is great for trying out Linux without getting your hands dirty as it runs directly from a CD." From DistroWatch

Personally I do not think Debian is all that difficult. I just started using Linux last November and Debian was where I started. I find it much easier to edit a text file to edit a config file than clicking through a GUI.

If you really want to try Debian I would recommend Ubuntu or MEPIS. Playing around with Knoppix or Kanotix livecd is a good way to get started without installing anything.

Read the Debian documentation and it really isn't that difficult.