This thread is prefectly discribed in the "topic description". Which linus distro do you prefer and why?

I know, I know, there should be a poll on all the different distros but I dont know how many there are

I suppose a more knowledgable linux person could start a poll here

Since the current trend of the Linuxes (I have no idea what the correct plural form is) going commercial, you have pretty much no choice besides Mandrake and Gentoo Linux. Fortunately they're both very good Linuxes (grammar inquisition is coming for me B))

Mandrake is a pretty straightforward install-and-run package. Gentoo is for the technology enthusiasts, it lets (or actually forces) you to do just about everything there is to installing and using Linux. Linux distributions are like cell phone operators in Finland; they are so god damned similar that anything that differs from the common trend is instantly appealing.

If you're feeling extreme, you could consider a totally new approach, such as FreeBSD.

Used to use RedHat (6 and before) when I installed linux, then I switched to Mandrake. The new Redhat installer is quite impressive though.
I've had Slackware recommended many times, but I'm just too damn lazy to install it, and when I'm not lazy I need to be doing work

I have mandrake installed on a separate partition and kind of like the sound of gentoo (being able to install an optimised version of its self just for my computer). I have read that its only a 16Mb ISO and the rest of the files are downloaded once the installation has been started. The thing is, I cant seem to find this 16Mb download.

Also, is it possible to start the gentoo installation from within windows, so theres no need for a bootable CDROM or FloppyDisk Drive ???

If I copied all the files from the linux boot cd to a freshly formatted harddrive, would this harddrive boot and start the installation of the operatingsystem ???

There are quite possibly hundreds of linux distros. I don't think there's any official list anywhere.

Personally, I use slackware or gentoo.

Slackware is the most unix-like linux out there, it's very fast and pretty damn stable. It's not too much hassle to set up (it's installation is great) and all in all, it works perfectly for my needs.

Gentoo, on the other hand, is a bastard to install. It's not long, but you've got to know what you're doing. It's very fast once it's installed - I mean BLAZINGLY fast. I could run GTA Vice City faster under linux using winex (the directx layer) faster than under Windows. That's pretty amazing in my opinion .

I wouldn't use Redhat or Mandrake personally - I don't really like RPM and I find that RedHat slows the hell out of my system. Nevertheless, it's not a bad distro for beginners.

Good luck

JEN, you have to boot into Linux before you start installing it-that's why you have boot cds. Boot cds loads the kernel dynamically and run the neccessary config files before installing. Perhaps there's way to use the files from hdds, but as I understand, it could be a tedious job. Boot CD provides you a simpler alternative. Simply boot from the disk, follow instructions, wait for the installation to complete and voila, enter the tux kingdom.

What distribution are you trying, BTW?


Hope this helps.

I have already got mandrake, but want to try gentoo

There was another thread about which Linux distribution to choose not too long ago:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....howtopic=14604&