Which Linux is right for me?
I’m amazed by Open Office, which is the Linux world’s replacement for MS Office. I’m using it on a Windows XP desktop to give it a try.
This has got me thinking - maybe I should try working on a Linux PC. I have a spare PC that I could load up with Linux and give it a test drive. But which Linux?
I was at the West Vancouver Public Library last night, (yea, I still do that!) and while I was nosing around the stacks I found an ancient edition of “Red Hat Linux 7 for Dummies” (Hall & Sery, IDG Books 2001) which I’ve brought home. It has 3 CDs too.
Certainly there’s no point in installing software from 2001, but I brought the book home because it may tell me something about Linux and maybe point me in the right direction.
I read in Hall & Sery that there are many “distributions” of Linux, but they all emanate from Unix. It was conceived by Linus Torvalds in 1991, when he was a student at the University of Helsinki. He decided that the Linux kernel code would be freely available to everyone to do with as they pleased, which meant that it could be modified and distributed by anyone - freely or for profit.
By 1994 version 1.0 was first available for public use, and people were amazed at its capabilities, and started to use it, and develop different versions with different capabilities.
A key difference from Windows is that the Linux user interface is independent of the command interpreter - it’s a “shell” that can be changed for different purposes. Its because of this that different “distributions” became available. You’ve probably heard the names - Red Hat, Ubuntu, SuSe, Mandriva, Freespire, Xandros are some that are around now.
I’m going to look at them one at a time to see what works for me. I have a bunch of old hard drives that I’ve pulled out of computers - so I’ll be able to do an install of one system, play around with it and then swap out the hard drive and do the next system install on another hard drive. That way, if I want to compare some specifics I’ll be able to go back without too much fuss.
The system I’ll use is a AMD 2500 Athlon XP processor on a basic motherboard with built in video card and ethernet. I’ve put in 1 gig of ram. It is connected to the web through a cable modem so downloads will be quick.
I’ve got 5 hard drives bigger than 3 gig, so I’ll see what reviewers and bloggers think are great systems, and download 5 different systems, burn install CDs for each of them and copy a system to its own hard drive.
I’ll report on each install as I do it.
Technorati Tags: Linux test,Open Office,Ubuntu,SuSe,Xandros,Red Hat,Freespire,Mandriva,Linux
4 Responses to “Which Linux is right for me?”
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:12 am
I like your blog very much
Hope you keep on posting great stuff
regards, jenna
ps - I just randomly picked one of your posts to say this
February 23rd, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Thanks Jenna, the two of us seem to be caught up in a number of projects… and this blog is being ignored. Deepak is working on a commercial site using Drupal. A member of my family is managing 2 Joomla sites, so I’ve set up a Joomla sandbox to experiment with some of the advanced features. At the same time, both Deepak and I were hoping that Dreamhost would allow us the server-space to set up new domains and subdomains. We are finding that these cms programs, and my phpBB forum use databases, and hosting sites like Dreamhost stash the databases in servers that are apart from the website. So, the sites are s-l-o-w. What will happen? Westhost seems to have a good plan, and the entire hosting site is built around offering every account a virtual private server. So instead of a >500GB mansion at Dreamhost at $10/month, I’ll probably have a 20GB condo at Westhost for the same amount. And, oh yes, there is my real business to manage too.
Cheers… rb
September 19th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Hello, I just read up on your blog, unfortunately this came almost a year later.
I have a few recommendations on which linux distro you would like to use. Since there are potentially thousands of distributions, it is a matter of preference. What you have to consider apart from which distribution to use is the GUI in which you will be using on that particular distribution. GNOME and KDE are the most popular. If you like the Windows interface better, I would go with KDE, otherwise, GNOME is like a hybrid between Windows and Macintosh. Other GUI would include FluxBox and IceWM for the more experienced user.
To narrow your search, DistroWatch suggests the most popular distro’s based on how many times that page has been viewed from their link. So far, <a href=”http://www.ubuntu.comUbuntu has been the most popular distribution, Fedora and <a href=”http://www.opensuse.org openSuSE follow in a close lead.
Here is a useful link to a site that will help you choose what distribution would best fit your needs. ZeGenie Studios Linux Distribution Chooser
September 19th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Scott, thanks for your input.
As a quick comment on which Linux: Ubuntu is currently the one we seem to enjoy using the most. That said, I’m glad there are different flavours and that people have a choice. I hope that one does not emerge as a winner and the others are defeated and vanish.
Leave a Comment