[GLLUG] Distribution for new users coming from Windows?

[Jeff Lawton]

impact wrote:

> I've switched a few friends over to Linux over the past couple 
> months.  One to Mandrake, Two to SuSE, and two to Gentoo.  Gentoo is 
> by far the best as far as I can tell.  Package maintenance at its 
> easiest, but I wouldn't recommend it for people who aren't going to 
> get down and dirty and learn whats going on.
> SuSE has been great, however I'm fairly dissapointed in getting YAST 
> to download packages and resolve dependancies online, so for each of 
> those two, I have installed apt and synaptic.  It works nicely, but 
> I'm sure its ugly behind the scenes having apt do the package 
> management for SuSE.
> Mandrake is nice, but I've had some issues with it.
> I would most likely recommend SuSE over Mandrake over Gentoo (if that 
> makes sense).
> On a side note:  Upgrading SuSE from 9.1 to 9.2 after using Apt was a 
> pain, a _lot_ of the programs installed through apt had to be removed 
> and reinstalled...
> Just my thoughts.
> -Dan
>
> Jeremy Bowers wrote:
>
>> So I wrote something on my website about these Windows rootkits that 
>> really ought to be the last nail in Microsoft's coffin, even thought 
>> they probably won't be:
>>
>> http://www.jerf.org/iri/2005/02/18.html#P2459
>>
>> And as I said in that link, I'd like to recommend a distribution to 
>> people who are fleeing from Windows. The problem is, the only one 
>> I've used seriously in the last two or three years is Gentoo, so I 
>> have no good idea what a good Windows-refugee distribution is, 
>> although I'm pretty sure Gentoo ain't it; my last experience is with 
>> Mandrake just after they forked from Red Hat. (I guess I also used 
>> Fedora, but I found it a pain to update or install new software for, 
>> and while long-time users swear up and down it can be made easy, I'm 
>> looking for something that <i>starts</i> easy, not "is easy after you 
>> push the magic buttons on 'yum'".)
>>
>> Thoughts, and, ideally, experiences with this situation? Answers will 
>> be processed, collated, sliced, diced, and used to come out with one 
>> or two suggestions. (There's no value in burying them in 
>> recommendations...)
>>
>> (I know I've seen this question before online but the answers keep 
>> changing and I have no way of knowing if any given answer is 
>> up-to-date.)
>> _______________________________________________
>> linux-user mailing list
>> linux-user at egr.msu.edu
>> http://www.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user
>>
>
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>
For new people I have found that Mempis is a very nice. You can also 
direct them to a book called "Point and Click Linux". Mempis is a very 
simple hard drive install and is debian and KDE based. Ubuntu is also 
Very nice, I found that its apt repository were a little more limiting 
without changing the sources. Ubuntu is also debian based, uses gnome as 
its desktop, and abandons the conventional start button in the bottom 
left. A small thing, but hard to explain to my grandmother.

Jeff Lawton
Ideal Solution, LLC
517-679-0695 x 220
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