[ltp] Which distribution?

[Ivarsson, Torbjorn (T)]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrea Grilli [mailto:andrea_grilli@virgilio.it]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 11:27 AM
> 
> Hi everyone,
> this is the first time i'm approaching linux...
> I'm going to install linux on my laptop. The thing is that I don't know so much about distributions. I've a thinkpad r40 2722 5mg. On ibm site I found that my laptop is certified with linux SuSe:
> http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-48NT8D.html
>  
> What do u advise for a beginner?
> Suse? Mandrake? RedHat? Or else?
> I should prefer hardware certificate (is that the truth?) or I don't know which other aspect in choosing the right distrib for me?

Most people agree that the distros you listed are the best ones for beginners. I settled for Mandrake on my R40 2722-3YU, mostly because it was the easiest one to download and burn to CD... Mandrake 9.2 should work well on your laptop. If you want to go for the latest Mandrake version, 10.0, you may want to wait until April/May for the "Official" version (current "Community" version is somewhat like a "final beta version").

I have a writeup of my experiences with MDK9.2 on my laptop @ http://www.geocities.com/tivarsson/linux.html (somewhat outdated... I'm in the process of documenting my experiences with MDK10.0.)

You may also want to download Knoppix (http://www.knoppix.org). It's a so called "live-CD" which means that you can boot your laptop with the CD and experience Linux without installing anything on your computer.

Have a friend with Linux-experience on the speed-dial on your phone, and have access to Google and Usenet (http://groups.google.com/groups?group=alt.os.linux) to research various topics. This list is also very helpful.


Have fun,
T.