Tidying up after Linux 16783

snips

If you've got a spare HD, you might take a look at any of several. I happen to like Mandrake (now Mandriva) and SuSE for "desktop distros", Gentoo for a "hacker's heaven" type distro, Debian for servers and Knoppix for a "fixit" distro... but all are good.

Lately I've been using KUbuntu, which is pretty decent, though Ubuntu is a little different from most. Most, if you do something "systemwide", require the root pbuttword; in Ubuntu, you use your own.

If you do try a LiveCD version - Ubuntu, Knoppix, etc - try to remember that while it may seem slow, it's running off the CD, not the HD. Best is to install to the HD and try it "properly"... but if you're going to do this, use something like Parbreastion Magic to free up some space, or, preferrably, use a completely different drive.

On another note, if you can manage it, puthome on its own parbreastion; this way, most of your personal settings will survive trying different distros - eg your settings for your news client should remain, even though you switched from Mandriva to SuSE, as long as you're using the same news client and the same or a newer version.

Lastly, keep in mind that while Linux hardware support is fantastic - certainly better than I've ever seen in Windows - it's not perfect; it is certainly possible to find a device that doesn't work out of the box. There are, indeed, many a help channel that can help you get all but the most problematic hardware working.