Best Linux Distro for a home user 2916

On Tue, 08 Feb 2005 07:54:30 -0800, Tavish Muldoon

I'd add some more RAM and a bigger disk if I were you, 256M is a little light for a modern distro although they will work. 20G is fine if all you are going to do is web surf and send e-mail. If you are going to do a lot of graphics then you'll want a bigger disk. I bought a 200G Seagate a month ago for $79 after rebate so we aren't talking about a lot of money.

To answer your questions. Mandrake 10.1 is a full featured easy to use distrobution. It's easy to install and has a very good set of GUI control panels that will be easy for a Windows user to understand. It comes in two flavors, a free download edition and paid for service called MandrakeClub which gives you access to a version which integrates a number of non-opensource drivers and multimedia apps. You download and install of the drivers and multimedia plugins and apps from elsewhere on the net for free but the paid for Mandrake version takes some of the hbuttle out for you.

There are a several distrobutions that specifically target Windows users, Linspire, Xandros and Lycoris. I've never used any of them so I can't comment on them.

As for applications. Office: OpenOffice Comes with every major distrobution. As good or better than MSOffice for most users. The only drawback is that the PDF writer doesn't do bookmarks yet, not a problem for a home user but a significant one for someone doing documentation.

Mail: Evolution Outlook without the viruses. Looks and feels like Outlook. Has great e-mail filtering, a good contact manager, a good calender. You'll be very happy with this.

Graphics: GIMP Comes with every major distro.

Browser: Firefox You can download Firefox for any distrobution. Mandrake 10.1 came out just before Firefox was released so it's not included (it will be in 10.2 for sure), so you'll have to download it from Mozilla.org. Mandrake does come with Galeon which is an excellent browser, very fast and includes tabbed browsing and search bars just like Firefox.

Comes with every major distro.

Desktop: Gnome or KDE I like Gnome, lot's of people like KDE. Mandrake comes with both so you can try them and see which one feels best to you.