Best Linux?

[Lance]

So I know PCs inside out and upside down but I've never messed with Linux.

Any suggestions on the best Linux build for me to play with?

[Arneb]

Dang, that's a question I considered asking you.

I am pretty much resigned to windows - However, seeing how a totally fucked Word document destroyed my MS Office 2000 installation on my laptop and how everything worked like a charm on OpenOffice afterwards - that really set me thinking...

[MM_Dandy]

I'm an Ubuntu fan, but I haven't used it since before they adopted the Unity interface, which seems to have put some people off. From what I gather, those folks seem to prefer Mint.

A coworker of mine swears by Mandriva.

A couple of long-time users that I know prefer FreeBSD (which, I guess, isn't technically Linux).

[Lance]

I can't imagine I'd ever switch. I have too many PCs that I depend on far too much. I just want to get a feel for it.

[Мастер]

I have used a homebrew Linux,

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org

However, it is a rather time-intensive hobby. Just installed Kubuntu, and having trouble getting anything additional installed.

[Lance]

homebrew

I used to home brew beer for a while. But not until I had developed a fine and discriminating palate.

I think I want to do Linux the same way. Someone else can do the work until I learn to appreciate it.

;-)

[pmcolt]

I've been solely on Ubuntu on my home machine for several years. There's plenty enough for me to fiddle with there, without building my own from-scratch system.

Unity takes some getting used to, but it's actually a very usable minimalist interface for my old netbook. It's a little more awkward on my desktop. If you want a more traditional linux desktop experience, there's Mint (gnome) or Kubuntu (kde). I've heard that Mandriva is a good distro for kde, but haven't used it.

I also have an Ubuntu server at work running virtually all of our critical systems. Are you planning on fiddling with linux on a desktop or a server?

[Lance]

Probably a VM to start but I'll load it on a laptop if there is any reason to.

Workstation version to start with. At this point I can barely spell Linux so I'm not ready to mess with servers yet.

[ddubs]

If you can get around some of the newer interfaces (unity on ubuntu and gnome3 on fedora) then those 2 are top choices. They have by far the largest user-base, the most polish and the most support for applications/libraries. Being in "the field" I gravitate toward Fedora since I work with mainly Redhat/Centos based distro's, fedora is more familiar. Ubuntu is forked from Debian so it is familiar to those who use debian based systems.

I wouldn't use some of the more abstract distros until you get a good feel for how to setup/tweak your system and become more of a linux power-user. Then some of the tweaked distro's may better suit your needs.