Upon making the decision to test out Linux, my first job was to find the right distro for my needs. A distro is to Linux what a flavor is to food. Distros are different flavors of Linux, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some distros are designed specifically for servers, others are for hardcore programmers or developers, while others are aimed at the general public. I wanted a distro that was similar in style and functionality to Windows XP, since that has been my OS of preference for some 5 years now. Also, I wanted several OS features to be automatically (or very easily) available:
1) Hardware compatibility with my eclectic system (various parts ranging in age from 0-10 years old)
2) Proven stability
3) Strong online help resources
4) Wide software support, including an easy method for installing/removing/updated programs
5) Modern/pretty desktop interface
6) Solid user community
My search started here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297509,00.html
After perusing that overview, I compiled a wide variety of data from Google,Wikipedia, Linux-specific resources (like linux.org), and my own personal experience. Eventually I was able to toss out a lot of distros based on their lack of key features. For me, these included:
Fedora: used it in college, didn’t like it (and using it would bring back too many bad memories…)
Slackware: too old-school
Linspire: I don’t want to pay $49.95 for a “supported version”
Gentoo: most annoying fanbase on planet earth… ;) …and wayyy too much command-line
openSUSE: heard bad things about SUSE, and not a huge fan of Novell products anyway
Other distributions were considered, but in the end it came down to two: Mandriva and Ubuntu. I decided to try Ubuntu first, primarily because of its large installed userbase, strong corporate sponsorship, and frequency of updates. If something went wrong, Mandriva would be my plan B.
The Ubuntu website was extremely straightforward and easy to navigate. I downloaded the ISO file (which FLEW, largely because the nearest mirror was 15 minutes from my house) and burned a quick CD. One of the best parts of Ubuntu’s install option is that the CD generated from this ISO serves as both an install CD and a Live CD. The Live CD meant that I could reboot my computer with the Ubuntu CD in the drive, and it would launch Ubuntu completely off the CD – no install, no permanent files, nothin’. This allowed me to test all my hardware and make sure that I could get things running quickly, and Ubuntu didn’t disappoint.
After my hardware passed all the requisite tests, the last thing to do was the install! I’ll discuss this tomorrow, so stay tuned…
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