Topic. I've always used windows. I'm gonna start tinkering around with linux but can't decide which flavor to go with. I've heard they're all pretty similar. What do you guys use and why?

theres a bunch out there and they all do things differently.

to be honest since you're new id start off with debian or freebsd as they have a very large userbase and if you do get an error its most likely someone else has had it too and a simple google search will bring you a fix.

if you want a challenge you can try compiling gentoo yourself

then there are other more user friendly (i think i havent used them) distros such as arch linux and linux mint

This post was edited by AbDuCt on Feb 9 2013 01:41pm

Alright, thanks for the reply.

I think I'm going to give Debian or Linux Mint a shot.

One question though. From what I've heard, people say that Linux distros are better than Window's operating systems. Why is this? What does Linux have to offer that Windows doesn't?

This post was edited by SelfTaught on Feb 9 2013 01:52pm

they are generally more stable and allow the user or administrator more control over what does and does not happen on their system. thats why like 90% of all webservers or any server rather are some flavour of linux.

centos is my personal favorite

How come?

I think this was the Linux distro we used on super computers in my CS fundamentals class last year up at the University of Utah for some super-computing event.

cherry

Pretty much because the os was made around exactly what I wanted
Extra perks weren't included in the package and it was a bare minimum install, getting me the best bang for my hardware

the terminal commands are also simplistic, everything is very straight forward

i originally started with ubuntu, and hated it, it was slower than vista for me
then I decided to have my own server, centos was on the list of available operating systems and I took a chance without looking into it...one of the better guesses in my life

Peppermint

I thought you guys were being smart asses but I did a google search and it turns out you're not lol. I had never heard of these distros.