PC Linux Development

I am planning to install Linux onto one of my computers in attempt to understand how it works, and eventually get an idea of how to understand linux servers.

So what would be the best version of linux to install on a home pc for a begginer?

you can install RedHat Linux 8.o version. This i found easy to learn version

mandriva 2005 Limited Edition

i have a reason to suggest the single most primo mandriva(mandrake) and that is because it has far more and better drivers. and if you cant find drivers for your hardware you will hate your linux experience.

use this link
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Mandriva-Linux-Download-21694.html

or Xandros. its pretty stupid simple to install and to use. the installation is 5 clicks of your mouse.. consisting of "ok" and "next" hahah
http://www.xandros.com

however mandriva would be another good choice...you COULD install both mm..the thing i liked best about xandros was the bootloader, hahah..it was just good looking.

You could always use a Live Linux CD (such as knoppix) to get linux running without installing anything. It's a "quick and easy" way to get introduced to Linux - all you do is burn the file to the CD, and then boot from it!

but with a live cd, one will not become accustomed to the installation process of a linux distro and if you want to save things...you could have problems. lol

the other NICE distro is SuSE if you have a friend who has it and will burn/loan it to you

but you definitely need a friend.. its 5 cd's or 1 dvd
unless your going to take a while to download it..

Yer mandriva would be good.

mandriva is good


One question thou, for those who develop on a server which uses a win32 operating system ( win server 2000, win server 2003, win nt) you have the luxury of being able to login onto your server and use it like a pc using remote desktop.

However in accordance to linux based servers, is it possible to do the same thing? only using a program meant for linux?

I'm somewhat surprised nobody mentioned Fedora Core 4.

If you really want to understand how Linux works get Slackware, Debian or Gentoo. You'll be forced to learn something. If you want something that's user friendly - well, everyone has a different opinion of that.

You can SSH into a linux server and use it as if you were local. PuTTy and WinSCP are decent windows clients for SSH.

slackware was really good for jumping right in, since I found a few problems, I learned how to search for answers, and a lot more about the OS than if I just installed it with a few clicks. Debian, was kinda in the middle, but there was an issue I had with my harddrives and I had to pass a command to install it, and now I can't remember the command, so I am going to try out fedora core 4 next. For me I just want a linux desktop OS with some server functionality, not much more, but if you want more in depth linux stuff, try out slackware, debian, etc.

use fedora good distribution

gentoo is a terrible idea for a beginner. if he has zero understanding of linux i really dont see how he could make it past the installation. and in my opinion i really never liked mandriva. then again after i moved away from it i never went back to it now that im more expirienced. i say try ubuntu. havent thoroughly used it myself but its based off debian and it seems to be quite user friendly. i think you would get a lot out of that with few problems.

so far the best one I have run is fedora 4