windows migrant: choosing linux distribution

[J.Witvliet at mindef.nl]

-----Original Message-----
From: users-bounces at lists.fedoraproject.org [mailto:users-bounces at lists.fedoraproject.org] On Behalf Of Marko Vojinovic
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 11:53 PM
To: Community support for Fedora users
Subject: Re: windows migrant: choosing linux distribution



(3) It's actually a good idea to do your own research before asking a question 
here. Look up the topic in google, search the mailing list archives, read a 
man page (those are the "instruction manuals" for a whole bunch of stuff in 
Linux), etc. Expect a learning curve, regardless of the distro you choose. 
Some things that are trivial in Windows (like, play mp3 music) are quite 
nontrivial in Fedora (only the first time you try it, of course), and vice 
versa. The difference between Windows and Linux is not just the security, names 
and price. Migrating to Linux means that you need to change your way of 
*thinking* about how a computer can or should be used.

Finally, the choice of actual distro to start learning is quite immaterial. 
Any will do. What you should plan, however, is the strategy to stick to some 
distro for a while (say, 6 months), and then switch to another, in order to 
compare and learn what is the same and what is distro-specific. It doesn't 
really matter where you start from... ;-)
-----Original Message-----
Very well said...

Indeed!
The _basics_ are the same (certainly from an end-user point of view)
Perhaps the best advice I can give you, is: put an extra harddisc in your PC.
(if you are the "hasty type" consider a 250GB SDD)

And you pick blindly any distro, and just get your hands wet.
Don't be afraid to make mistakes: we all learned from our owns.
Nowadays, you can't really break anything anymore.
And if you manually change config files: make a copy of it, and if you are satisfied with it:
Print it out and/or save it on a usb-stick.
(so if you have to re-install it, you don't have to re-invent your wheel)

Biggest diff, is the look-and-feel of the desktop managers, and the appropriate applications.
But otoh KDE or Gnome (a certain version) looks the same on any distro.

So just try it. Work with it a couple of months. And try something else. Read the available docu.
What is best suited for you only depends on you only.

I started with slackware, tried RedHat, Debian, SuSE, CentOS, netBSD, FreeBSD.
Perhaps I should try Gentoo...
They all have their pro's and con's

And for Tyro: Just try and find out what _you_ like best.
There is no replacement for experience.

Hans

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