The Reg guide to Linux, part 1: Picking a distro (The Register)

[zridling]

The Register to the rescue with a guide to picking a Linux distro:

One of the common complaints about Linux is that there are too many different editions (or “distributions”) to choose from, and only a hardcore nerd can tell them apart.... Well, it's true, but you can safely ignore 99 per cent of them. Welcome to The Register's guaranteed impartiality-free guide. Tomorrow, we'll tell you how to get them, burn them and set them up to dual-boot with Windows and on Wednesday there will be a guide to tweaking your new setup and getting it ready for use.

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My fav, of course:

though the Register trashes it.

[40hz]

Once you pick your champion, bop on over to the HowtoForge website and do a search for the terms: perfect, desktop, and the name of your distro for some good post-installation setup suggestions.



HTF is an excellent site for hands-on and detailed how-tos for a variety of Linux setups. They run the gamut from basic productivity enhancements such as this:

The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx)

Version 1.0
Author: Falko Timme <ft [at] falkotimme [dot] com>
Follow me on Twitter
Last edited 05/03/2010

This tutorial shows how you can set up an Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.

I want to say first that this is not the only way of setting up such a system. There are many ways of achieving this goal but this is the way I take...

to advanced topics such as this:

In this howto we will build a load-balanced and high-availability web cluster on 2 real servers with Xen, hearbeat and ldirectord. The cluster will do http, mail, DNS, MySQL database and will be completely monitored. This is currently used on a production server with a couple of websites.

  HowtoForge homepage: http://www.howtoforge.com/     

[Paul Keith]

Well...here's to hoping there's a season 2.

I can't believe how many of these guides stop at installations. Doesn't even address some common tricks to easily find support besides the common "Hole here. Head first. Dive in."

[40hz]

^ True.

Alternatively, a newcomer could just download Ubuntu since they'll need to start somewhere even if they don't plan on staying in the Canonical neighborhood forever. That and maybe (gasp!) read a book?

In keeping with the the "down in the hole" metaphor, this O'Reilly   title is a good one to use:



Info Link: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9781593271800  (Note: order it from Amazon instead of O'Reilly. Big discount that way.)

The "official" Ubuntu book is also good as a "first read." More specific to Ubuntu and (currently) much more up-to-date than the above title.

Info and ordering: http://www.amazon.co...277383043&sr=8-3