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:
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[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.

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[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:

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