Question about Linux - Red Hat

[Snoggera]

I am finally going to get around to having my ISP burn two cd's for me to use tomorrow.

What do I need to know, or look out for?

Thanks for making this transition a little easier for me!

[Kellanved]

1. Forget Red Hat, use SuSe

*ducks*
Honestly: the initial installation is a lot easier with SuSe, although it has some issues with upgrading hardware after the initial installation.

[Snoggera]

3. I thought about that, or Mandrake

but thought I would go ahead and pick up the cd's from the ISP while I'm there anyway tomorrow (Picking up a scanner, and that's all they have).

[mouse7]

4. I think Mandrake or Knoppix is the best linux distro for a newcomer

Knoppix is REAL easy. Just drop it in your CD drive and run it. It's not a linux install. It just runs it straight from the CD drive. The drawback is things aren't saved.

Mandrake has the best install features for newbies.

[Deja Q]

6. SuSE 9.1 or Mandrake 10 - is the way to go

I'm disappointed that SuSE 9.1 lacks two emulators I used before (I'm installing it right now).

I'll do a full report once it's done installing.

I'm a long time SuSE user, but Mandrake is easy to use and NeTraverse (Win4Lin) has teamed up with them, so you know their Windows emulator will work flawlessly with Mandrake Linux.

(SuSE is purportedly the best for gaming - Unreal tournament, et al, WineX, et cetera...)

And for Linux, NOTHING but NOTHING beats Nvidia for video card performance. Not until ATi heavily cleans up their Linux drivers. (My previous generation Nvidia performs equally well to the latest generation ATi, how's that for ATi being pathetic?)

[cheezus]

2. hardware

Know your hardware first
Autodetection's not great
Windows can list it

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

5. Red Hat uses 3 cds in its install

or 5, if you count the two source cds...

Red Hat has abandoned the home desktop market. They've switched completely to commercial business machines. Suse or Mandrake will give you much better support in the long run. I use Suse 9.0, and I love it.

[Snoggera]

7. My ISP

is telling me they will give me 2 cd's for Red Hat. They have recently installed two Linux servers.

That's all I know.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

8. Most of the 3rd cd is extra content

It all depends on what features you decide to install. The 3rd one may not be needed.