Linksys linux driver

Top Tip: Which distro for a Linux newbie?

Tips used for Top Tips come from the ExtremeTech forum and are written by our community.

Question from EightBit "I recently scavenged a 2gig HD from a computer my mother owns(the motherboard was dead). Now that I have a pretty much blank volume to tinker with, I want to try out Linux to see if I am missing out on anything.

I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about PC's in general, and very few Windows problems make me think about formatting and reinstalling windows. In fact, I have a computer running Win98 that has been stable, low-bloat, and mostly operable(except when ATI driver updates give me trouble) for three years without a reinstall.

However, I know virtually nothing about Linux, except that it is open source and mostly free. I have some experience with C++ from school, if that is the language that the source is in. If not, I can learn.

My system currently is a PII 350, Radeon 7500PCI, generic sound card, linksys NIC, 320 megs PC100, a 10gig HD as master, and a 2gig HD as slave. Within several months I may be using an Athlon XP system, but I have no clue what the config will be. Which distro should I download, and where do I download it from? "

Answer from GoodOlMike "I think you would be OK with Lycoris. 2 gigs isn't very much when you understand that some of the big distributions come with a lot of software. Lycoris would give you a gentle introduction to Linux. You can download betas for free. Go to the Lycoris web page and then find your way to the listing of mirrors. Use the mirror in Sweeden, it's faster than the US mirrors. Get Build 75."

Answer from Ironworker "You might like Mandrake www.mandrake.com , or Red Hat www.redhat.com You'll want to d/l the version for i586 at mandrake, the i386 for Red Hat. I'd also suggest Knoppix, which is cd evaluation distro. http://www.knoppix.net/get.php If you'd like to get further confused check out www.distrowatch.com , they list literally hundreds of distros. Enjoy. "

Got a better answer? Post it in the discussion that generated this tip.