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Babbies First Linux
Baby's First GNU/Linux OS
Being a technology board, talk of different operating systems and distributions is common. You may desire to try a new OS after reading about them. For users looking to make the switch from Windows or Mac to a GNU/Linux distribution, here are some recommendations.
Installing an OS
It is recommended that you test out an OS in a Virtual Machine such as VirtualBox or run it from a Live CD/USB before installing it. This lets you test out the operating system without any permanant change to your system. You should also consider booting as a live CD to ensure good hardware compatability.
There are detailed instructions available on installing Linux Mint in a VirtualBox.
However, if you've decided to dedicate yourself to GNU/Linux -- getting it up and running isn't as daunting as one might think. First of all: you have to figure out what distribution you want, and what architecture your CPU has, and download the corresponding ISO. Do download it with torrent, or check the checksum after it has finished downloading. It will save you a lot of hassle if you get a corrupted ISO. There are multiple tools available for creating a GNU/Linux bootable USB from this ISO, where the most common ones are UNetBootin if you're already running GNU/Linux, and Win32ImageWriter if you're on a Windows system. Boot from the USB, follow instructions. Problems? Official distribution manual, or just make a thread on /g/ or make a post at /g/flt once you have searched exhaustively on Google.
Desktop OSes
If you're looking for an OS to use for daily use, try one of these. Keep in mind that 99% of your software and games will not work if you dont have the time to fiddle With wine. Most software has an equal or better FOSS replacement however. Check out osalt for more information on open source alternatives.
Debian-based distros
Debian
Debian is a great distro for both desktops and servers. It is the base of many distros, including Ubuntu and Mint. It comes in three variants: stable, testing, and sid. Stable lives up to its name, being the most stable. However, the packages are very outdated compared to the other two versions. Testing is the most common for desktop users (more up-to-date packages), and unstable for a true rolling release experience.
Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a common beginner's choice, and is despised by both /g/ and /tech/ for it's default DE and it's spyware. While it's default DE, Unity might be confusing to some at first, Ubuntu is easier to learn than the majority of GNU/Linux distros only possibly loosing to Mint and Manjaro (see bellow), has a fairly intuitive GUI that some might like, and has a lot of support. It is based on Debian. Make sure that whatever variant you try is based off the latest LTS, 14.04. It is also somewhat customizable, so if you want to start off easy and work your way up when you feel like it, this isn't a bad distro to try first before you try something like Debian, Arch, or Gentoo. Just make sure if you pick normal Ubuntu to turn online searching off, as it sends your search info to Amazon and Canonical logs all of it.
If you think Unity looks like shit, you may want to try a variant of Ubuntu. The most common variants are:
- You might try Xubuntu if you want a semi-lightweight OS with a somewhat spartan user interface. Xubuntu uses the "XFCE" Desktop environment. This desktop environment uses a dock as stock, similar to that of the OSX GUI.
- If you want a less spartan and more windows-like environement,Kubuntu is worth a try. It is a lot more heavy on ram, but also has a nice user interface to make up for this, with alot of extra gadets.
- Lubuntu is the choice for the low-power machine, due to it's low memory usage. Use this if you want to save ram. Lubuntu uses the "LXDE" Desktop environment, which while hated by many people on /g/ and /tech/, is not too bad of a DE for low end computers, and a lot of it's bad rap comes from it's lackluster interface and it's earlier days when it was much more glitchy. You might want to check out i3 and GNU/Linux optimization tips at some point though if you are not satisfied. Users who prefer a Windows GUI may prefer LXDE.
- If you want to relive the old glory days of Ubuntu GNOME, there's a distro for that. Here's the site.
Linux Mint
Linux Mint is a distribution based off Ubuntu. Linux Mint comes in the flavors of KDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, and MATE. Linux Mint is very comparable in ease of use if not better than Ubuntu for beginners and people who want something that "just werks™". It comes polished off without the integration of Amazon services, but it installs proprietary software like Flash by default, so be prepared to remove shit after install. However, because it is based on Ubuntu LTS, its package is a bit ancient. It is also somewhat customizable, so if you want to start off easy and work your way up when you feel like it, this isn't a bad distro to try first before you try something like Debian, Arch, or Gentoo.
Bunsen Labs
Bunsen Labs is a lightweight Debian-based distro, it is CrunchBang's "officially endorsed" community continuation since Crunchbang discontinued its development. Although mostly it is aimed at experienced users, it can be used as a means of educating newer users of GNU/Linux due to the intuitive nature of openbox. If you're willing to learn how to edit configuration files, you may learn a little bit of something on the way. Overall, it's user-friendly while providing convenience to more experienced users.
RPM-based distros
Fedora
Fedora is almost as user friendly as Ubuntu but with the advantage of having more up to date packages and better upgrade between distro versions. However, its repositories are not nearly as large because it does not allow proprietary and patented software, but you can add repositories quickly and easily that fixes that. If you add RPM Fusion, you can have access to almost any program you will need. Also check Fedora's COPR, they work similar to PPA and are additional repos for specific software.
Fedora is available in 3 official spins with Workstation being a GNOME Desktop spin. There are also other spins like KDE, Xfce, Cinnamon, MATE, etc. Personally I would recommend the Netinstall and then choose which packages you want to install, but only do this if you have an un-throttled stable high-speed internet connection.
Adding RPM Fusion:
sudo dnf install http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
Fedora spins:
https://spins.fedoraproject.org/
OpenSUSE
OpenSUSE is a commonly used distro. If you plan on only using KDE, you should try it out!
Mageia
Mageia is a fork of Mandriva Linux formed in September 2010 by former employees and contributors to the popular French Linux distribution. Unlike Mandriva, which is a commercial entity, the Mageia project is a community project and a non-profit organisation whose goal is to develop a free Linux-based operating system.
pacman-based distros
ArchLinux
ArchLinux is a distro known for its KISS policy and The Arch Way. Known for it's rolling release and bleeding edge packages, it uses pacman as it's package manager, which is very simple to some users. A base install of ArchLinux takes only less than 800MiB space of disk. It is common for ricers to use Arch because of it's minimal base installation, allowing you to choose your own packages. It is also known for its wiki, which has an extensive documentation of nearly everything in GNU/Linux, and the AUR, dubbed as the biggest software repository in the world.
You can also use it's installer: Architect Linux, it literally installs Arch, without any Antergos/Manjaro bloats, and without any hassle. Download it here. (Yes, although the links are leading to SourceForge, it hasn't been infested with adware, yet.)
ArchWiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/
Download: https://www.archlinux.org/download/
Antergos
Antergos is a distribution based off Arch, basically it is just Arch Linux with a nice installer. Unlike Manjaro, Antergos fully utilize ArchLinux's repository instead of making its own repository. By default, Antergos' Live ISO boots to GNOME 3, but when you start to install it, there are around 6 desktops (5 DE and 1 WM) to choose from its installer. The perk of using Antergos is, of course, the access to AUR.
You can download it at https://antergos.com/try-it/
Manjaro
Manjaro is a distribution based off Arch, in many ways similar to Linux Mint, this distribution also focuses on user-friendliness, claiming that the user will never have to use the terminal. It comes with numerous tools pre-installed, similar to those in Linux Mint, from steam to Libre Office. It's a highly stable distribution,but despite that, it's a rolling release, which means your system will always be up to date and you'll never have to do a big update like you would on most Ubuntu/Debian based distributions (e.g: from Ubuntu 12.04 to Ubuntu 14.04). It's main DE are Xfce and KDE, many other flavours are available, from Gnome3 to i3. Another big advantage for this distribution is that you'll have access to the AUR.
However, Manjaro contains a great deal of software in the default installation, making it's base installation quite heavy, and its maintainers are known for asking their users to travel back in time and totally not being fans of Nine Inch Nails
Available for download at https://manjaro.github.io/download/
Independent Distros
Distros that aren't fit inside the respective category will be added here until its own category has been made.
Gentoo
No, really. Gentoo is actually not a bad choice at all. But if you make a thread asking for help, expect a ton of "Install Gentoo" responses.
A common misconception is that gentoo is actually very hard to install. If you have patience, a few hours to burn, and can read a manual, it's not actually hard. What is annoying is maintaining gentoo after you have it installed, and if you have a slow machine, compiling programs can be a pain in the ass. There are binary packages available in portage.
Gentoo is available at http://here.www.gentoo.org/main/en/where.xml
Alternatively, you can run Funtoo linux; a distribution of Gentoo that uses git to sync repositories. It also has a much more user-friendly install guide, and the LiveCD has a desktop environment.
You can download Funtoo here.
Puppy Linux
Puppy is a distribution aimed at being lightweight, fast, easy and portable. Puppy Linux can be run entirely from RAM. It is meant to be booted from a CD or USB as opposed to being installed. Variations such as Racy Puppy exist.
FSF-approved Distributions
The Free Software Foundation maintains its own list of GNU/Linux distros that "respect user's freedom". You can check what distros that FSF endorses here.
Servers
You may be interested in GNU/Linux as a server as opposed to a desktop. While less commonly asked about, it is still quite common.
Debian
Debian is one of the best operating systems to use for a server. Stable, rock solid and not too hard to manage, but at the same time customizable enough for your server's purposes.
Ubuntu Server
Ubuntu server is based off of Debian testing. While this means it does have the slight chance of being not as stable as Debian Stable, it still is a great choice for a server OS. Recent LTS releases have focused on providing heavy integration with Openstack, providing an out of the box turnkey solution to run an OpenStack Icehouse environment in a public, private, or hybrid cloud.
CentOS
CentOS is a Linux distribution that attempts to provide a free, enterprise-class, community-supported computing platform which aims to be functionally compatible with its upstream source, Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Basically is a free clone of RHEL that has the backing of RedHat. The difference is that you don't have the same level of enterprise support you get from RedHat when you buy a RHEL License. But for most issues you will find community support on the internet.
CentOS is a really stable and effective Server distribution but like Fedora and other RedHat backed distributions it only has Free Software on it's repos. If you want to have more software options you need to add additional repos. RepoForge is a good repository for CentOS and other Enterprise Linux compatible distros.
CentOS download:
https://wiki.centos.org/Download
Adding RepoForge on EL 7:
sudo dnf install http://pkgs.repoforge.org/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.3-1.el7.rf.x86_64.rpm
Specialist Distros
Some distros serve other purposes, such scanning for malware, data forensics, penetration testing or several other purposes.
- GParted - a live distro aimed at helping users partition their disks
- Backtrack - an Ubuntu-based distro aimed at penetration testing
- Tails is a live system that aims to preserve your privacy and anonymity. It helps you to use the Internet anonymously and circumvent censorship almost anywhere you go and on any computer but leaving no trace unless you ask it to explicitly. It is used by Edward Snowden.
- Liberté Linux - Much like Tails, but more lightweight.
- iPredia - A debian based distro designed for i2p users. This has many i2p applications included such as Robert torrent client, and imule.