Advice for choosing a linux distro please

nanly

I'm a tad confused by all the distros. I'm currently looking at Debian, Fedora and Mandrake. I need it for mainly for wordprocessing, pdfs, publishing, presentations , and video/dvd/sound editing etc. The multimedia thing is quite important.

I'm not afraid of getting technical as necessary, as I quite enjoy it, but I need to be up and running quite quickly and can't take too much time to sort out the technicalities just yet.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I have live/bootable cds, but have a dual boot system and so am a little concerned about messing things up.

Cheers!

deatharte

why dont you try Fedora, DSL,Slitaz or Debian? Hehe!

Wicked

You can go to www.distrowatch.com, to find something that will suite your needs. This is one of the most common questions before someone makes the crossover from windows to linux.

Just make sure you grab a hammer and a nail when you do so you can nail those that window shut! :P

mostly all of linux distro are good for even the oldest of PC's because you can choose what you want to install. I once hear linux is a package game, choose what you want and leave the rest behind for another day.

There are lots of new distros out there now, so don't limit yourself because you have lots of options. Read up try to find something that suits you and if you don't like it find something else! In my own personal experiance the RPM package game is kind of touchy. My own experience with F11 wasn't the greatest.

Check out Ubuntu or Opensuse, but thats just my opinion Like arochester said. LiveCD's are god sent! don't be afraid to waste a few pennies downloading a few different LiveCD's

Rovanion

Yes the best tip I can give you is to try around with some different distributions. Once you find one you like you can always customize it even further to your liking. Find one that works great and then make it yours!