Linux flavor

[Riek]

Okay, so I'm basically sick of getting a 10 MB security update every second day from Windows, and have decided to build a Linux PC for home.

This would normally not be a huge issue, as I used to use Solaris and Redhat on a daily basis. The last two years though, I've been management and have thus had a partial frontal lobotomy and will have to pick up from scratch. The issue is my wife uses the PC half the time, and she has no clue about anything non-GUI based.

Thus my questions are;

What flavor of Linux should I install at home that has the friendliest GUI?
What flavor is the easiest to instal and configure?
What flavors has the most neat add-on apps?

TIA!

[Gesslar]

I always recommend Mandriva to those who are starting out.

A new version is in the cooker right now, I think. I don't know when its release date is.

www.mandriva.com

[Riek]

I was using wikipedia for something else, and decided to do a look up linux on it. Found this nice Linux Test that I did and it actually said Mandriva was the best option for me also. Guess I'll give it a spin!

[Pyrosama]

I'm running Redhat 9.0 server on a pc that I built about 3 years ago and it's a really nice machine (figure whatever the sweet specs were back then). As far as installable apps, it's been fairly easy for me because I wasn't looking to do a whole lot with it other than play with it and use it to serve up pages.

You can always try different flavors and see which one you prefer, but I've not heard anything horribly adverse about any Linux OS. When I was researching prior to going with Redhat, I read that Mandrake was an option but the documentation and support were scarce.

My linux machine is not my main machine and I don't use it alot but it's my baby, my pet....my PRECIOUS [/end Smeagle voice impersonation].

Let us know on the progress. I'm getting excited... I love my Linux box.

[Sebboe]

I am running an x86 Solaris 10 laptop and its been a mixture of easy and difficult. The biggest gap right now is that drivers are not as easily available as they are for Linux and BSD distributions because its only been around a short time.

[Gesslar]

i think Mepis looks to be not too bad, either. i'm going to install it tonight and play with it a bit.

http://www.mepis.com

screenshots:
http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/sl...se=267&slide=1

[leira]

If you want a distrobution that you can just jump right into and be able to do 90% of the stuff you could with Windows, I'd recommend either Mepis or Ubuntu. I started using Mepis back in january with no previous Linux experience and within about 2 weeks I had enough of a handle on it to use it as my primary OS. I discovered I liked Ubuntu a bit more, but either Mepis or Ubuntu are great starting points. Both have very friendly interfaces, and both are very easy to install.

Also, both of them have live cd versions. You can just burn the live cd onto a disc and boot from it and you can try out the complete operating system without having to install a thing. I highly recommend trying out a few different live cds before settling on a distrobution, as you can get a really good idea what the distro is like that way.

[Gesslar]

Mepis is driving me up the wall, I can't get KMuddy installed.

Anyways, other than that, I love Mepis

It will never replace my distro of choice but for newcomers to Linux I would recommend Mepis as much as I would recommend Mandriva.