…or it just tells you that it’s a water down version of the software that the masses can use.
i’m looking for a Linux distro that is simple, easy to use, and free.
i like to think i knew a bit about computers in high school, but that was nearly ten years ago, and i haven’t given a fuck since. my girlfriend, on the other hand, has never had a computer at home, and isn’t even that familiar with windows. i want something that i can install quickly, figure out in a minute, and she’ll have no problem with. i’m going to keep xp on the machine as well, so i can run some games until i figure out how to run them on Linux.
Ubuntu is your pick, then.
SUSE and ubuntu > RedHat
ubuntu is probably best for linux noobs…
8.04 was released today
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
review: http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=682
Ubuntu is a good OS if you don’t want to have to deal with anything. install it and forget it.
Gentoo is good if you can’t stand to wait a single milli second longer for something to process but you can spend hours a day tweaking stupid things. 
Centos/rhel same damn thing. not designed for desktop use but… since when does something not work good for something just because it’s not designed for it. don’t run rhel… why would you pay for that?? better yet run rhel and then install the centos yum repos… sweet
If this is a desktop then anything rpm/deb based will do fine. just put kde over it and it’s basically the same thing. Who cares if the default run level is 2 or 3. why are you writing custom init scripts anyways?? desktop… run init 5 let the OS deal with packages and run levels etc. done.
get an xbox for games or run windows.
I don’t see a reason for people to be running linux on their desktop unless they just really hate windows or feel guilty that they are stealing windows??
If your running into problem with windows working crappy stop click on the ads that come up and ask you to download boobs.exe etc. I installed windows XP on my home computer four years ago and I haven’t had any problems with it yet. no anti virus, no auto spam none of that crap. just watch what your computer is doing to clean stuff up as needed.
the custom init script was more of a joke, but is also very much true. you ask why? and really there is only one reason, to modify startup… I agree with what you said though… i don’t use linux for a desktop… it was more of a joke as i operate out of runlevel 2 or 3 pretty much 99% of the time.
Hmmm. I’m having issues with Hardy and my Radeon X1650. These new ATI Drivers are sluggish it seems, or I have something configured improperly.
perfect article for this:
Ubuntu is a great distro to start out with. Grub installs nicely (the boot loader, which automatically detects XP), and the package management is very automated until you get a genuine feel for what does what. Compiz is enabled by default (eye candy). You can also find a tutorial for just about anything on the forums as well.
There are two MAJOR choices in desktop environments, Gnome and KDE. Gnome comes in Ubuntu and is set up like a Mac (with the drop down menus at the top, etc.); KDE has one main menu in the lower left hand corner, similar to the Windows START menu. kUbuntu is the EXACT SAME piece of software, but comes prepackaged with KDE.
Sabayon Linux is an extremely progressive distro based on Gentoo. The live DVD comes with some games installed.
Good luck with your install(s).
Cedega is the name of the program you are looking for, with respect to gaming.
Linux, in general, doesn’t play well with ATI.
I’d head over to the Ubuntu forums, if you haven’t already, and look around to see what other users are experiencing.
To be honest I just gave up trying to run it on that box. I need to have at least one Windows machine at home anyways for work.
Hardy works brilliantly on my laptop, and I’m absolutely in love with it.
The new Sabayon Live DVD dropped today if you care to check it out. . .