StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I want to try and start using Linux on a spare PC, just to get the feel of it. Can anyone recommend a version that would be good for someone who's been a Microsoft zombie all his life?

Based on the recommendation's on Mike Wong's personal home page, I decided on Mandrake (now Mandriva) Linux. It's an excellent, user-friendly distro and you can get it at http://www.mandrivalinux.com/.

Fixed the link

~Faram

I second that. I originally tried a CD based distro at first, Knoppix, but then I felt like installing Linux rather than using it on just a disc, so got a copy of a Linux mag here for beginners that had the Mandriva 2005 Limited Edition OS on disc. Very easy to use, though I recommend joining some forums dedicated to solving Linux problems and maybe a little pocket guide for command line stuff like the O'Reilly books.

Mandriva, since they are an enterprise distro, are now dicks about where they keep their free copy.

Get the "Download Edition" from public FTP mirrors or bittorrent.

Also, it appears they only have ISOs of LE 2005 at the moment, so get that. I personally use Debian, but that's got a steep-ass learning curve to it.

Ubuntu. Debian w/o the PITA attached to it, plus more uptodate GNOME packages (got sick of Debian Unstable repeatedly breaking).

Linux from scratch

You'll be an expert by the end of it.

I also second the Ubuntu nomination, once you've figured out how the repositories work it's actually very simple.

Ah... LFS... the memories... learned a lot from that... I second this if you want to learn something.

Umm, you wouldn't know how to make Ubuntu generate a new xorg.conf file would you? Or otherwise some general command that'll restore /etc/X11/xorg.conf after deletion?

<- Just did something dumb.

Edit:

Nevermind, did a sudo dpkg-reconfigure xerver-xorg...seems to have worked.