Nix!

[athelind]

I'm planning to turn the Spare Computer that's currently gathering dust into a *NIX Box. I'm looking for a flavor of *NIX that is easy to install, and has a wide range of hardware support. I want to get more familiar with the care and feeding of Open Source software such as The GIMP and GRASS -- right now, I can't even decipher the installation in structions for the Windows version of GRASS.

I am, with no little trepidation, opening the floor to input. What flavor of *NIX would be best for a relative newbie?

Comments

[araquan.livejournal.com]

Many claim that Red Hat is newb-friendly, though many ditch it for saner pastures once they figure out what they're doing... I haven't used Red Hat for years so my own experience there is a bit out of date. I'd suggest avoiding Debian until you're more experienced... I've heard a few decent things about FreeBSD but I can't verify the ease of install at this point- need a spare box of my own first. Avoid NetBSD as if it were a cracked container dripping fluid and labeled "EBOLA VIRUS". Of course, you're planning on sticking with x86 hardware... Otherwise the most obvious answer to the question "What flavor of *NIX would be best for a relative newbie?" would be Mac OS X. };>

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, the other hippie Mac user already made that joke.

[araquan.livejournal.com]

   I wasn't joking. };> It is in fact the most correct answer to your question, since you did not qualify it with "...on x86 hardware." I merely answered the question you asked. As an aside, I don't see Unix ever getting easy on x86 at all unless A) Mac OS X (in full, not just the Darwin/BSD core) gets ported, B) the FS/OSS community finally takes ease of use for nongeeks seriously (this I don't see happening anytime soon if ever) or C) some commercial interest decides to finally do it and do it RIGHT. Note that none of the current commercial distros of Linux yet have succeeded in RIGHTness in that regard, IMHO, though they're better than they used to be. Not that it would necessarily take much...
   And I didn't see Helvetica's post until afterward anyway. I don't usually read comments before posting an answer to an entry when I'm paying for my net time by the second- cybercafes are a bitch that way. };>