If you're a newbie, try PCLINUXOS

[ibnturab]

First, let me say that the Ubuntu project is GREAT and is based on honorable principles. And the functionality is excellent ... if you know what u r a doing. I played around with it for about a couple weeks before giving up because i wasn't comfortable with sudo this and su that. I realize the idea behind it is to make sure that you don't delete important files, but it can be a pain for new linux users like myself.

So i tried a couple different distros until i came across PCLINUXOS [pclos] and it was a lot easier for a linux newby like me. Dont have to worry about sudo or su for simple tasks. I can open up my windows partition without touching the command line . Adding files is simple with Synaptic package manager. Pclos is similar to kubuntu in that it uses KDE desktop [i liked gnome and kde so that didn't matter].

I also wanted to encourage newbies not to give up on linux completely if one distribution doesn't work, instead try a couple of different ones.

Another good distro was Puppy Linux which was amazing because it was only 60mb in size.

Good luck

[meng]

I have PCLinuxOS on my notebook and it's pretty good for the reasons you mentioned. Keep in mind that the repository is not as expansive as Ubuntu's though, so if you're after less popular software, you may need to install from source.

[aysiu]

I've moved this to Other OS Talk.

[seijuro]

First off I would like to clarify, Linux is not supposed to be a repackaging of Windows there for the tools used in them are and should be different. Second one of my biggest complaints with Windows is the depreciation of command line usage. I really admire Ubuntu for not trying to turn Linux into a point and click Windows repackage but instead encouraging new users to use the tools native to Linux and providing reference material as well as growing a community that may offer help for new users learning the ropes. I realize the command line is not practical for all situations however it remains one of the most effecient tools in computing.

[meng]

I think these are all fair comments. However one can still take advantage of the command line in PCLinuxOS, and I often do (especially for aptitude, and also to re-enter my WEP key which inexplicably disappears every now and then, for reasons I've been unable to fathom). Also, given how many complaints there are in these forums about the "difficuly" in installing codecs, and the popularity of Automatix, it seems that there's a big demand for something like PCLinuxOS.

[enopepsoo]

First off I would like to clarify, Linux is not supposed to be a repackaging of Windows there for the tools used in them are and should be different.

That doesn't mean you have to use the terminal though

[ibnturab]

If the commandline was so great, people would still use dos. The only reason people use a command line is because of limitation of the available software.
Meng's comment on the repository is true, but for most users they'll find what they are looking for easily within the available libraries.

[aysiu]

If the commandline was so great, people would still use dos. The only reason people use a command line is because of limitation of the available software.

If by limitations, you mean that there's no way someone could design a program able to install ten programs point-and-click in the time it takes to do so with a simple aptitude install command, then you are correct.

If you mean that once a GUI frontend exists, there's no advantage to the command-line, you couldn't be more misinformed.

[meng]

If the commandline was so great, people would still use dos. The only reason people use a command line is because of limitation of the available software.

This may be true for some users, but by no means can be generalized to all users. Long live the command line!

[enopepsoo]

If the commandline was so great, people would still use dos. The only reason people use a command line is because of limitation of the available software.

people stopped using DOS more because windows 95 came out. When I had the 3.11/6.21 combo I used DOS more than windows. Windows was good for some things, but most stuff I preferred DOS.

If you compare the power of DOS to that of BASH, you will find that DOS is comparatively useless.

When windows 95 came out, the move to pure gui was made to broaden the appeal of computers (and I would say that move was a success, although the expansion of the internet was obviously just as important).

The point is, and it has been said on here 1000+ times, the CLI is very useful, as is the GUI. The combination is great (which is why I boot into gnome rather than a terminal).

I just wanted to say that people did not stop using the CLI because GUI is neccessarily better. That is an argument by appeal to concensus, which is a fallacy.