tlug: advice needed: choosing a distribution

["John Seebach" <jseebach@example.com>]

I'm about to install Linux for the first time, and need
a little bit of advice on choosing a distribution. To
simplify matters a bit, I currently have copies of
Debian 2.1 and Linux-Mandrake 5.3 (essentially redhat
5.2 + KDE) sitting on my desk, and I would like to use
one of those CDs . Hoping someone out there can help me
work this one out.

What am I going to use it for, you ask?

I'd like this machine to be my primary system, which
means that I'll probably end up using it for general
internet use, writing, and web design more than I will
for more nerdly activities. Although I'll probably do
some of that too.

I have no almost no linux experience, unless reading a
small library of howtos counts. In a former life,  I
spent 2.5 years administering several systems running
SCO, so I'm not afraid of the big bad bourne shell.
Rather, I miss it, which is why I want to install linux
on my new laptop. I've spent quite a bit of time poking
around the debian ftp site, and I must say that I like
the fact that the distribution looks fairly minimalist
and clean (also, they seem to have included most of the
tools I'd need to get japanese input working, which is
a big plus). I like the idea of learning as I go, I
cringe whenever I remember the various "administration
shells" that I had access to when I was working with
SCO, and I'm the sort of person who gets a perverse
kick out of learning the hard way. Plus that little
"apt" program just looks so _cool_, esp. relative to
what I'm used to.

But, since this is going to be my home machine, I'd
like a nice pretty graphical interface. And I have
absolutely no experience whatsoever with X. So I'm a
little nervous about building and configuring it by
myself. From what I gather, setting mandrake up for
this kind of usage is pretty much a no-brainer, which
appeals to the lazy bastard in me which would like to
have a nice, tweaked, more-or-less functional system
before, oh, say, June.

So. Which distribution to try first, that is the
question, and one that I'm sure has been beaten to
death before. Sorry to bring it up again. I would be
most grateful if people who have experience with either
or both of the abovementioned distributions could pass
along their experiences.

Much thanks,

john

john seebach
shizuoka, japan
jseebach@example.com


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