Re: [gnome-love] Which Linux distribution

[Erik Grinaker <erikg wired-networks net>]

On Thu, 2004-01-08 at 14:10, Kathleen Hodgson wrote:
> I'm a graduate student in CS who became interested in GNOME
> Accessibility, especially as it relates to visually impaired people,
> as I researched a paper for an Operating Systems course.  I would like
> to learn Linux in order to contribute to GNOME Accessibility in the
> future.  Can someone advise me on which Linux distribution I should
> obtain, and also any books or online tutorials which would be
> helpful?  My knowledge of Unix is minimal.  Thanks,

Hi

Choice of distribution is really a matter of taste. Different
distributions are usually made for different goals - some are good for
servers, some for desktops, others for developers and so on.

Since you are just starting out I think you should start with one of the
major ones, such as Mandrake, SuSE or Fedora Core (former Red Hat). A
good site for distribution information is www.distrowatch.com.

As you gain some experience I would recommend you try Gentoo
(www.gentoo.org). It can also be a great learning experience for new
users, as you will need to set up much of the system yourself, of course
guided by their excellent documentation. Although it may be difficult 
at first (actually, it most certainly will be), you will get a good feel
for how Linux is built and works. Having a local Linux guru available
can be handy.

Gentoo installs all software directly from source code, instead of using
prebuilt binary packages as most other distros do. This means that you
have great freedom and control of how your system is put together and
works, but it also can take some time to install it. Gentoo also has
very recent versions of software, it usually only takes a couple of
weeks before a new version of GNOME, for example, is available for
installation in Gentoo. You can get help from friendly, competent people
in their forums (forums.gentoo.org).


The Linux Documentation Project (www.tldp.org) has many good documents
on Linux, like the Introduction to Linux guide
(http://www.tldp.org/LDP/intro-linux/html/index.html). A good
programming introduction to Linux is the book Advanced Linux Programming
(don't let the name scare you). And whenever you run into any problems,
Google is you best friend.

To keep up to date on what is going on in the GNOME community, you can
check out FootNotes (www.gnomedesktop.org) or Planet GNOME
(planet.gnome.org).

Good luck, and if you should run into any problems on your adventures
I'd be happy to help...


-- 
Erik Grinaker
http://erikg.wired-networks.net

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