Re: [orca-list] Considering Linux but Need Advice

[Alex Midence <alex midence gmail com>]

Hi.

I'll be brief but, hopefully thorough enough for your purposes:

 I recommend either Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora or Arch Linux pretty much in that order as mainstream 
distributions to try.  Opensuse is supposed to be another good choice.  Here are some pros and cons of each.  
Not exhaustive and somewhat subjective.

1.  Ubuntu:  User-friendly, great hardware support and quite accessible out of the box.  Con is that the 
default desktop Unity is very uncommon in other Linux distributions so, you won't be able to have a truly 
standardized experience (if there is such a thing for Linux anyway.)
2.  Debian.  Very stable and great accessibility.  You won't get the latest and greatest but what you get is 
very reliable. There are also tons of books out there you can buy which teach you Linux and use Debian as an 
example OS.  
3.  Fedora.  Very up to date but quite accessible.  Orca is actually developed in large part on this platform 
as is Gnome, the desktop of choice.  It is also a Redhat derivative which means that if you learn it well, 
you have a marketable skill if you ever want to get into an employment position with stuff like webhosting, 
server administration and that sort of thing.  Plenty of Linux books use Fedora for their examples.  I know 
Running Linux, Linux Cookbook, Linux in a nutshell and Linux Server Administration do for a certainty. All of 
these are available via bookshare if you are interested.
4.  Archlinux.  Bleeding edge software and quite accessible since you do a lot of the work yourself to build 
your system.  Vibrant a11y community of pretty diehard fans.  I, personally don't recommend Arch for new 
users since it's reported to have a steep learning curve but others may differ with me on it.  

As far as desktops go, I like Gnome3, Mate and Unity pretty much in that order.  I'm quite sure others will 
get into particulars with you on that though.  Each one of these desktops is available for installation on 
all the above mentioned distributions even if it is not the default.  

I hope you enjoy trying Linux out and find it useful enough to keep it around.  It's got a lot to offer.  

Best regards,
Alex M

-----Original Message-----
From: orca-list [mailto:orca-list-bounces gnome org] On Behalf Of Lee Jones
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2015 3:11 PM
To: orca-list gnome org
Subject: [orca-list] Considering Linux but Need Advice

Dear List,, I am considering giving linux a go, but I lack understanding of the platform.  What are the most  
orca accessible mainstream distributions of linux?  Is vinux more accessible than the mainstream stuff?  What 
does orca master mean and how do you access it?  Is the gnome desktop environment more accessible than the 
unity desktop environment?  I think the only pre installed linux laptops I can find in the uk run ubuntu.  I 
would be grateful for any advice you can give me. 

Kind Regards, Lee
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