Most User-friendly Linux?

[Monketh]

After rebooting five times before managing to somehow get around whatever it is and activate my computer (I couldn\'t trace what it was afterwards), I\'m about ready to give upon my Win98se.  I would have a long time ago if I could be completely sure I could hang on to my files.
Anywho, what is the most user-friendly and windows compatible linux distro out there.  I have to share this computer with a few computer illiterates, meaning even programs such as AOL have to work.  (Man I hate AOL...)
Obviously, I want to keep my files, I also want to be able to access them.  Many of you guys here have linux and seem to be rather experts on the subject, so do you care to help a friend out?

[Diamondcite]

For windows converts who don\'t want to pay a cent.. Try Mandrake, it seems like a nice friendly distro except for the dependencies which aren\'t so significant anymore after you\'ve installed enough apps.

Or you can try Xandros or Suse, I haven\'t used Xandros before but I hear it\'s nice. As for Suse.. that is what my campus currently uses, very friendly interface, though I think it has some troubles running planeshift due to GCC(not confirmed)

If they aren\'t afraid to learn try Debian, rock solid stable (least for me..)

As for AOL.. I am not sure how well it works with the AOL internet service as I have never researched the topic, but things like AIM and other instant messengers due have Linux equivalents for all Distrobutions.

[Clover]

Like Diamondcite said Mandrake and Suse are good choices.    Also there is Red Hat / Fedora, although you\'ll probably have to deal with RPMs.  

A popular AIM/YIM/MSN client that comes packaged with... every Linux I\'ve used, is GAIM.

Before you make the switch over though, I\'d suggest downloading and trying Knoppix, it\'s a Live CD.  From personal experience dropping Windows with no knowlege of Linux will either fry your brain or teach you a whole lot.  Most tend to follow the later path.  

If you\'re a daring individual, who wants to learn about Linux Command Line, try installing Gentoo Stage 3 installation.

[Tharizdun]

Lycoris is supposedly one of the most user friendly, though I believe its a commercial product like RHEL, Suns JDS and Novell Linux Desktop. It has also been criticised for having default user accounts with root-level powers, which while great for installing software and modifying the system is bad for regular desktop use.

If you are up for a technical challenge I have to recommend Gentoo as well, a stage 3 install is a good learning process and will teach you a lot, or you can try the \"lazy mans gentoo\" and install Vidalinux which is gentoo-based but with graphical installers and defaults chosen for you.

Knoppix will give you an idea of what the linux desktop is like and whether it works for you or not, it is based on Debian and boots from CD without having to change/install anything on your harddrive at all.

[Diamondcite]

Knoppx is a nice portable distro, but I recommend you try PCLinuxOS also which is another portable linux distro. (seems to be hosted at pclinuxonline.com)

By the way... how do you do a stage 3 install? I wanted a stage 2 install and did a stage 1 instead by accident while reading the guide...

[Harkin]

knoppix is good to learn linux, gentoo is very user friendly with portage, ubuntu is also very good with its security features and the ease of install

gentoo takes a long time to install took me around 24 hours from stage 1... debian is good if you\'re know a lil bit more about linux, nice all around good version

for newbies(AOL, windows users) go mandrake, or if you want a better linux go gentoo/ubuntu

...i suggest not to go mandrake if only for the fact of RPMS, a debian based linux is a lot better

[Xordan]

http://desktop.vidalinux.com/

Free, gentoo based, and user friendly. What more can you ask for?

Ubuntu is also a new debian based distro which is gaining popularity. I use the live-cd\'s in school and it works a treat.

[JellyWerker]

wait until vidalinux progresses a little farther, too buggy right now, almost impossible to install too! I had to try 7 freaking times!!!!!! I would go with suse as a first distro, mandrake is nice, but I just prefer suse.

Note: By the way, anyone know a one cd linux distro with kde, and a web browser? I just need the basics and I can build from there. Also: I am still alive, haven\'t posted for a while because both hdd\'s went kaput! (All my files! eek!) I need a new pc....

[Monketh]

Aiee!
I\'ve been running knoppix ever since my win98 failed.  Now, I can\'t even run that.
Knoppix complained while booting up that it had lost data, repeatedly.  Then it left me with a command prompt below that.
I tried burning a new disk, but my CD drive does not respond for being booted from.  This is kind of unrelated to the topic at hand, but I could use a spot of help since I can\'t boot up my computer.

[tsan]

I would recomend Fedora.  It is well organized, current and free to upgrade.  Be careful of Mandrake, SuSE and other \"commercial\" distros, they can get expensive in the long run and their \"free\" CD\'s lack a lot.

I have used Ubuntu as well and it is certainly worth considering.  Easy to install, Debian based  and easy to keep updated.  If you use Ubuntu download the \"testing\" CD code named \"Hoary Hedgehog\" don\'t get the older \"Warty Warthog\", it\'s a bit to out of date at this point.

[John_Thazer]

I am running SUSE Linux...it seems ok...nice...stuff...I made it look almost Windowish...but that\'s after few weeks...maybe months of installing it...and still there are problems...

Try SUSE, but if you don\'t even want to install anything...go for Knopix... Pop it in into your CD...and voala!

[Tharizdun]

Originally posted by Monketh
Aiee!
I\'ve been running knoppix ever since my win98 failed.  Now, I can\'t even run that.
Knoppix complained while booting up that it had lost data, repeatedly.  Then it left me with a command prompt below that.
I tried burning a new disk, but my CD drive does not respond for being booted from.  This is kind of unrelated to the topic at hand, but I could use a spot of help since I can\'t boot up my computer.

Sounds like a hardware problem Monketh. My guess based in the info in your post would be a harddrive issue, either with the drive itself or the  IDE / SCSI controller you\'re using it with. I bet this was also the root cause of Win98 failing, perhaps a bad sector appeared over a critical .DLL file that windows badly needed.

Anyways, my first advice is to backup everything!. Not being able to use a PC is bad enough, but loosing irreplacable documents is a whole lot worse..

Secondly, check the output of \'dmesg\'. This will show you what Knoppix is seeing at boot, it will probably list hardware errors and help pinpoint what part is breaking down. If you see a lot of \"I/O error\" statements its a good indication that your harddrive is dying.

[Harkin]

harddrives dying is no fun, back in the day we had a 1.3 gig HD, wow we have come a long way, and over time it failed, lost windows, lots of damage, size went down to 300 meg usable, so we stuck it in an old 33Mhz with windows 3.1... and bought a new computer...a nice shiny 500mhz with 8gigs...