Start with Ubuntu. If you outgrow it, or decide you want more control over your system then try Arch.

Arch isn't a good distro for people new to Linux, but I really like it.

I am neither computer illiterate nor computer savvy. I took 1.5 years of computer science in college and have had my own computer for about 11 years. Until 3 months ago, I had never tried using GNU/Linux in any form.

I am currently running Ubuntu 9.10. It mostly worked perfectly immediately after install, except I needed to configure my wireless adapter as it is proprietary. There was an initial love phase where I felt "HOLY AWESOMENESS THIS IS THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER!!!"

That feeling has faded and I am satisfied with the speed and performance of this distro. My computer crashes occasionally and there are 1-2 annoying glitches, but the advantage of not needing to run any AV software in the background more than outweighs any negatives.

I have downloaded 10.04 but not installed it. Now that I have this setup configured, not sure I really need to bother upgrading at this time.

Does anyone think bumping up to 10.04 from 9.10 is worth the bother?

That almost sounds like me when I got my first Mac, except that I didn't have to configure any adapters and it doesn't crash.

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If you want to just have a stable distro installed and go from there, I recommend upgrading to 10.04 and leaving it at that. 10.04 is a long term support release, so you'll be able to receive updates (security or otherwise) for a lot longer than you will with 9.10. They've probably also put in extra effort to maintain stability, though I don't know to what extent that affects things.

I think that the best version is the current version, 2.6.34.

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I like this post.

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I want to like some posts here, but it's not allowed.

*high fives wms*

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Ive already tried several linux distros
(ubuntu,gentoo,slackware,pc-os,fedora,elive,g-os,dsl).
My favorite is dsl/slack/ubuntu, but whenever someone talks to me about it i usually recommend ubuntu, even though i think they should use whatever they feel like.

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I started out, what are they talking about? What am I not getting...check Ars a little later in the day...<facepalm> And I call myself a nerd.

On the subject, definitely recommend Ubuntu. And Gentoo? I guess you can do that, if you really want to go crazy and make the experience as painful as possible (especially as an inexperienced linux user). Recompiling the entire kernel just to get started. Makes me shudder. (Also, I'm a terrible linux admin. Just to clarify. )

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LOL ... This thread is awesome.

I really do enjoy linux. It's an interesting OS, in all its flavours. However, I have yet to have the time to properly configure my laptop at home to actually connect to my WPA-encrypted wireless network.

Because I'm more familiar with Windows (mostly with XP), I find it easier to simply make my Windows machine as trim and easy to use as possible. You'd be surprised how many people stare in astonishment when I turn on my PC and, within 15 seconds, I have my WinXP desktop and can actually USE my system ... it only took 15 years of computer experience to be able to do that.

Once I get some time, I'll pick up a linux distro (Ubuntu if I don't have much time, Gentoo if I do) and see if I can expand my knowledge to tweaking that OS. For now, though, XP does me fine, and I'm actually looking forward to my next Windows PC, since I like a lot of the Win7 updates. Might be another 5 years before I get a new PC though ... this one's only 7 or 8 years old yet.

Well, I have 25+ years computer experience, and I'm not able to do that (truthfully, I'm not that interested either)

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That was my (admittedly tongue-in-cheek) point. I spent a lot of time learning the innards of the Windows OS, and finding tools that worked well for what I needed to do with my PC.

The other point was that I suspect that, in order to meet the demands I would have for an OS, I would also need to put in quite a bit of research anyways before any linux distro did what I wanted completely, and the tweaking would go on for months before I was satisfied. I just don't have that kind of time anymore to play around with technology.

I don't have any experience with Linux, but everything that I've heard about Ubuntu has been good. I'm currently using Windows 7 and absolutely love it. When I actually get a new computer, I think that I'll actually have to try Ubuntu just to say that I've tried Linux.

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Ubuntu is pretty easy to use "off the box", the only problem with it you might have is that it doesn't come with proprietary software, so you usually have to install flash and proprietary video codecs for it to work as people expect(or so it was on my last installation). It's not hard to do, though.

It's also what I recommend for someone new to linux, and pretty much what I use when I have a choice of linux distro.

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Version 10.4 pretty much auto updated my codecs when I tried playing my video file. Very nice and easy.

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I'm thinking...

What he said. I've switched to Ubuntu for some time, but man I miss pacman.

Err, no, that one.

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tartrate vs. redrose game

My experience is Arch > Gentoo > Ubuntu, with more distance between Gentoo and Ubuntu than between Arch and Gentoo. As far as ease of use for those completely foreign to Linux or Unix, Ubuntu or one of the other ones typically easy for beginners (which I think would be something like Fedora, but I have little experience here) is recommended. Ubuntu also has the advantage of high market share, many of whom are also new users who are probably asking the same things that you might run into.

TL;DR: Ubuntu if you're new. Arch/Gentoo if your not.

"Not that hard to do" is quite an understatement. When you first go to a webpage that contains flash, you are given the option to install it by clicking a single button. When you first play a video using a proprietary codec, you are provided with a wizard to download and install it (two clicks, one of them acknowledging that you have a patent license...). That's a lot more user-friendly than on windows, where you have to search for a codec-pack and download it manually

Maybe someone can help me here, who has experience with Ubuntu 10.04.

I recently removed the Network Manager applet from my top panel (the one that shows all your wireless connections.) I was trying to fix a bug, and thought I could just put the applet back up there, but I don't know where to find this particular applet (or what is its exact name)?

I thought it would be in the bin folder but I have tried everything that seemed like a possibility without much luck.