I was wondering what I should be looking at in the different distros before picking one to use.
Being a total novice, I don't have much experience on Linux, so I'm wondering what I should be asking.
Any advice?
This is a difficult question to answer with anything other than personal prejudice. I will give it a try, though.
1. As a beginner, you want to use a full-strength distribution, one that is likely to support the full range of activities you might want to use Linux for. Experienced users often can benefit from using more specialized, semi-embedded distros that are geared to particular tasks ... e.g., distros designed to work as routers or as dedicated vidcap hosts ... but you're better off waiting until you know more before you go that route. Same goes for source-based distros ... not the best place for a novice to start.
2. You want a distro that has a good packaging system and good support for security and other updates. Examples that meet this are Debian (the distro I use) and most of the big RPM-based distros. The best-known distro that does NOT meet this standard (or at least I believe it does not) is Slackware ... though if I'm wrong, I'd welcome correction from a Slackware user.
3. You want someplace you can ask questions with the hope that you will get prompt and accurate answers. Many distros have their own help lists, and if you are considering one, you might look at the archives of its support list to see if it meets this standard. Or, for distro-agnostic lists like this one, notice what distros are discussed the most ... that is, notice what the people who *answer* questions know the answers *to*. If you have a friend who will be helping you, use what he or she uses ... that's way more important than a quest for the elusive "best" distro.
4. This all assumes you are planning to use reasonablty modern desktop equipment. Really old equipment ... 486- and even 386-based systems, and other oddball hardware ... and laptops present specialized problems that might dictate selection of a particular distro that handles that equipment well. Most of the RPM-based distros are better at hardware detection than Debian is, so you might think about how much that matters to your install too.
5. Finally, think about the range of applications you want to run. Especially GUI-based ones. Different distros come out in different places in the GUI wars (between KDE and Gnome, mainly, though there is more) and your life will be easier if you pick a distro that fits what you want or need in that regard.
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