I want to thank everyone that responded to my post here. Because their is a wealth of information to read, I'll just reply back to
dbneeley and everyone with this post.
I wish to explain a little bit of my situation as a Linux Newbie: Back in the early 1990's, I started out with a 386 PC, DOS 6.? WIN 3.22 and I was amazed and fascinated with the DOS command line and I felt as if I was really using a computer (Too bad Atari 2600 didn't have that when I was younger).
Shortly after Windows kept forcing their upgrades, for years I felt that I was in some kind of a strange computer dilemma. Not only was it very difficult for me to keep up with upgrading computers hardware, software and to another Windows OS, but all of the time that I put into trying to learning DOS -which was no longer important or supported.
As time went by, I learned from the popular belief that "people who use Linux, have more control over their computers, are able to do more with them and are not bombarded with the force upgrades, pop-up and commercialism". "The only problem is that it's harder to learn".
At some point I came across an older computer book and I then became interested in vintage computers such as the Commodore 64/128 and the Apple iie and things such as BBS's, USENET, Majordomo and Telnets. It was to my surprise that their are user groups out there today who are dedicated to these systems and older machines.
About a year ago, I was reading about Unix and learned that it came with all Linux destro. At this point I was dumb-founded to realized that Linux must be a much better OS system, because it has the best of both worlds, the past and the future.
After browsing through different Linux magazines at a store, I wasn't sure which one to purchased. So I then purchased one that came with a Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Live cd (and installer). Once I got home, I followed the instructions and I installed the cd into two of my Dell computers. Both computers already had XP in them. -Which both now have dual OS's on them. (I use one of the computers as a main computer which I also go online with and the 2nd computer I use as a back up).
After the installation, I went through the desktop menu of Ubuntu to check the different programs and spent a lot of time studying Unix along with my Linux Bible and Linux for Dummies books.
I wasn't able to get Ubuntu to connect online because it can not find my US Robotics external dial up modem. However, it's not such a big deal right now because hopefully sometime next year I hope to have either DSL or a cable modem.
Shortly after from the time I installed Ubuntu 9.04, Ubuntu already came out with an upgrade. This made me a little nervous.
I guess what I am looking for in a Linux destro is a command line such as BASH and to try to connect it online and explore the Linux world to learn more.
Thank you
rkzbos
--- In LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com, "dbneeley" <dbneeley@...> wrote:
>
> First, I wouldn't be so worried about upgrades. I presently use the latest release of Kubuntu--and it has updates nearly every day, since Linux and the thousands of projects change rapidly. Most of those changes are actually improvements, and the functionality continues to improve through the efforts of tens of thousands of developers.
>
> Also, if you set up the distribution you select with a separate /home partition, upgrading becomes extremely simple.
>
> As for distributions--there are some who don't have major upgrade schedules--but they generally have continuous updates.
>
> If you are like most newcomers, you will tend to want a distribution at first that is easy to use in moving from Windows. Later, as your knowledge matures, most folks want to branch out a little and try new versions.
>
> Many on this list seem drawn to Mint. I think another one that a newcomer may like is called Simply Mepis, which has just released a major new version.
>
> Much depends, too, upon what hardware you will be running it on. If it's an older box with comparatively fewer hardware resources, you may prefer a lightweight distribution that will run optimally on it. By contrast, if you have a newer machine with plenty of RAM, you may be perfectly happy with one of the more elaborate ones.
>
> Fortunately, since most distributions today come in Live CD variants, you can try a few out easily enough and choose what appeals to you the most.
>
> The majority of Linux users will be partial to the distribution they are presently using--"ease of use" is largely a matter of what you are used to, after all.
>
> Personally, I created an extra partition when I set up my machine that I can use for the root filesystem of a second distribution. That way, I can experiment without nuking the primary one I use most often. One of my projects today, in fact, is to try yet another one--but it is an early development version of a new distro called Bodhi that uses the Enlightenment window manager--but it is far from feature complete, so I would not want to have it as my only distribution.
>
> Assuming a relatively recent machine, to me your first choice should be the primary windowing system you want to use. The "big two" are Gnome and KDE, but there are some appealing options such as LXDE and XFCE, for example.
>
> Although it has a six-month major release cycle, the various Ubuntu variants have some advantages for new Linux users, I believe. These include not only the official Cononical versions but also Ubuntu-based ones such as Mint and quite a few others.
>
> Finally, although major versions do upgrade in the Ubuntu universe, there is no reason you must upgrade each time if you choose not to. I know several people who use their "Long Term Support" versions and only do a major version upgrade when a new LTS variant comes out.
>
> David
>
>
> --- In LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com, "rkzbos" <jackrossini@> wrote:
> >
> > I am interested in learning and running Linux on my PC, but their are many choices to choose from when if comes to which Linux version or Distro to get.
> >
> > To help narrow it down to my needs, I need a Linux OS for general use and that it doesn't causes me to up grade every 6 months.
> > Can someone help explain to me or find information about the differences of the Linux Distros.
> >
> > rkzbos
> >
>
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