SilverB1rd it depends on what the system is (i386 I'm guessing), how much you want to be done for you during install (no-brainer to super sysadmin already level), your internet connection (high speed bracket allows you to burn any of the majors for free, i.e. - RedHat, Debian, Slackware, Mandrake, etc.)

That said, this site should be able to give you a good breakdown of each distribution and its target market. Most people will say RH or Debian because they both appear to be the favorite distros and stay mostly true to whatever philosophy they hold. But bear in mind that after install, you'll end up making the machine unique as you decide to compile a new kernel or update perl from the distro's base install (RH 6.X series comes with 5.005, while the new 7.X series comes with 5.6. I'm not sure about debian.) Debian and Slackware tend to get bad reviews from people who want the latest and greatest software in the base install. RedHat tends to get bad reviews from people who consider GPL the holiest of holies. Slackware tends to get bad reviews by people who love System V style unices. (Update: Not that Slack is bad, it just leaves a BSD taste in my mouth, so why not use one of the BSDs if you're after the BSD taste and you don't have wacky hardware?)

My suggestion is to write down what you want in a machine. Will it be a development server, a web server, etc.? Do you want to be dual booting between Linux and Windows? (If you can avoid dual boot, do. It's not that it's too difficult to setup, in fact that's easy, but that the temptation of the other more familiar OS being just a reboot away is often too much to give you adequate time in just sitting and struggling through the small stuff that helps you become adept with Linux.) Is this machine going to be exposed to the world (internet)? What sort of hardware requirements should it meet? What distros support your hardware? (Yes, this is still an issue.)

There's a nifty HOWTO that actually asks a lot of these same questions that I don't have the patience to go find. I think it's the Install HOWTO or something like that. At any rate, go visit this other site for the best online library of documentation.

Don't expect to be a pro overnight. This isn't your mother's point and click world. Don't expect to learn everything you can possibly do. There's an uncountable number of ways to use Linux (RedHat provides about a dozen or so shells alone, but most everyone uses bash if they don't have a preference.) In fact the only thing I can tell you to expect is that while you're learning, 'man', the aforementioned sites, and this special Google site will become indispensable when it comes to answering the ever important "What the hell is wrong with this stupid machine?"

ALL HAIL BRAK!!!

---

---

• Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
• Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:

  <code> <a> <b> <big> <blockquote> <br /> <dd> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr /> <i> <li> <nbsp> <ol> <p> <small> <strike> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <th> <tr> <tt> <u> <ul>

• Snippets of code should be wrapped in <code> tags not <pre> tags. In fact, <pre> tags should generally be avoided. If they must be used, extreme care should be taken to ensure that their contents do not have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor intervention).
• Want more info? How to link or How to display code and escape characters are good places to start.