linux???

[mattjgalloway]

Nice stuff. I must try Debian at some stage - maybe on my next system I'll have a Debian partition.

So mrdata2003, what did you go for in the end?

[dgr]

that & RPM-based distributions suck

true but consider that Linux desperately needs a consistent pacakage management specification to make any headway in the mainstream. I can think of many systems being used (slackware / rpm / debian / portage...) and whilst thats fine for research, it does nothing for usability.

RPMs are pretty much the accepted standard for business and education use and IMHO are likely to be the successor.

Now if there was only a decent package management system for them...

[oyster]

I think this forum contains too many overly-opinionated posts and too little information at the moment.

The diversity of Linux is both a strength and a weakness, but it would help those who come here asking questions if there was a little less name calling, and a little more attempt to help.

[mattjgalloway]

Very VERY well said.

Sorry if i'm coming across overly-opinionated, I'm certainly not trying to say the Linux distro I use is the right one.

Back to the topic of the thread though...
If I were a begginer and had to choose between Red Hat 9 and Mandrake 9 I'd chose Mandrake. However I would also recommend checking out:
http://www.linuxiso.org/
http://www.linux.org/
http://www.kernel.org/

Especially linux.org as it has some decent information regarding general GNU/Linux and distributions.

Tell us what you think mrdata2003 (assuming you're still reading this thread?!)