VectorLinux
I found VL outstanding. It is really easy to load and has lots of software built in.
Are you kidding or is this a seasoned VL user who has no idea of the new Linux user experience and is just trying to pump up this distro? I run several other Linux distros and this is by far the worst for a new user I have ever seen. A new user is supposed to know if they need X11.tlz, dev.tlx, Samba and utilities? Or heaven forbid if you make one of those choices, say Xorg for example, then the user has to decide if they want cups, jre (WTF is jre?), gftp (a multi-threaded ftp client with both text and GYI)! Pffft! I don't need to go on. These choices shouldn't even be on the install but aptget or a synaptic package manager. This is a distro by Geeks for Geeks and leave a new user totally baffled. New Linux users should run, not walk away from this distro. Say it up front so you don't get casual users who want to try Linux blundering into this distro and getting so pissed and confused they never try a Linux distro again.
And along with several Linux distros I run a couple of machines with Win2KPro on them. Security updates still come through on a regular basis thank you very much. I don't mean to be a newbie here bashing away, but the false information seems to flow.
A few comments. Most Linux newbies do a full install because they don't understand what the various components do anyhow, so navigating through the choices in Vector Linux is a moot point here. I still usually do full installs, then selectively uninstall what I don't want. W2K may still get security fixes, but there's getting to be less and less application updates available. I think AVG recently stopped supporting W2K, for example.
As for ease of installation, Vector Linux was very easy for me -- but it's hard to gauge now if that's because I've stuck with Linux for 2 years now and just automatically know certain things. I do think some people tend to *overthink* everything and that gets them into trouble. I usually just do the standard install with Linux distributions and then learn enough to customize later.
Once Vector Linux is installed you have a complete system. Listen to music, play DVDs, watch AVIs, watch YouTube videos, burn CDs, write and read Microsoft documents and spreadsheets... all "out of the box." And it takes about 20 to 30 minutes.There is no way a Windows install will do that. I rebuilt my brother's kids' computer a month or so ago (it had gotten a nasty virus). I did a dual-boot install, Windows XP/Vector Linux Standard 6. (Games on the Windows side *all* Internet usage on the Vector Linux side.) The XP install, using the OEM Dell XP disk, took much longer. First I had to install XP, but then I needed drivers for the motherboard, built-on network port, built-on audio chip, and built-on video chip. I couldn't get to the Internet without first getting these drivers -- a Catch-22 situation. I could have downloaded the drivers on another machine but, since I had my Puppy Linux flash drive, I booted it up, was able to get to Dell's site within a minute or two, and was able to download the needed drivers to the Windows partition. Once I rebooted to Windows, loaded the drivers (which required a couple more reboots), I was on the Internet with XP. The first thing I do at that time is download Avast! (*before* doing the Windows updates) -- then Firefox, ect. But even then, you don't have a DVD player, no AVI or MP3s will play, you can't burn CDs, YouTube won't work, you can't read Microsoft Word or Excel documents -- you've still got a lot of work to do. It's something Windows users have been doing for years, so it's automatic and they don't realize how counter-intuitive it really is.
Vector Linux, on the other hand, takes about 20 minutes to install and another ten or so to update (using the high-speed Internet). Then you're done. You have a secure, stable and a very agile system that does everything you need "out of box." So, from that point of view, Vector Linux *is* simple, even by Linux standards. Even Ubuntu requires loading proprietary codecs and applications, although it's not much of a challenge anymore (though I don't use Ubuntu because it seems to "heavy" for me).
And, since I'm on my soapbox, one more comment. Others have kind of mentioned this, but some people in Linux need to quit trying to make it into Windows. Windows users, those who have learned enough to be able to fix other folks' Windows installs (which, unfortunately, is where I am) need to understand that they've put some time into learning Windows. It's come in bits and pieces, but if they look back there really *has* been a learning curve. Linux is different than Windows so it also requires a learning curve. But it's kind of like trying to learn to write with your left hand (or your right hand if your left-handed). Since you already know how to write with your right hand, you're impatient with your clumsy attempts to learn to use your left one. You don't want to apply yourself, because it's frustrating to not be able to just *do it.* That's where I was a couple years ago with Linux. I had played with it for years, dual-booting, trying it out, getting frustrated and giving up when I couldn't get something to work the way I wanted it to. But two years ago XP was going out and I knew I wasn't going to Vista (and I was fed up with all the anti-virus maintenance) so I decided that I was going to stick with Linux no matter what. And that's the point you have to get to if you really want to move to Linux. It does require a little effort, a little learning time. But, after a few months the bits of info start adding up and soon Linux becomes "intuitive." Once you get to that point, you realize how much simpler and more elegant Linux is than Windows. But you don't get there if you don't work your way through it. Now I'm forgetting Windows stuff and I absolutely hate fixing Windows computers -- because I find it convoluted.
(Man I rambled, sorry.)
