Linux Version for beginners

[challagonda]

hi,

   i am a network engineer and have very little knowledge and experience in linux. So I decided o use linux at my home also. Could any one please let me know the best version of linux that is suitable for beginners from the networking perspective.

Thanks,

Rakesh

[Peter Paluch]

Hi Rakesh,

In my personal opinion, all Debian-based distributions contain a vast amount of diverse networking tools. So, Debian, Ubuntu etc. would be fine. Personally, as you indicated you are new to Linux, I suggest using the Ubuntu version, as that one is very easy to get started with (GUI etc.) and as you learn more about Linux, you can always move more and more towards using the command line.

All discussions about "which Linux distribution is the best for a particular purpose" are great starters of flamewars So, while I have voiced my opinion here (being an avid Debian user and admin for over 14 years), by no means I am imposing my opinion above anyone else. I would be glad to hear other ideas here.

Best regards,

Peter

[Jon Marshall]

Rakesh

Peter's right, flame wars are started this way

Seriously i currently use Ubuntu Linux having previously used Redhat. I have never used Debian but i suspect, as Peter says, you could pretty much choose any of the main distributions to get started, Ubuntu has lot of nice GUIs if you are not familiar with the CLI although i would strongly recommend you to become familiar with the CLI which then leads onto scripting tools such as Perl/Python and most importantly for Cisco TCL which is used for EEM on Cisco IOS.

Jon

[Chad Peterson]

I'd also suggest Ubuntu.  I've suggested it to a couple others in the past for their first Linux distro.  More than the pre-installed GUI and such, their forum community is great for beginners:

http://ubuntuforums.org/