Recomend a Distro

Just got a new box, so I plan on moving linux over to it and being done with this dual boot mess. It's a bit older, with 384 mb of ram and a celeron processor. Can anybody recomend a lightweight but normal (not liveCD) distro that's easily configured for LAMP(Linux,Apache,Mail,Python). Bonus credit for having security tools (nmap, wireshark, etc) installed off the bat, and for picking up my nVidia hardware.

Hi, I can recommend xubuntu or ubuntu. They are quite light and easy to use. Very good beginner linux and they are good for advanced users to.

But for you I think xubuntu is best because it's the lightest. Look at the links.

Links http://www.xubuntu.org/ http://www.ubuntu.org/

To my opinion, I'd respectively recommend these:

a. Fedora Core 6 b. OpenSuSE c. Gentoo

If you want to really learn more about Operating Systems and hacking, then move on to:

FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris 10, or HP/UX.

I agree with naME, Ubuntu is a good linux for starters.

I agree with NaME and Uberon as well with the Ubuntu distro, but the problem is that when n00bs start with it.. they get addicted to it being soo easy and dont move on. Thus, they end up not learning *nix at all.

Ubuntu isn't as lightweight as people would like to believe it is. Fedora Core 6 on the other hand is not only lightweight, it's user friendly, very customizable, and it's also has great community support (yes, it does compete with Ubuntu's community support!).

PCLOS (PClinuxOS) is my favourite - it is extremely easy to use and comes with nmap pre-installed… that said - it is a little hefty on the old processor as it uses KDE, but I think there is an option to use fluxbox in there as well.

I'd say try fedora core 6

Just use Xp whit a vmware player and cygwin whit X server. Run a hacking linux distro in the vmware player like :

nst-1.4.2 backtrack2 phlack navyos operator gentoo slackware etc etc etc

In this way you'll have the possibility to learn linux distros and differences between them, whitout renunce at your xp and whitout problems of hardware.

You can even then export the display of the virtual machine that can run in backgroud to your cygin x server and use them in windows. You can play many servers in the virtual machine, http, smtp, pop etc etc and try to hack them from xp, and viceversa.

I would have to say Debian all the way :)

I knew you'd recommend it. I still have to give it a shot. What are its' highlights really?

"Hacking linux distro" I love/hate it when people say that….some people just don't get it….

New to linux? My suggestion….try them all. I've been thru almost every linux/unix distro crafted for the i386 architecture and I must say, I have developed my own opinions. And isn't that the point, to learn for yourself? In my little world, my favorite distros of all time are (in no order)

Slackware 10.2 Fedora Core 5 Debian 3.1 FreeBSD 6.2 (actually Unix, but who cares)

Do not get stuck in picking a linux that is easy to use, doing that is a moot-point. Pick a linux distro to suit your needs….if what you are looking for is a lightweight linux distro, Slackware and Debian are very lightweight/fluff-free distros. And with a lightweight window-manager like Fluxbox or Blackbox, you should be A-OK.

(Compaq Presario 1600S 500MHz P3 Processor with 64mb of Ram runs slackware like a champ)

the altest mandrake is SICK.but with an older machine it would probably struglle. i run whichever was the last (i forget which version) red hat on all my older machines. there are patches for all the retrospective exploits and as a web server it's fantastic.

Dude, go Debian… Debian is free, all the way. Its philosophy is "free software," not just the OS, but ALL software produced for Debian is free, and all linux packages for other distros will work if you just compile from source.
Debian has an absolutely awesome community, ready to help you…but many people will say "RTFM" or the like…because the documentation for it is so thorough that most of the time, it is answered in the documentation.

My favorite thing about it is this: It is easy to learn for the begginer, but as you get more advanced it will not limit you by simplicity, becasue once you are experianced enough to realize it…you find that Debian is a powerful workhorse up for any challenge…at all.

NC

EDIT: Also, if you don't wanna mess with comipling every program, you can use the built-in Installer (Adept) is easy and has a file list for all packages endorsed by Debain for easy and quick instalation (thats alot of packages btw.) It is mainly for KDE, but you can get it working with almost any Window Manager…I currently have Debian running Fluxbox and KDE…I love it.

Hacking distros… LOL

Ok what i suggest is: Get Slackware. Why? Cuz its the best way to understand linux operating sistems. Lot of ppl will agree that, when u know slack u know linux. Its fucking hard to understand the way it works especially if u are new to linux but when u understand it, its imba. Slack is one of one of the oldest(probably the oldest one) distros that is still developing. On the other hand, u have distros like mandriva ubuntu etc… that are more if i may say, 'win like'. They are easier to understand since there are lots of 'click & run' options but ull get fucked up when u switch to slack or some other pure distro. So my advise is, get slack and have hard time in beggining,easy latter :)