Once again, what linux distro?

[element]

I'm a total newbie in Linux, I would want to try it out, but I'm not sure what distro to install. Mandrake, Lycoris or Debian.
I know Mandrake and Lycoris are newbie distros. Debian is more advanced, but I was thinking, if I do this I wanna do it right from the beginning and choose a not so obvious distro as Debian. So what do you think? Should I stick to the newbie distros or go Debian?

[Speed]

Sorry, but IMHO Debian is teh suck. Debian arbitrarily makes things difficult, to enhance its '1337 reputation, but the reality is that you don't have to wear a hair shirt to be a good Linux admin. If you're a total newbie, why not start off with a pleasant experience first? There will be plenty of time to "bash your shins to prove that you can get around with your eyes closed" later on.

No, Debian is not more advanced! It's only different. And "different" doesn't automatically mean "better".

I don't know enough about Lycoris to comment on it. I do know Mandrake very well, and recommend it highly. Mandrake is a mature distribution. It has had time to get the bugs out, and to make a good, cohesive package. It's not just a "newbie" distro, either. Mandrake supports a wide variety of users and hardware. The truth is that even the most advanced user can benefit from a good user interface. On that front, Mandrake delivers.

[Forge]

Yes, Mandrake has had lots of time to get the bugs in, and they've done so with a vengeance. If you want pointless eyecandy, get WinXP. If you want a very nice and easy transition to Linux, try Lycoris. If you want to wade in and manipulate the guts, go Debian or, even better, Gentoo.

I suppose I've just seen far too many folks begging for help with horribly b0rked permissions by default to recommend Mandrake anymore.

[sroylance]

Debian is really pretty awesome. It is a complete bitch to install, but it is really easy to administer once it's up. It is also very stable because the Debian policies are very strict about what is allowed into the 'stable' distribution.

I use stable on servers, but 'testing' is always very solid and I use it on my own machines. I'm not sure what the exact policy is, but I think any package that has been in 'unstable' for a few weeks with no huge bug reports gets automatically added to 'testing'.
They are also in the middle of a freeze right now and the current testing will become stable sometime the next couple months.

Debian was the first distro I really used, as long as you are patient and willing to read docs it is fine for a 'newbie'

[treatment]

hmm.

Yer a newbie, so get either Suse-7.3 or wait for Suse-8.0. Forget about Mandrake or Lycoris.

[element]

treatment, I'm a newbie at Linux, not Windows or DOS (command lines don't scare me)

[Gershwin]

treatment, I'm a newbie at Linux, not Windows or DOS (command lines don't scare me)

I went with Mandrake two months ago as my newbie install. I'm a seasoned (1986-) Wintel user as well.

It's got a huge number of packages bundled (3 full CD's worth). Go nuts or only install a few. I went nuts and was mucking around with the system for a full 12 hours playing with all the toys, GUI's, applications, etc. It's fun.

If I had to do an install in front of my systems team at work, I would not want to present such a huge variety of options. I'd want to show them a far more slimmed down distro like NetBSD, FreeBSD, Lycoris or Debian.

If you chose any modern distribution now, you're going to be pleasantly surprised. Everything works well (that I've tried) and there are copious amounts of help out there on the Web and on the major IRC networks.

If you've seen systems evolve over the past decade or two like I have, you're going to be pleasantly surprised at the depth of what GNU/Linux is today. It's really, really good.

[Speed]

If I had to do an install in front of my systems team at work, I would not want to present such a huge variety of options. I'd want to show them a far more slimmed down distro like NetBSD, FreeBSD, Lycoris or Debian.

I used to use Caldera for that sort of thing -- a nice, clean setup and interface without too many choices. Unfortunately Caldera has caught the "high prices, low innovation" bug from their SCO purchase, and are no longer a serious contender. But at least on a technical level, COL + Volution is a pretty sweet corporate setup.

Another thought: You don't have to install everything. The new Mandrake 8.2 release apparently can be installed in less than 100MB if you so choose. If you're installing in front of a group of people, the key is to script the installation beforehand. Most of the major installations have the facility to create a disk that you insert at install time, that makes all the choices for you. Seeing it go all by itself looks damn impressive in the boardroom!