What is the latest version of Linux and where i can download it ? i need relible wesite to download from.

The latest version of Linux really depends on which distribution you want, each has its own release schedule and the core and additional programs versions vary as well.

If you want a fairly simple and easy to get started with version I recommend SuSE but there are many others available.

http://www.novell.com/linux/download_linux.html

Thanks alot.
i will download the SUSE LINUX Professional.

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There are 10 types of people in this world; those that understand binary and those that don't.

There is also Redhat's Fedora, highly popular state side.

Maybe you should try a light-weight distribution, before you try something more hard to handle.

An example would be Knoppix, that can run from a CD. see if you like it and install it afterwards

http://fedora.redhat.com/download/

http://distrowatch.com/ lists about everything out there with pointers on which might work for you.

Or just go hog wild and get the CD pack!

CentOS 4.0 ($7.96)
Debian 3.0 ($13.93)
Fedora 3 ($7.96)
FreeBSD 5.3 ($5.97)
Gentoo 2004 ($5.97)
Knoppix 3.7 ($1.99)
Mandrake 10.1 ($9.95)
MEPIS 3.3 ($1.99)
Slackware 10.1 ($7.96)
SUSE 9.2 Pro ($11.95)
SUSE 9.2 DVD ($24.95)
Ubuntu 4.10 ($1.99)
Xandros 3 OCE ($1.99)

Try Linux Pack 22 CDs for only $35!

Many other places offer similar deals, some better and cheaper, I just had this link handy.

Choices range from fully supported point and click installs to completely unsupported stuff that you have to compile on another system to get running. I'd pick something simple for your first try, since most are free for the download you can try as many as you like to find one that works for your skills and needs.

Thanks for all,

@stan_qaz:
Im confused now, what is the original and what is the custmized? Is SUSE is original code, or custmized for some company?

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/\/\<$3 2|{3, /\/\<$4 2|{3, /\/\<P./\/3+, <</\/4.
There are 10 types of people in this world; those that understand binary and those that don't.

It is confusing, there are so many varaitions that a new user could spend a year or more reading and attempting to find the best one for themselves.

The core of Linux is released and everyone builds on that, they add other programs by other developers, they add stuff they have developed themselves, they change bits and pieces around to the way they like it.

I recommended SuSE since it is good to get started with, has automated tools to do most things from a graphics console with excellent help available and is well supported by SuSE and Novell.

Nothing is wrong with the other suggestions or the list I provided, they all have a place. The neat thing is that you can try a bunch of them free or cheap and decide for yourself which you like.

Think of buying a car if you have never been in one before, you'd have no idea what questions to ask or options to order. Much better to do several test drives and maybe get some experience before making a final decision. It is fairly easy to switch distributions/brands once you get a better idea of where you want to go.

Greetings,

I rarely recommend a new user try the download-burn process as it isn't foolproof and for a few bucks you can get the CDs with a verified good image on them.

There are a bunch of posts and how-to's on reburning a Knoppix image to allow your customizations to stick between boot sessions. At some point I'm going to do that for mom and my aunt so they have a bulletproof way of getting on line when their windows gets corrupted.

Greetings,

Stan_Gaz
I had wondered myself about either options - multi-distro CD pack and/or ISO image burning - where they are not being accessed from the original source.

I'd seen an article from IBM recommending that you download the ISO images/live CD from the original distributor's site rather than a cheap-as-chips supplier.

The article authors' reasons were simple - who's to stop the third-party from providing you the "distro" with one or more back-doors added !??

I was looking at SuSe Professional 9.3 myself as a starting point, although - like most people who get into Linux - at some point, I'd be looking to install a personalised distro, such as Gentoo.

One of the things that appealed to me about SuSe was the fact that the AV, which comes as part of its security measures, is AntiVir - I already use this on Windows. The built-in stateful inspection firewall and Spam Assassin anti-spam also appeals.

I had seen a number of "secure" versions of Linux which looked interesting - IPCop, Trustix, Astaro, Bastille, etc.

Immunix, which was one I was considering, has been bought by Novell - hopefully, parts will be included in future versions of SuSe as well as Novell's Linux offering.

One crucial part of SuSe Professional 9.3 which really does appeal is the inclusion of Xen - the equivalent of VMware for Linux. I will be able to run as many other secure distros for testing/evaluation purposes before I decide on a (more) secure Linux after I've mastered the various architectures involved (Debian, Red Hat, etc).

Kindest regards,

Dragan Glas

Some ISOs from second party sources are full versions while the ISO from the distro site is a "lite" or "personal" revision missing some things. With any ISO you can check the MD5 signature to see that it is a faithful copy of the original ISO.

Picking a distro is a trade off, I went with SuSE as it is low maintenance and not much effort to keep up to date on multiple machines with very different hardware.

I'm using rsh to keep all the updates in sync across all machines and cutting my downloads down to 25% of what it would be doing each machine individually. The SuSE option of only downloading deltas to the original is another big bandwidth saver.

If I went with a customized source distribution I'd be spending hours compiling keeping things working. I looked at doing that and found the speed improvements from doing a compile for my hardware just weren't worth the effort involved. I was using the WhiteBox distro a RHEL 3 clone and a stock system worked almost identically with one that I had recompiled from source.

The other thing I really like is the stability I get by sticking with updates from SuSE for my main system. I put anything else including MailWasher and the like on a secondary box and run it using VNC until I'm convinced it is safe to run.

I switched from windows so I could quit futzing with the computer and just get my stuff done and so far it is working wonders.

I don't run the anti virus stuff by default since it isn't a problem for Linux but I'm cautious about forwarding attachments on to friends. you can build a pretty fancy mail setup with fetchmail grabbing your mail and postfix doing all the spam processing you could ask for and then running Evolution over IMAP locally to look at the mail.

Xen is neat but it does require the client operating systems to be compliant with its support structure. I plan on testing it on my spare box and running it on my next computer, the box I'm on now is a bit too puny. The ability to load and test without having to boot a second box plus the roll-back options will be handy.

I've played with VMWare and really like it, what kills the deal is the cost of the maintenance support which you need if you want to stay on the current stable kernel release.