Is this a good operating system to use?  Im getting kind of tired of windows xp and all the problems.  I’ve heard Slackware is a more stable and secure OS.  Any comments would be appreciated.

The only problem with Slackware is that the only support you’re going to get is from forums because there really is no based support for the OS. Aside from that, it is more secure because most people are writing viruses and hacks generally towards Windows XP users as that is the operating system that a mjority of computer users are using nowadays.

yeah its more secure not because better but because not as many viruses target it

I personally use SUSE Linux.  Its awesome, fast, and secure because it is linux.  We also have this in campus at the CS lab.  You might want to give it a try.  http://www.suse.com

omfg, another america Suse user.

check it out. SuSe is the longest running commercial distro. However it never really gained popularity in the US, everyone in EU uses it, apparently. You know, when everyone here was using red hat, Europeans were using suse, etc.

Being that they ARE commercial, I’d recommend buying the pro version. I just got 9.2 pro for 80 bucks, and it comes with real nice instruction manuals. Also, pick up a copy of “Suse Linux 9 Bible” when it comes out in a week or so.

😊

i personally havnt taken the plunge into linux, but im still gathering…got some distros actually burned right now

i hear suse is the best in terms of a beginner’s linux, so props to yall 👏

however, from the massive amount of research ive been doing, looks like gentoo APPEARS to be a bit better. the only cons i see are install difficulties.  they have a GREAT documentation on their website, and a friendly message board for really good support.  check it out: http://www.gentoo.org

another suggestion is knoppix, its a “live cd” distro, meaning it runs directly from a bootable cd, and no changes are done to the hard drive.  i personally am gonna just take the plunge into gentoo, because ive been looking at it for quite a while…just got alot of backing up to do haha