Martin, Eric wrote:
I'm teaching a Beginners Linux course in a few weeks for Nitelife with the Worc Pub Schools. I was almost ready to go with Fedora, but I don't think that has what I'm looking for. I want something easy for people to pickup, and I don't think RPMs don't give you the linux feel. I'm going to start out w/Knoppix, but I also want to get into a disk install. I've only used Gentoo, RHAT, and Knoppix. A friend mentioned SuSe, but I've never used it. Very open to suggestions, I want as people to enjoy this class, not think that linux is out of their grasp. So, the question is what distro would people recommend for beginners aside from Knoppix?
The knoppix 3.4 hard disk install with the "debian" option gives you a very nicely configured system that should more-or-less work on most modern hardware. It is NOT debian, although based on debian, but for your purposes should be just fine. Be advised that getting it to a normal debian state is NOT trivial, although the results can be quite satisfying. So if you're going to use knoppix to start with, continuing on with the hd install will give the same features and look while allowing further customization. Just keep in mind that it's not *really* debian, and some updates can give headaches. It's not also notably secure. - Bob