🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <e2f_9711240700@freeway.DIALix.oz.au>, Tony Langdon wrote:
>It's 23 Nov 97  08:38,
>We'll return to stevet1@zip.com.au and All's
>discussion of Interested New User????
>
>If all else fails, you can get Linux by mail order and there's plenty of
>support in these newsgroups. :-)

You can also download it.  Take a look at sunsite.anu.edu.au in the
/pub/linux/distributions directory.  Looking around there might help
you to decide which distribution to get.  The choice of distribution
boils down to a matter of personal taste, so you might as well
see how the alternatives are presented.

> st> ICQ Number:         1229122

The fact is that you are not going to hit a problem that you will
need hand-holding for.  It's a pretty easy system for someone in
your position.  You might order a concise introduction to Unix.  A
good one is "Unix in a Nutshell" by Gilly, published by O'Reilly
& Associates, Inc.

As to waiting for the imminent release of a new version of a distribution,
the fact is that almost everything in the distribution is free software
which can all be updated by downloading the latest source and
compiling it.  A distribution is out of date almost as soon as it is
released, because new versions of the Linux kernel and various utilities
(and various applications) are released to the Net every few days.

The essential purpose of a distribution is to get Linux aboard your
computer.  It doesn't matter a lot which (reasonably recent) version of
which distribution.  Once you have Linux installed you are free of any
dependence on any of them.  Your system will in all matters important to
you be more up-to-date than any distribution.

Of course, that essential purpose may be elaborated ad infinitum by
a distribution vendor, so that Linux becomes merely incidental.  If
you want Debian or RedHat or Slackware as such rather than Linux,
that is fine.  In that case it might be a good idea to wait for the
latest version of the distribution.

--Mike