Starting the transition from Windows to Linux

Starting the transition from Windows to Linux

I intend to dabble into Linux for the first time; I am also an intermediate level Windows administrator who has reasonable experience with Windows 2003 Server. I would like to know which Linux distribution works well with Windows (i.e. read and write to a Windows directory, view Windows desktop, etc.). I would also like to know where to get beginners' advice because I reckon I'll need loads of it.

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I believe there are many Linux distributions would probably meet your needs but I will go forward with the assumption that as a Windows Administrator you might like the offerings from Novell.

Novell's offerings are good operating systems for those LAN administrators moving from a Windows server to Linux though I tend to recommend Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a better distribution for UNIX users moving to Linux. The community Fedora Core is very similar to RHEL and is a popular choice no matter what the situation.

As for beginners advice I think LinuxQuestionsand, of course, SearchOpenSource are good places for Linux advice.

This was first published in October 2005