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system. Thus, when you are new users, and you try Gentoo, you will permanently hate Linux (I mean it). On the other hand, if you are proud of your tweaking skills, and you step into Ubuntu, you will think that it is just Windows with some customized theme.

Now, to make the matter easy, GNU/Linux distros are generally in several "families," each of which shares philosophies. On one end, we have distros for new users, or the Ubuntu family. Then, we have distro for old system, the light-weight family. We have distro for power users, the build-it-yourself family. Then, something in between, Red Hat family. There are several other families, and some hybrids (like Sabayon, which is between user-friendly and power). Below, I will provide you some tips on choosing a suitable families. Once you are in there, just pick one seems nice to you.

First, if you are a new user, and you want something on the machine you use everyday, definitely go with Ubuntu family. This includes stuffs like Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mint, etc. They are very easy to use, and are usually shipped with many many drivers. Although they may not be as stable and fast as other families, they are definitely faster than Windows (XP that is. Vista is a performance hog that we don't want to talk about). They have graphical interface for everything, and very large communities.

Now, if you want to use some old computer, go for the second family, light-weight. Usually, they are pretty easy to use and install. However, they do not include all programs. They generally don't have GNOME or KDE (man, those memory hog!). Instead XFCE and Enlightenment are two popular choice for desktop environment (if you don't know those, don't worry). The main strong point of this family is that they are exceedingly light weight. Some is light enough to throw in a small CD. Well, just imagine a Netbook. Those GNU/Linux systems provide something similar to that. Some distros are Damn Small Linux, ELive, Tiny Linux, etc.

A closely related family to light-weight distros are CD distros. They are designed to be try! This is perfect for people who are curious about GNU/Linux! You can run from the CD, without touching your system, and see how GNU/Linux actually works. The most famous one in this family is Knoppix. By the way, this is also perfect for sharing computer with your young children. Usually, for them, the web-browser is the computer. Knoppix (and Damned Small Linux, Feather Linux, etc.) can boot up your computer (from the CD), give nice

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