For the best hardware compatibility and ease of installing multiple desktops and browsers I would recommend Ubuntu. It’s the most popular desktop Linux. I personally run Fedora because I work on Red Hat but Fedora would be my second recommendation. Both are free and have great community support networks built up.

You’ll get the best experience installing natively on your PC but consider either VMware player or Virtualbox to run virtual machines for free. If your primary goal is to test various desktops and browsers this will be the best option.

Thanks a lot for your great blog, especially the security and mod_rewrite articles. Just post if you need any help with Linux and you’ll get an earful! : )

Personally I started using Linux about three years ago, the first distribution I tried was Ubuntu Dapper - Ubuntu in a recent version is the distribution I would reccomend to a new user, too. It’s easy to install, has great support of hardware and - that’s the most important - a great community to learn from. You will still have to learn a bit more about your operation system than with WindowsXX but Ubuntu is a good way to do so.
In 2008 I’ve finally switched over to Arch Linux which is a bit more customizable and faster due to its compilation flags but I would not reccomend Arch for a new-to-Linux-user.
Most of the recent distributions provide a liveCD/DVD you can download, burn to a disc and test in your machines, most of those live CDs/DVDs include a setup/installation program you can use if you like the distribution.
Working with a local setup of apache/mySQL/WordPress for theme testing purposes is an easy task once you got used to the new operating system habits and it is well documented in various wiki pages.

I would suggest going with VirtualBox as well. I haven’t had any problems with it. If you feel like torturing yourself with driver issues, sound system hell, and misc other horror stories, then pick one of these:

1. Any Ubuntu/Debian based distro for the Vaio.
2. Leave the Mac alone… its not worthy of nix ;)
3. Damn Small or some other variation/light distro on the lappy.

If the Vaio has a decent GFX card, you can get the most out of it with Linux Mint. It has all the eyecandy such as Compiz Fusion and other pretty stuff installed for you. There are a few variations of Mint, and each one is very user friendly.

I recently jumped at linux as well; I shoved ubuntu on a server and been playing around with suse…which IMHO has the least learning curve of all the nix.

I’d add another vote for Ubuntu. Been using it since I started playing around with VPS.

Ubuntu is a pretty good choice for new users, since it tends to be one of the more robust distros. Ubuntu is capable of booting as a LiveCD, but if you’re planning on using it a lot, you may want to go with Puppy or Damn Small Linux, since as LiveCDs they tend to boot faster.

If you want to make you’re life really easy, you can always go with Linux Mint, which is like Ubuntu with a few extras (like proprietary codecs).

My advice would be to dual-boot XP/Debian on the Vaio, I guess.

Thanks for the mention, I currently am running Ubuntu Server 8.04 on VMWare Fusion beta (it’s a free beta download.. check it out for your mac) on my mac (running OS X 10.5.5), then i’ve also got a very very lean install of CentOs on another virtual image to mirror a client’s dev environment. Both load up quickly + i’ve never really had any problems that a quick google search couldn’t clear up.
Ohh, and I’ve got WinXP installed through bootcamp, but this post is about linux… :)
Ubuntu is really easy + painfree to install over Windows Vista/XP… you don’t even need to partition the drive (i think, don’t kill me if i’m mistaken on this one).

I’d say go with ubuntu desktop if you’re looking for a linux GUI that has room to expand + grow with your user skill/needs.

Cheers,
Brent

Like some people are commenting, a virtual solution is going to be the easiest to get going with the least number of issues. I would recommend the relevant VMWare product for the host OS that your going to start with (they have a product for Windows, OS X, and Linux). I’ve been doing that for the last few years to do my browser testing; although usually I just create VMs for Windows XP with IE6 and one with IE7 & FF, then use my mac for dev and safari testing.

The question is very hard.
No way to solve it in only few words :)

First of all you need a Linux. OK. But Linux it’s only a Kernel (I know, I am too fussy) and there a real WORLD of distribution that are built on it. :)

It all depends on what you need, on your abilities in problem-solving-disperate-commandline-issues (!) and in compatibility.

If you have a performing machine with a lot of RAM you can easily run a VM, but I do not suggest you this solution if your machine have less than 1GB installed.

So, if you need a Full-Community-Supported System you can choose Ububtu or some derivates.
I personally use LinuxMint Elyssa: it support all Ubuntu repositories and add some very useful features like a single click uninstall on the application name from the menu.

But two of the best distribution for hacking-freaky-geek ones are Gentoo and Slackware (my real love) :)

You have to work-alot on config files to make ‘em work like you want but the satisfaction is uncomparable! :D

I use ubuntu both at home and office and it works like a charm. At this moment I have installed firefox, opera, konqueror, ie6 and safari. You can test your designs without any problems :)

The free Intro to Linux book is a great place to start
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/mirrors/LDP/LDP/intro-linux/html/index.html

Distrowatch lists all distros with download links
http://distrowatch.com/

Linux Documentation Project
Many free book length guides
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/mirrors/LDP/mirrors.html

Redhat has the best manuals and docs for any RPM based distribution
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/

Linux From Scratch lets you build your own OS
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/…/LFS-BOOK-6.1.1-HTML/index.html

The Gentoo Handbook is another invaluable community resource
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/index.xml

Hope this helps!

If you just want to get up and running quick to check it out, or if you don’t care to learn (m)any things about Linux, try Ubuntu. They have a very nice live cd installer, meaning you can boot from the cd into a working desktop without touching the hard drive.

On the other hand, if you are wanting to get your hands dirty, and plan on using the system for some time, please at least check out Arch Linux. It doesn’t have a fancy GUI installer, but the benefits of choosing Arch do include long-term stability and ease of upgrade/maintainence (among others). The package manager (Pacman) for Arch is the best one I’ve ever used. Plus it only installs exactly what you want.

In the end use what makes you happy. The great thing about Linux is choice. Try several, and use the one you like best.

I didn’t see this comment yet, but if you would like to try Linux (relatively) hassle free, try WUBI (http://wubi-installer.org/devel/minefield/). It allows dual booting without the trouble of reformatting, yet doesn’t reside in a virtual machine.

BTW, I really love the tips you provide here.