I have been using Windows since I got my first computer. I have decided to try out Linux. I have looked at ubuntu, it looks great, but I wondering if there was a better one.
Ubuntu is a nice distro for beginners, but personally I would recommend Linux Mint 15 to you specially since you are just starting with Linux.
The main reason is because Linux Mint "Just Works" on basically every machine off the bat. A lot of the problems you can run into with other distro's when you just get linux installed and are fairly new to linux (Like the dreaded WiFi drivers and Display Drivers) you most likely won't run into with Linux Mint.
I would also say that it is probably the most beginner friendly version of Linux out there but that is just my opinion and it uses less resources then Ubuntu and Unity.
So you might want to check it out also. In the end just go with whatever one you like the feel of better. That is the beauty of Linux Live CD's. You don't need to install them to test them out, so just download your favorites and give them a test run.
Though I will say one more thing, if you aren't familiar with Linux stay away from the more specialized distro's until you get the hang of the Linux way. Else you will be stuck not knowing how to do anything and nothing working on your computer.
@Zereo
Linux Mint looks good too. I am kinda familiar on how to use ubuntu I looked at some videos about it on youtube (eg tutorials, reviews, etc.). I'll think about it.
Got ubuntu as my first distro, after 6 months, unity came down with a bug at update 13.1. Quickly got rid of the distro and now using mint. So far so good although not as flashy as ubuntu but it works and that is all I care about
Yes you can run codeblocks on mint I believe it is in their software manager even for easy download and install if you aren't familiar with the terminal and other install methods.
@Zereo
Okay, great. I am still not completely positive that I am going to get Linux, but if I do, I will most likely get Linux Mint 15 w/cinnamon desktop.
Computergeek01, not too far off. They use rather similar packages and the same package management tools. There are major differences though:
1. Debian only allows open/free software into its repositories, much like Fedora except much less strict (Fedora just gets annoying with it, i.e. won't allow a program because of royalties, despite the openness of the project itself). For instance, Debian allows FFmpeg/libav where as Fedora does not due to the royalty license associated with the x264 codec.
2. Debian has a LiveCD last I checked but for the most part, it's an Arch Linux style installation. You have to install things like Xorg, a DE and DM, audio mixers and tools, etc. by yourself. Most of which is redundant.
3. There are slight philisophical differences. For one, Debian doesn't have NIH syndrome. For two, it doesn't care to start a war for the sake of NIH syndrome.
1. Debian only allows open/free software into its repositories
Except, you know, the repository called non-free.
Anyway.
In my personal experience, I still recommend Ubuntu over Linux Mint. I find Cinnamon is clunky and slow, and tries a bit too hard to mimic old Windows workflows -- if you want to learn Linux, then learn Linux -- and while Unity still isn't a perfect desktop it's still better than the alternatives.
Ya I also have one with my levono but still haven't found one that work right of the bat but I am sure you could come up with some hack to get it working though It hasnt bothered me enough for me to try.
I was told when I first started to look at Linux that no distros inherently support mp3 files. But Linux mint does! at least with the Xfce desktop(I don't know if this makes a difference). I'm running it live right now, and so far I like a lot of things about it, there's even stuff that Ubuntu wouldn't do like two-finger scrolling and reversing the direction for scrolling (I'm used to windows 8). So far this is the one I'm going to do, but I do have the cinnamon and MATE desktops downloaded, I think I'll try both of them live before I make a final decision though.
I tried out all three desktops, and the cinnamon is the most like windows, but I know playing the mp3s isn't a huge deal, I would have just downloaded the codec or found something to convert them.