Over the last week, these are the most popular Linux flavors, or distributions, according to Distrowatch, in terms of what DW calls Page Hit Ranking

1. Ubuntu

2. Sabayon

3. openSUSE

4. Mint

5. Mandriva

6. Debian

7. Fedora

8. Mepis

9. PCLinuxOS

10. Zenwalk

Next 10:

FreeBsd, Puppy, CentOS, Slackware, Lunar, Damn Small, Arch, Vector, sidux, GeexboX

Many of these distros make available for downloading an ISO image to create a live CD with which one can boot into Linux and take it for a no-risk test spin. Doing so makes Firefox available for web browsing, assuming you can get your network to come alive. Usually this is not a problem with the live CD, but sometimes it is. For a permanent installation, it is fairly easy to repartition your hard drive so that you are then able to keep your current Windows OS, and also gain the ability to boot into your flavor of Linux. At start-up, a GRUB screen gives you both options. Similar options are available for Macs, but since OS X is already based on BSD, the need may not be as great. Nevertheless, Mac owners with geeky urges can explore the dual boot option as well.

Happy New Year

S