Knoppix or Mandrake 9.1; how to decide?

[ChrisK2972]

I am about to load Linux as a second OS. Now, I have tried Knopix and was very impressed. After scanning past post, both here and in several other Linux forums, the overwhelming advice to newbies is to begin with Mandrake 9.1 I have both Knoppix and the installation cd's for Mandrake 9.1 and need some help choosing.

What will I gain/loose by choosing one or the other? I know this question can only be answered by someone who has used both, but, I doubt that will be hard to find here. Also, I have read allot about 'aptget'(I think that is the correct name) in Debian, is there an alternative in Mandrake 9.1 that is just as good or better?

Lastly, I posted this in one forum and the first responder said something about "pure Linux" and that I should start with slackware if I really wanted to learn linux. What do you think about that?

I know these are complex and mainly personal preference questions. I would enjoy hearing your opinions. Take a stab at all the questions or just one of them. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[tarpat1]

If you are looking to install Linux on your hard drive and have never used Linux before I would say go with Mandrake since thats what you already have. Knoppix can be installed on the hard drive but I think its trickier then the Mandrake install which is probably the best installer beginner wise out there.

Apt-get is the Debian updater which is similar to Microsoft Update in function but apt-get is much more powerful.

Slackware is probably the most 'Unix Like' distro, but thats the goal of the distro. Its not the best choice for a newbie, but if you want to learn the hard way there are lots of Slackware users here.

My personal recommendation out of the three (since you have 2 of them already!) would be for Mandrake. If you want to go deeper into Linux after getting comfy with 'Drake then Slackware is pretty good for that.