I´m thinking in take a Red Hat Enterpise course at local University, but i just want to ask if i can dowload an Apprentice version for this distro that works fine, another one can be a Debian course so any advices on wich course to choose would be great, i´m using the Windows XP Aprrentice version but i want to jump in to Linux, thanks.

Generally a linux course is a linux course. There's nothing really that special or different between distributions in regards to running Houdini. Other than the odd distro that may have a problem. As for downloads, the download page offers linux versions that work in all the main distributions I believe. Redhat, Suse, Ubuntu, Debian etc.

thanks for the response. Yes, i know that the course is just linux, i was asking if a can get an Apprentice version for red hat enterprise but now that i looked the download section again i see the red hat enterprise option, my mistake. Thanks.

By the way, what means (sarge) in the Debian 3.1 option ?? my english is not that good.

Sarge is short for Sergeant. All the Debian releases have codenames from the movie Toy Story. Like Woody, Sid, etc.

Like Graham says the distrubution doesn't really matter. You should look at the course specifics and make your choice based on that.

If you want a system that is close (if not the same) as Redhat Enterprise you could get CentOS. But as Schaap and Graham said, Linux is Linux (although some Linux's are more Linux than others, really!)

Have fun with the course!

thanks guys, well i have decided the debian course since i haven´t see the price and the red hat enterprise was waaayyyyy much expensive, also i paid for a quick view to Ubuntu (5 hrs course) i hope i can stay with any of these 2 distros.

Just in case you haven't gone Debian way yet - I have had a fresh install of Fedora Core 6 recently - Houdini runs like a charm!!! Only required to do three easy steps and no setup time

1. Install Fedora Core 6
2. Install nvidia drivers “yum install kmod-nvidia”
3. Install houdini

Everything runs good and without any problems

Not d'sing Fedora, I'm sure it works just as you say.

I'm using Ubuntu Dapper (6.06) and it is equally as stable.

probbins
Not d'sing Fedora, I'm sure it works just as you say.

I'm using Ubuntu Dapper (6.06) and it is equally as stable.

Any particular reason you did not go with 6.10, or when you had it installed 6.10 was not out - and you just did not bother upgrading?

Also if I would like to use KDE, rather then Gnome - I should go with Kubuntu, right?

Yes, like if you want to focus on KDE then Kubuntu would be logical.

Yes, 6.10 wasn't out at the time. Dapper is special in that Ubuntu has mandated that it will be supported for 5 years.
The subsequent releases will be more bleeding edge. I install the latest and greatest on another machine, but for my production hardware I don't want to spend the time fussing with it.
The updating for Dapper is very vigorous and there was only one glitch early in the release that was fixed almost immediately. They goofed on something in the nvidia driver and the gui wouldn't load. Literally within 2 hours they had a fix and website instructions on how to do the repair.