having seen the news that redhat is shutting down its normal linux line i set out to find a new distro and i came upon vector linux so i was wondering is it good? how difficult is it for a semi new user? and plain old is it a good distro? any help is appreciated also with this distro how would i install new packages?

If you are a new user, try out Mandrake. If you want a REAL challenge off the bat, go with Slackware. (It's tough, but you learn the most.) T

Vector Linux is based on Slackware so it should be good/stable/powerful. If you haven't yet, go to www.vectorlinux.com and you read some good info about it and about installing apps. Regards...

I've heard it's good but haven't tried it myself. If you haven't done so already, check out www.distrowatch.com

dump all theses slack and rpm package management systems the dependency nightmares suck go with a debian based distro all dependencies are automatically handled via their dpkg package management you download deb files instead of rpms or convert rpms to deb files etiherway but instead of surfing the web for the software you want you simply visit the repository no basic debian is a nightmare to install but there are distros based off debian that are easy like libranet and knoppix now knoppix requires you boot off cdrom and at command prompt you would type sudo knx-hdinstall if i recall thats the command to start a hd install takes 20 min and you have a default install if you want more after setting up your internet you simply type apt-get update (updates repository listings) apt-get install synaptic (gui front end for ap will automatically download all dependencies and install it for you) type synaptic browse through over 13000 packages any thing you click on also handles dependencies and installation automatically for you

Debian is not the only distro to provide package management tools that automatically resolve dependencies. You can get apt-get (maybe called apt-rpm) for redhat, urpmi for mandrake, swaret for slackware, emerge for gentoo etc....