Re:No Experience? (Score 1)

My daughter was majoring in advanced mathmatics at the University of Padova in Italy and they had their math department all set up with linux. I have about ten years experience with linux and have run all of the major distributions and many of the not so well known distro's. I found that what was best for her was not the latest and greatest but, a distro that was extremely stable that had many different software options available. Python and Latex packages are available in all distro's. However, I found that if you also want Plotting (scigraphica, PgPlot5), Geometry (Mathmatica, Eukleides), Algebra (Maxima, Yacas), and Math Programming Languages (Octave and R-base) and you want them all working your better off with Debian Stable. Don't believe the hype that Debian is difficult to install (debian has solved this problem for some time now). If you go with most of the other latest and greatest distro's your going to find many bugs in the more esoteric software such as those you will be using. For stability you cannot beat Debain stable and I think that this is what will be most important for you.