[tldistro] query for a complete tex for linux

[Karl Berry]

    Do I need to download 
    a) the texlive2012.iso which is 2.2 GB 

It will work but I don't recommend it.

    Or b) texlive-20120701-bin.tar.xz which is 409 MB ?

Useless for you, don't get it.

    Are they same? 

No.  The bin.tar.xz is just a small part of the .iso.

    Or any other better option? 

See http://tug.org/texlive/acquire.html for ways to get the original
TeX Live.

If you want to get TeX as it is packaged by the various distros, see the
info available for the particular distro you want.  (The distro links
I've been given are at http://tug.org/texlive/distro.html.)

Hope this helps,
karl