the best Linux 2561

Michael

Why does every new linux user have only heard of Redhat before? :S

Speaking of my own 5 years of history working with various major Linux distributions and statistics gathered by the LinuxQuestions forums: 1. Slackware linux - you will never see a more stable system or harder to "play" with, maybe besides LFS. Great for developing, very popular but not amongst the faint of heart. 2. Ubuntu with variants Kubuntu (KDE) and Xubuntu (Xfce) are the most popular distros, from the whole linux user base, I would say. And there's there's nothing amazing about that, Ubuntu is simply the easiest linux around. I would say also good for development, GREAT support (via the forums) but not the easiest to "play aroud" with either. 3. Gentoo Linux, unlike the other distributions, you can optimeze this distribution by compiling everything from generic 486, 686 to your specific machine's architecture and optimizations. Trully customizable distribution, powerfull package management; second easiest way to install software (first being apt-get from the Debian-Ubuntu like distros); takes long time to finish installs because of compile times but in the end you get nothing but the fastest package of a package-program that you specifically customized for your own needs. I think it's the best developing distro, and the easiest to manage desktop machine and server. That's what I use and recommend.

Others worth mentioning are ArchLinux (686 optimized, simple package manager, apt-get like), Slackware derived distros (Zenwalk for example, great desktop and coding base) or Debian which is our source for inspiration :D.

As I said, ubuntu would have the largest user base (check linuxquestions.org for statistics - desktop-distro-* of the year threads-pools) but I recommend Gentoo if you are willing to wait for apps to compile unlike the other binary based distros and you like an easy to manage and a great platform for coding and even cross-compiling.