

Ask HN: Which Distro and Why? - brudgers

Need some collective wisdom.<p>I am preparing to install Linux as an alternative bootable OS on my main computer alongside Windows 8.1.<p>The iron is older but still very capable:<p><pre><code>    Dell Precision T7400
    2x E5405 Xeon [Harpertown]
    Video: Nvidia Quadro FX 1700
    Two Displays with different Native resolutions
    12GB RAM ECC
    RAID 1 [mirroring] using onboard Dell Virtual Disk 
</code></pre>
The considerations for the Distribution:<p>[] Reasonably straight forward installation and configuration for my hardware including X11. Bleeding edge not important. Reasonable robustness is.<p>[] I plan to use Linux for programming. Comprehensive package support for programming languages and development tools is important. I don&#x27;t need MSOffice knock-offs or lots of multimedia applications, or games, etc. Right now, the plan is mainly Emacs from the desktop.<p>[] Other considerations being roughly equivalent, leaner is better.<p>[] Other considerations being equivalent, more GNU is better than less GNU.<p>[] FHS definately. LSB other considerations being equivalent.<p>[] LFS&#x2F;BLFS are for another day.<p>[] Critical mass supporting the distro.<p>[] Plan to use Windows Boot Manger to maintain existing stability. Might change it down the road, but I don&#x27;t boot often enough to be bothered by Windows 8&#x27;s slower process.<p>Thanks for your help.
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brudgers
This is why these questions get asked on Stack Overflow.

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kristianp
Actually superuser might be better, or the one for admins.

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brudgers
The question does not meet their guidelines either...and that was the gist of
my comment.

