

The 14 best Linux distros - qhoxie
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/the-14-best-linux-distros-465771

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tl
For those who don't want to read/load N pages:

1\. Debian - The grand-daddy of some of the other distros here, and still
going strong

2\. Fedora - The community distro from Red Hat

3\. OpenSUSE - Novell's completely open Linux distro

4\. Mandriva - The golden child is making a comeback

5\. Ubuntu - The most popular distro of all time... So far

6\. Gentoo - The DIY distribution especially for those who want to understand
and define how it works

7\. DSL - A tiny distro for older machines

8\. Arch Linux - A self-assembly distro for power users

9\. CentOS - The community variant of Red Hat Enterprise Linux

10\. PCLinuxOS - Could this be an Ubuntu-beater in 2008?

11\. Sabayon - A binary distro built with Gentoo

12\. KNOPPIX - The king of the Live CDs is still going strong

13\. Zenwalk - A lightweight Slackware derivative ideal for reinvigorating
older, more limited computers

14\. Slackware - Back to basics with the oldest of the surviving distros

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Prrometheus
Good God, there's more than 14 of them? The Linux universe is prohibitively
complicated for n00bs and casual users.

Disclaimer: I love my Ubuntu.

~~~
qhoxie
I'll assume sarcasm, but obviously there are many more than 14. That number of
primaries to choose from really isn't bad though. The amount of 'major'
distributions naturally remains at a sweet spot and the options are getting
more and more fruitful with increased use.

The choice is what makes it great. No doubt that pollution/dilution can occur
and does, but with distributions the 'good' ones rise to the top for a reason
and from them people select what feels best.

~~~
gm
This is dumb.. The more choices you have, the more confused the person
choosing is.

Sorry, but having too many choices does not make the choice easier.

Also, of course you know that a "good" distro is, but someone just coming into
the fold has no idea what a good one is.

Too much choice. Microsoft has to chuckle and feel a little security about a
post narrowing down the "top 14" distributions.

~~~
jonny_noog
You're right that there is a lot of choice. But most people who like to use
Linux actually see this as a big plus. That may be hard to understand for
people who only use Windows. Not that there's anything wrong with using
Windows, it's just a different paradigm.

When first wanting to get into Linux, the best option is to talk to someone
that you trust not just to be a fan boy for their favorite distro, but to tell
you honestly which they think would be best for you after you having told them
(also honestly) where your computing experience sits on the scale from novice
to expert and also what you intend to do with the distro you eventually
choose.

These days, for a novice user wishing to experiment with Linux in general, I
think the choice is pretty clear. Ubuntu.

Your last sentence seems to imply something along the lines of that MS should
feel more secure that Linux as a whole is diluted into numerous distros which
assumedly makes it harder for novices to get into Linux. Ergo, Linux is not as
much of a threat to Windows' dominance of the market. I think this is missing
one point that often comes up at least in the Debian community and this is
that Debian has never really had the goal of dethroning Windows and taking on
it's mantle as the "dominant" OS or anything like that. Debian doesn't care.
The project has different goals to this. Debian is just doing its thing, and
if that thing happens to work for you, then great. If not, then try something
else.

Maybe Ubuntu does have this goal to dethrone Windows or whatever, and if so,
more power to them. But my point is don't assume that all Linux distros even
care how popular they are, or care about competing with any other OS, because
many don't.

~~~
Prrometheus
>You're right that there is a lot of choice. But most people who like to use
Linux actually see this as a big plus.

By "most people who like to use Linux" - realize that you are talking about
0.5% of the desktop population. The market could be a lot bigger if it were
easier to find one's way.

>When first wanting to get into Linux, the best option is to talk to someone
that you trust

And what about most of us who are not acquainted with anybody that uses Linux
on a regular basis?

>But my point is don't assume that all Linux distros even care how popular
they are, or care about competing with any other OS, because many don't.

If their goal is not being popular, then I would say they are succeeding.

~~~
jonny_noog
>By "most people who like to use Linux" - realize that you are talking about
0.5% of the desktop population. The market could be a lot bigger if it were
easier to find one's way.

Your first sentence deliberately ignores my main point which was of course
that Linux by and large doesn't care if you're a little too intimidated by the
range of choices to try something new. In fact I would go so far as to say if
you're a person who likes to have everything spoon fed to you and is not
comfortable and/or does not enjoy doing some research for yourself when you
encounter issues, then you actually are better off sticking to Windows or
possibly a Mac. Linux helps those who help themselves.

> And what about most of us who are not acquainted with anybody that uses
> Linux on a regular basis?

a) Local Linux user groups. b) Distro forums. c) Mailing lists. d) Google.

I also mentioned that these days, the choice for a newbie wanting to try Linux
in general terms is pretty much made for them. You ignored that bit too.

> If their goal is not being popular, then I would say they are succeeding.

I never said their goal was not being popular, this is quite obvious to anyone
who actually read my previous reply rather than skimming over it and trying to
twist it into something that could be used to reinforce their existing
beliefs.

What I did say was that many distros see popularity as a low or non-existent
priority when compared to others, such as quality of implementation.

Debian has often gotten flak in the past for its long release cycle. If Debian
devs are asked when the next stable Debian release will be ready, the usual
answer is "When it's done." (though this is changing somewhat now) When the
quality is assured, then it's released.

It's not released when the marketing department says it should be just because
they are trying to hit an artificial deadline imposed by some middle manager
who's more interested in his coke and hookers.

From the sound of it, I would recommend that you stay as far away from Linux
as you can. You do not seem to have the required mind set that would make it
an enjoyable experience for you.

------
sunkencity
I've been running gentoo for a couple of years, and been liking it. Quality of
the repository did go down a bit last year though. Been looking at Arch, but
will probably start to use ubuntu or debian again.

~~~
rkowalick
Arch is really fanastic. The PKGBUILD system is basically a customizable
package system. It also has a standard package manager too.

------
ojbyrne
One per page? I'm not enthusiastic enough to click through 14 times,
especially when my fave (debian) was first.

------
indiejade
14 is indeed an . . . odd number for them to pick. Looks almost like they just
grabbed the top 14 from distrowatch.

My top 10 list is: 1\. MEPIS 2\. PCLinuxOS 3\. Kubuntu 4\. Linux Mint 5\.
Fedora 6\. Debian (would be higher on the list, but for that annoying
"Iceweasel" thing) 7\. Dream Linux 8\. Slax 9\. Gentoo 10\. Sabayon

Though the list changes often.

RE the discussion about having lots of choices . . . yes for some it can be
overwhelming, but not everyone is an idiot. That whole notion needs to
evaporate already, especially as that generation which has essentially "grown
up" with lots of technology, innovation, gadgets and more enters the workforce
in full. Of course there are still idiots, but not with as great frequency as
less-technical generations past.

When attempting to explain my software obsession / obsession for choice in OSS
/ to fellow females who aren't hardcore techs, I like to make an analogy to
shopping for clothes, which most females relate to well. Some females like to
populate a closet full of fancy clothes; I like to fill my website --
<http://oss.zentu.net> \-- have my computers be full of interesting software.

Or something like that. Analogy, close enough! :)

------
truebosko
My one mis-understanding for Linux is ..

Let's say Firefox 3 has just come out. It is available for Linux as source
build, but when it comes to packages for Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware, or
whatever else that comes in depending on the distro correct?

I know for example Gentoo is for the hardcores who decide to build everything
from source but I do not have a true understanding of how packages in Linux
work across distro's .. can anyone enlighten me on that?

~~~
jonny_noog
The short answer is that packages don't work across distros. Or perhaps I
could say they shouldn't be expected to work across distros.

The longer answer is that in situations where one distro has descended from
another (probably the most well know example being Ubuntu descending from
Debian) it is possible to use an Ubuntu package on Debian or vice versa, I've
done it. But you should have a really good reason to do this and have done
your homework (I can only think of one occasion where I did have a good enough
reason to do this, and it didn't last long). This is possible (though not
recommended) because all the distros that descend from Debian use the package
management system derived from Debian also, which is incidentally the best
one, IMO.

If you wish to know more about what makes it the best and the policy that
guides how packages move through the different Debian releases (Experimental,
Unstable, Testing and Stable), check out this link:

[http://newpeople.debian.org/~srivasta/talks/why_debian/talk....](http://newpeople.debian.org/~srivasta/talks/why_debian/talk.html)

Particularly, you could read the section titled "Quality of implementation".

I assume something similar would apply to Red Hat and all the distros that
descend from it for example... Their package management policy just doesn't
work as well is all. :)

~~~
truebosko
Thanks both of you for the great answers, it makes a more sense now.

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Herring
Everyone knows about the basics, he should have done specialized distros. I
recently found that BackTrack 3 is very good.

~~~
chomchom
I found this a nice overview. Herring: maybe you could cover some more
detailed underground distros, I'd be interested in reading about that. Just
for the record I mainly use Umbuntu because its so nice and plain simple.

~~~
Herring
That's the thing, specialized distros are hard to know about. I did a bit of
googling & came across this

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_LiveDistros>

I only know (& like) 4 from that list, plus Arch linux which is very good on
old computers.

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jacobscott
How much of ones time is it wise to spend on distro-specific stuff? Does the
knowledge port well? Are the skills easily applicable in other contexts? I
don't want positive features from my OS as much as a lack of negative
features.

~~~
pmjordan
The main differences are typically in the default paths, the package system,
(although they're all pretty similar fundamentally) default software and
whatever GUIs they put on top of all of that.

I don't think it's a waste of time to start with the GUIs. Sooner or later, if
you're doing anything interesting, you'll need to drop to the terminal and
config files. The config files might live somewhere slightly different, and
work slightly differently with respect to versioning/updates.

The implementation might vary, but what you gradually learn is primarily where
to start digging, and that's transferrable between distros.

------
ashleyw
Whats the best server distro?

~~~
orib
Doesn't matter. Any distro that's worth using is just fine as a server. Just
use whatever you use on a desktop to minimize niggly almost-the-same-but-not-
quite annoyances between them, and you'll be happy.

Personally, I like Debian Testing on my servers -- it's reasonably recent (as
opposed to Debian Stable, which gets hopelessly outdated quickly), has no
releases (instead it just stays up to date as you update stuff) and is rock
solid for me, but it's more a matter of taste than anything else.

Besides, I like Debian's attempts to mostly stick with Free software in their
base distro. While I'm not a fanatic, I like knowing that what I use is open
source, and that I can fix it and debug by hacking it up (and occasionally
have) if it breaks on me.

------
ezmobius
gentoo hands down.

------
newt0311
Gentoo -- "Control freaks only."

True and exactly why I use it.

