suraj kumar proclaimed:
> I want to know that which is the best distribution of
> linux for a casual or moderate user of Linux like me.
In addition to the other comments that you have seen in this thread so far:
The answer is not simple. It all depends on what you mean by "casual or
moderate user". The best thing to do is to install each major [1]
distribution that you can lay your hands on on a test computer or a sperate
partition. Ultimately, the distribution that provides the functionality
that you are looking for is the best distribution for you.
I don't think there is too much of a performance difference between the
distributions (assuming they all have same versions of kernel etc.). The
chief difference between distributions is in installation and maintenance.
Installation:
Some installations are easier than others. RH, for example, does a whole
bunch of hardware probing. Debian's installation needs a bit of getting
used to. Caldera's installation supposedly asks you only few questions and
lets you play tetris while the installation happens.
Since in most cases installation is a one time thing, I would not worry too
much about it. It does not matter if the installation takes 1 hour or 3
hours.
Maintenance:
This is the key. The distribution's package management tool (something
like rpm, GnoRPM, dselect, apt-get etc.) should make it easy for you to
keep your system up to date. GnoRPM is easy to use. dselect (Debian)
needs a bit of getting used to. apt-get (Debian) makes upgrading your
entire system a breeze.
Since the most you'd see of the distribution is through the maintenance
interface, I'd say look carefully into what maintenance options each
distribution offers you.
Thaths
Footnote:
[1] Caldera, Debian, RedHat, Slackware and SuSE (in alphabetical order ;-)
are the major distributions. There are umpteen minor distributions like
Mandrake (RH compiled with Pentium optimizations) which are not worth the
effort, IMO.
--
Lisa: "Dad. You killed the zombie Flanders."
Homer: "He was a Zombie?"
Sudhakar C13n http://people.netscape.com/thaths/ Lead Indentured Slave
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