This question gets asked regularly enough that I think we're all too bored
with it to start a "firestorm of debate". Generally, you'll do okay with any
well-known brand of full-size Linux.
When distribution-specific questions come up, the regulars on this list seem
to be, as a group, most familiar with Red Hat, Slackware, and Debian. My
best guess is that those three, plus SuSE and Mandrake, are the ones with
the largest installed bases overall.
As a group, we seem to know less of the specifics of the more commercial
distributions, like Caldera and Corel, and the obscure ones, like Stampede.
For some situations, one of the various "small linux" variants (ranging from
1-floppy ones like Linux Router Project up to Zipslack, a 100 mB file) have
advantages. But here you need to know more of what you're doing and have a
specific purpose in mind.
Personally, I use and like Debian. I've used Slackware in the past and found
it okay. I've used and disliked Red Hat, which I find hard to customize and
(for the free version) too much work to keep updated with the security
patches. But thses aren't strong opinions, just what I actually do.
Were I trying to evaluate the relative merits rigorously, I'd probably try
first to assess the timeliness of the security updates for the various
discributions. But I haven't tried to do this ... but at least it would
quickly clear the field of some old distributions that are still around but
essentially abandoned.
At 08:29 AM 8/5/00 +0300, Artie Ball wrote:
>Hi all..
>
> At the risk of starting a firestorm of debate......
>
> I am still rather new to Linux, and over the past couple of
>months I have begun to wonder..... which is the best distribution of
>Linux....... which one should I concentrate on???? Which is the most
>used...... the best supported ..... the most robust????? Is this just a
>matter of personal taste, or is it something that can be quantified??
>Your thoughts please.
--
------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"---
Ray Olszewski -- Han Solo
Palo Alto, CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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