the maldivian linux blog

With the small but increasing awareness and interest on Linux, the question of distributions keep coming up (example this post on Typos). The question should be "Which Linux is best for me?", and other questions like "Will the distribution work with my hardware?". The good news is, the times has changed. Mostly all standard distributions has good compatibility with most hardware (if not all common desktop hardware). I guess when it comes to selecting a distro , it should be based on the application and task that you need to complete. It does not matter which distribution you install, as long as your requirements are met. Basically this can be divided into two major categories, servers and desktops. Again further you can sub categories them based on your requirements.

When it comes to Servers, you have many applications too, same goes for desktops. Choosing a server distribution is mostly easy, since it will be limited number of tasks that you would mostly want to archive. Example intranet server, file server, mail server, db servers, web server, etc. Mostly resources management should be given the first priority and hardware compatibility. Next you decide if the selected distribution has good support for the application that you wish to use the server for. Example Oracle, RH and Suse has good good support for Oracle, but if you just wish to run Postgres you might decide to go with Debian. If your boss thinks you need support for all Server OS's again RH and Suse might be the best choice. Other factors like the hardware compatibilities are important issues, example if you want to have automated backups using external backup systems or using storage arrays you need to ensure that the hardware vendor has support for the selected distribution or if the distribution can support them. From my personal experience mostly RH/Fedora, Suse and Debian are the best choices for Linux based servers. I can't comment on Slackware since its been almost 10 years since I ever used it. But I know a few people who think Slackware is one of the best choices too, so the choices differ. Based on different factors, like how comfortable and confident you are with the distribution. Gentoo is also getting famous and very much recommended, but personally I do not have any experience with it.

As for Desktop OS 3 major distributions are dominating these days. Fedora, OpenSuse and Ubuntu. Fedora is RH based, OpenSuse is Suse based and Ubuntu is Debian. 3 are good choices and it differs on which you are most comfortable with. I've been too used to RH for the past 10 years and I go with Fedora others choose Ubuntu since its very flexible and stable like Debian. The Ubuntu community has also targeted the distribution for newbies, making it easy to install and use. Very much the same concepts are used for Fedora and OpenSuse. I guess here the presentation and choice of application are the key factors. Ubuntu and Fedora use Gnome as the default window manager where else OpenSuse used KDE. Other factors like how easy it is to install and update packages matter. I guess Ubuntu is best when it comes to this last factor, followed by Fedora. Choosing which one you prefer and like the most, is totally a personal choice. Best method will be to experiment around and then choose.