Best linux distro?

Please, don't start another flame war!

Debian for me.

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My favorite distribution depends upon its use.

My brother is computer illeterate. I put PCLinuxOS on his computer due to the computers age and the systems ease of use.

For servers I prefer CentOS due to its stability and high level of security.

I use Debian on my personal computers.

YMMV

Jeff

Arch all the way…

Arch. Then Slack. Or swap the order around if you like.

If you really must know, my favorite is LFS. Though, I've found LFS might not be the best choice in all situations. Running Debian on my Linode.

It really comes down to the role that it's going to play. For my Linode I use Gentoo, love being able to create an environment specific to it's function. Nothing is running on my Linode that is not needed, so performance and security I'm very happy with. Then of course there's portage, it's one of the best package managers I've ever run.

For Desktop and Laptop I'm running Linux Mint, very sweet distro. It seriously makes Linux on the desktop an excellent experience.

I've found this combination to be the best and I'm very happy with it.

Cheers

PcLinuxOS

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Ubuntu's the best server distro in my opinion. Never really tried any Desktop Linux, yet.

For my personal notebook, I run Ubuntu because "it just works" with everything. Though, sometimes Fedora gets installed because deep in my heart, I'm a Red Hat guy – grew up using RHL, so I am more comfy with Red Hat stuff.

For servers, I always use CentOS for stability and security and also because, again, I'm comfy in a Red Hat environment.

I prefer Debian on servers and Ubuntu on workstations.

@ClassHelper:

I prefer Debian on servers and Ubuntu on workstations.
ditto to that

IMHO, there is no such thing as "best distro"

I am using currently CentOS, used to be WhiteBox.

I supposed to laptops the best disto is Ubuntu bacause it just works!

For servers I prefer CentOS.

Generally speaking, I prefer to stick to either RHL based (Fedora, CentOS) or Debian based (Debian, Ubuntu). I used to have different distros on different PCs and when you need quickly to do something you discover that it is done in a slightly different manner than on the other distro.

Whatever distro I'm running at the moment is, naturally, the best.

Start taking notes, guys. :lol:

being a fedora user, which distro would you recommend for putting on my linode? plan is setting up a regular LAMP + mail setup.

strictly talking about performance/security, is fedora good for that kind of environment or should i better go CentOS? or debian? or arch?

thanks,

@contraculto:

being a fedora user, which distro would you recommend for putting on my linode? plan is setting up a regular LAMP + mail setup.

strictly talking about performance/security, is fedora good for that kind of environment or should i better go CentOS? or debian? or arch?

thanks,

i wouldn't use fedora for any server you wish to have running for an extended amount of time. i love fedora too, but i only use it for test servers or on my notebook.

they update too quick and stop support (ie. security patches) too quick. so, unless you like to be fighting with yum trying to update your vps every year, i'd go for something like centos.

i only recommend centos because if you're comfy in fedora, you'll feel right at home with centos (since it is, in all essence, rhel). there's long term support for each version of centos (following rhel's long term support), so you really don't have to worry about support running out.

Personally I recommend Debian for pretty much any purpose, especially the kind of server you're looking at configuring, contraculto. So if you feel like making this a learning experience, I'd recommend that.

But if you just want your server to work, then you're looking to stick with something you know, in which case ultramookie's recommendation against Fedora and for CentOS is right on.

I'm a big fan of Ubuntu LTS for servers.

With Distros, its all personal choice. In general, you want something with long term support, which is why Debian, CentOS, Ubuntu LTS, etc, are all good ideas, and why Fedora and non-LTS Ubuntu might not be good ideas.

Debian for nine years now, plus playing around with others out of curiosity.

Nice and simple to pull down the source of a package, change any annoying bits and recompile:

apt-get source <package>apt-get build-dep <package>~ edit sources 'til broken ~

dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -uc -b</package></package> 

Et voila, new .deb package.