Best Linux Distro

[g0t r00t]

Ok so I'm not a complete newbie to linux. I've used Red Hat and currently use Mandrake 8.2. I was wondering what you all are using and what you would recommend for someone who is a little more advance than a regular newbie. Thanks in advance for all those who answer this post.(Even the flamers )

[Mucolaca]

ummm well either red hat or slackware...but then again it just depends on what u want to learn.

[ac1dsp3ctrum]

RedHat 7.3 in console mode

[g0t r00t]

Mucolaca

Do you use slackware? If so what is it that stands out as being some of it's better features compared to other distros?

[cwk9]

In my opinion Mandrake is one of the best desktop distros. If you want to know what the best server Linux is I have no clue.

[JRoc]

Either Mandrake or Solaris.... I'll always love RedHat though.

[Mucolaca]

I have not personly used slackware but I have heard good things about it...but differnet distro's have there + and -. It just depends one what you are wanting to learn or do.

ps..I use mandrake...but of my understanding red hat and slackware is more "advanced" dunno if that is true or not becouse I have only used Mandrake..well beside my shell.

[smirc]

I was wondering what you all are using and what you would recommend for someone who is a little more advance than a regular newbie.

Redhat is good for beginners as well as Linux gurus. It's pretty versatile and has good support. Slackware is known for being very Unix-like so it's not as easy to configure (no flashy GUI's and stuff) but some people who are really into Unix prefer it. Mandrake is good for people starting out but it's really very similar to Redhat (it's actually based on Redhat). Debian is popular with intermediate to advanced Linux users. It has a really good package management system but it's a little less user friendly than Redhat. SuSe is also another quite popular distro that you might want to check out.

It's really a case of trying them all and seeing which one works best for you. That's what I did. The main ones to consider are Redhat, Mandrake, Debian, Suse, Slackware and Caldera. There are others but they're the most popular ones. Hope this helps .

Either Mandrake or Solaris.... I'll always love RedHat though.

Ummm, Solaris isn't a Linux distro. It's a completely different OS.

[draziw]

Mandrake rocks as a good "n00b" or "painless" Linux (as far as Linux goes). Redhat is probably the second-least painful, though some of the apparent disconnects are still just attrocious (like shipping a shadowed password system with applications/packages that still are shadow-ignorant). If you want something "more challenging" in the Linux-distro world, I think Slackware/SLS are kind of in the same general region (though it's been a long while since I've touched those, personally).

If you're "in" to Linux and want something a bit better, personally I'd recommend OpenBSD (for those true security nuts). If you're not ready for the "out of the box remotely secure" thing, FreeBSD has always been a wonderful system (and tends to have about the best driver support for odd configurations). Honestly I think Linux is still pretty young and, frankly, I'm always slightly worried about its kernel (no offense to Mr. Torvalds at all -- he's a really nice guy in-person and wonderfully knowledgeable). As a packet capturing/filtering system, however, Linux completely sucks and probably will for quite a while to come - and, frankly looking at some of the bugs still coming out, it's downright frightening (though many of those, I must admit, are finally starting to get out of the kernel and in to the applications).

For those that are ready to venture out of the "free" world of Intel-UN*Xs, I'd recommend BSDi -- it's a pretty awesome system (or used to be in the 2.x - 4.x days (when I was using it)). Solaris x86 is definitely second-best (or worse) as far as "commercially priced" Intel-UNIXes go, though, I think (it's spelled S-O-L-A-R-I-S but pronounced Slow-Air-Us).

[lucktsm]

Hmm,

Guys, I hate to sound like a complete bonehead here.. I have been using nix's for 15 years. I started out on Xenix =) I even have redhat. However, I have never heard of slackware? What is it?? PS.. I am downloading freeBSD as I type.

Thanks,

Luck