Re: How to pick a distro?

Ray Olszewski
2005-04-06T20:44:44Z

At 01:34 AM 4/7/2005 +0530, NNK wrote:
>I was wondering what I should be looking at in the different distros
>before picking one to use.
>
>Being a total novice, I don't have much experience on Linux, so I'm
>wondering what I should be asking.
>
>Any advice?

This is a difficult question to answer with anything other than personal
prejudice. I will give it a try, though.

1. As a beginner, you want to use a full-strength distribution, one that is
likely to support the full range of activities you might want to use Linux
for. Experienced users often can benefit from using more specialized,
semi-embedded distros that are geared to particular tasks ... e.g., distros
designed to work as routers or as dedicated vidcap hosts ... but you're
better off waiting until you know more before you go that route. Same goes
for source-based distros ... not the best place for a novice to start.

2. You want a distro that has a good packaging system and good support for
security and other updates. Examples that meet this are Debian (the distro
I use) and most of the big RPM-based distros. The best-known distro that
does NOT meet this standard (or at least I believe it does not) is
Slackware ... though if I'm wrong, I'd welcome correction from a Slackware
user.

3. You want someplace you can ask questions with the hope that you will get
prompt and accurate answers. Many distros have their own help lists, and if
you are considering one, you might look at the archives of its support list
to see if it meets this standard. Or, for distro-agnostic lists like this
one, notice what distros are discussed the most ... that is, notice what
the people who *answer* questions know the answers *to*. If you have a
friend who will be helping you, use what he or she uses ... that's way more
important than a quest for the elusive "best" distro.

4. This all assumes you are planning to use reasonablty modern desktop
equipment. Really old equipment ... 486- and even 386-based systems, and
other oddball hardware ... and laptops present specialized problems that
might dictate selection of a particular distro that handles that equipment
well. Most of the RPM-based distros are better at hardware detection than
Debian is, so you might think about how much that matters to your install too.

5. Finally, think about the range of applications you want to run.
Especially GUI-based ones. Different distros come out in different places
in the GUI wars (between KDE and Gnome, mainly, though there is more) and
your life will be easier if you pick a distro that fits what you want or
need in that regard.