What is the best Linux Distribution?

Part 2

We tried Debian and we liked it very much.  It was probably as easy as RedHat, but Debian seems less common (hence, being newbie's, we picked up Mandrake or RedHat).  The great benefit of Debian is that it is 100% non-commercial (put together by volunteer hackers, the true Linux way) and it probably most strictly adheres to Linux standards (it probably sets the standards too).

Another great benefit is that Debian crams on their numerous distribution CDs thousands of tools and applications--easily much more than any other distribution. All these tools/apps are nicely "packaged" (for ease of installation) and tested for compatibility.  This makes Debian distro look monumental, safe, conservative, and always somewhat outdated. So yes, we would not have a problem recommending Debian as a great general-purpose Linux distribution.  Debian calls itself "The Universal Operating System" for a good reason.  At any time, Debian carries 3 versions.

(1) The "stable" version (sometimes called "potato"), and we would not recommend it, unless you are really paranoid on stability and don't mind quite outdated packages.

(2) The Debian "testing" version (sometimes called "woody") is probably as stable as the latest RedHat, and more stable than your current Mandrake. It is much more up do date than Debian "stable".  Debian Woody is the version we like. 

(3) If you don't mind occasional trouble, you can also the the third branch called "unstable", which is likely quite up-to-date.

S.u.S.E Linux distribution ( http://www.suse.com ) is very popular in Europe . It surely looks German--a solid, general-purpose distro with an easy setup and an excellent reputation. Many users swear by SuSe. We couldn't find cheap Suse CDs though but it appears you can download it (I cannot find a link).  Their product includes propriatory additions that will satisfy enterprise-level need to interface some popular propriatory applications (MS Exchange,  Cross-over office, etc).

Slackware seems to be favorite among "hard-core hackers" who like customizing scripts.  We would have trouble recommending Slackware for Linux newbies unless the newbie likes to feel cool.  Our reviewer Bill Staehle says: "The real 'reason' for a newbie to avoid Slackware is that it is much more command line oriented, and lacks some of the 'cutsie slick and drool' tools that the other distributions have."  We received feedback from Linux newbies who use Slackware and it works very well for them. It seems that Slackware is relatively simple and cool because of the lack of automation. Therefore, with a bit of effort, a computer-literate administrator can actually understand what is going in her operating system (this is not something I can always say about Mandrake or MS Windows for that matter).

Knoppix Linux (http://www.knoppix.net/) is another distribution worth consideration.  The main point of Knoppix is that it is a "live distro", i.e., it can be booted from a CD, without installation.  This is excellent for trying Linux (if you like it, you can also install Knoppix on the hard drive).  It is also makes a perfect disaster-recovery tool (distro on a CD is also safe because no malicious program can do anything to your executables, and non-invasive for the local storage as required for post-mortem analyses). Knoppix is also useful if you have to work under Linux on sombody elses computer:  you insert Knoppix CD into the CDdrive, and perhaps exteral storage on the usb port (for personal storage), and you are all set to work in your own environment.  When done, you take your chips home.  You can mount the local computer resources if you have to.