This is from several slashdot.org and other linux/unix sites:
Easiest to setup: RedHat
Going for most commercial market: Caldera
Developers pefrence: Debian
Most used in webserver: Debian/Redhat
Most "secure": Debian
Most "Windows Like" config: RedHat
Hardest first setup: Debian
Most used in workgroups: Caldera
Should give you a general idea of who uses what. For beginners though,
RedHat is the easiest.
----------
God, Root, what is difference?
-- Pitr, UserFriendly
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael A. Stone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sunday, November 15, 1998 4:14 PM
Subject: Re: WC:>: Linux recommendations?
>>The time has come, the walrus said, to speak of... Linux.
>>
>>Am seeking recommendations for the "best" Linux distribution to
>>buy/download, from the perspective of an end user like myself, who will
>>not be running a server with it: basically, I want to set up a partition,
>>install some version of Linux, and start using it (as painlessly as
possible)
>>as an alternative GUI operating system.
>>
>>My head's starting to spin as I wade into all the intricacies of the
>>different
>>releases, and try to sort out the bickering amongst advocates of the
>>various Linux flavours... it's a jungle out there :)
>>
>>Advice?
>
>
>yee-ha!.. peer pressure strikes again! ;-)
>
>
>as a strictly personal opinion, RedHat is a good place to start if you want
>to get familiar with "this whole unix thing". the installers are
>friendly, the documentation is pretty good overall, and there's a fairly
>gentle but nonintrusive set of safety rails throughout the system.
>
>that last comment may seem a bit over the top, considering that you can
>still do a perfectly good "rm -rf /". it's a bit like the difference
>between an AOL account and straight dialup, though.. the default version of
>RedHat (and Linux in general) closes off a few of the highly geekish
>options which are available in more industrial versions of unix, like the
>BSD variants.
>
>while you're getting your feet under yourself, that's a good thing. the
>additional complexity just makes it harder to figure out what's going on.
>if/when you graduate to the level of wanting specific power features, you
>can either rebuild your Linux installation to your taste, or move over to a
>flavor which requires more configuration from the ground up.
>
>
>in general, though, the winning pattern is to pick a version that appeals
>to you at first glance, then get familiar with the environment and the
>standard tools (become either a vi-weenie or an emacs-bigot, a pine-ophile
>or an emacs-bigot, a tin-user or an emacs-bigot.. etc. ;-). once you
>think you're fairly comfortable with that flavor, start sampling all the
>others you can find (go to http://www.cheapbytes.com/ for low-cost CDs of
>all the major variants.. open source, she's a wonderful thing), for the
>sake of comparison & contrast.
>
>it's also a good idea to have a very simple, even minimal, box which you
>can use as a scratch platform for testing purposes. it's not a place for
>you to do mission-critical work, it's something you can break, scrap, and
>rebuild without losing anything you care about.
>
>you're not even faking it well as a Linux geek until you've rebuilt the
>kernel a couple dozen times, but the odds of doing it perfectly on the
>first try are fairly low. it's not horribly difficult, but there's a
>certain amount of "what happens when i push *this* button?" to it. the
>virtual equivalent of missing eyebrows and a faint smell of charcoal are
>badges of honor in the unix world, and you actually get extra points for
>being smart enough to blow away a toy box, rather than letting the magic
>smoke out of a system that's important.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>mike stone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 'net geek..
>been there, done that, have network, will travel.
>
>
>
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