This question is asked by many of us too often, well it depends upon your needs, requirement and expertise. In this post I will try to compare 9 top of the line Linux distributions I have worked upon, and found them very rich in features, it might help you to decide about the distro you should choose.
The GNU provides free softwares to use, and these are also free to distribute under GNU licensee. Linux is a collection of Linux kernel and these GNU softwares. Due to free softwares used in Linux everyone can change, modify and even rewrite those softwares according to their needs and requirements. Therefore since 1993, different companies started distribution of Linux OS for people to install and use on their personal computers.
But one thing is common that all distributions use Linux kernel developed by Linus Torvald and may optimize kernel for performance. As each distribution is different it means you have more than hundred options to use Linux, but for production environment some popular distributions are Ubuntu, Fedora, Open SuSE, Debian, Slackware, Mandriva, Knoppix, Gentoo, Linux mint and Asianux.
Ubuntu
In 2004 this distribution became the most popular and famous amongst all the other distributions. Ubuntu is based on Debian and offers features such as fast release cycle, it has up to date packages, good package management tools, great documentation, download mirrors, and also free shipment of CDs. Its installer is text-based. This distribution has been used mosly by desktop users initially but with passage of time it became populr in hosting and dedicated servers. Ubuntu has been the most popular GNU/Linux distribution since its creation, and its every single release is better than its previous release.
For Details visit: http://www.ubuntu.com
Fedora
Redhat is well known Linux company in the world. In 2003, Redhat stopped releasing its Linux distribution for public and focused on Enterprise computing then Redhat sponsored Fedora to be released as public distribution.
Fedora distribution is a stable and secure distribution with frequent releases and up to date packages which is good for both server and desktop installations. Its package management is based on RPM, invented by Red Hat. Package management tool yum is similar to the Debian package management.
Official website: http://fedora.redhat.com
Open Suse
Suse has always been used for both desktop and server installations. Its powerful installer and configuration tool is YaST, its like Yum in Fedora. In 2003, Novell acquired the company and made ISOs of Suse releases freely available on the Internet. Novell also opened the development to public participation and released YaST under the General Public License. The distribution is completely free since the launch of OpenSuse.
For details visit http://www.novell.com/linux/
Debian
It is one of the oldest GNU/Linux distribution, Debian project is non-commercial and having thousands of developers throughout the world. Due to strong adherence to the UNIX, Debian is known as a stable distribution. For Details www.debian.org/
Debian’s software package management is very powerful and was followed by many other distributions. Although it is meant to be used as a general-purpose distribution, but its quality has made it a choice for servers also.
Slackware
Slackware is one of the oldest surviving GNU/Linux distributions. It is secure, stable and always recommended for server installations. The package management is minimal and doesn’t deal with dependencies, the installer and configuration tools are text-based and almost everything is done through configuration files.
Slackware doesn’t offer graphical frontends nor eye-candy configuration tools. System administrators usually say that Slackware is a bug free distribution, and seems as a Unix-Like distribution, and not recommended for novice users.
Slackware administrators say that Slackware is a real Linux because user has to modify settings in configuration files, and so it is necessary to learn about Linux internals, which are common to all distributions. For these reasons Slackware distribution is usually preferred by most of the system administrators.
Official website: http://www.slackware.com
Mandriva
Originally called Mandrake and based on Red Hat, it is a RPM-based distribution. It has default Gnome desktop environment used in Red Hat. Mandriva is highly up-to-date and even though some of its releases are buggy, it remains the good distribution for the people new to Linux.
Official website: http://www.mandriva.com
Knoppix
Knoppix is a live-CD distribution, user can run it directly from the CD and it does not required to be installed on the hard drive. Knoppix provides great automatic hardware detection, which is far better than those of other distributions. Some Linux administrators use Knoppix CD as a recovery, administration tool, a hardware test tool. It can also be installed on the hard drive once booted from the CD.
Official website: http://www.knoppix.com
Gentoo
Gentoo comes from the idea of FreeBSD “ports” feature into GNU/Linux. Gentoo is a source-distribution like FreeBSD. Each package is meant to be compiled on the user’s computer in order to get the best performance and speed out of the resulting compiled binary software. User gets new software releases as soon as they come out. It is highly up-to-date, very fast and has a good documentation.
Official website: http://www.gentoo.org
Linux Mint
It was launched originally as a variant of Ubuntu with integrated media codec. It is community driven distributions and you can post an idea in the forums today and see its implementation the week after in the “current” release. There is a strong focus on making things work out of the box, like it has good support for WiFi cards drivers with its file system, it has very good multimedia support etc.
Official site: http://www.linuxmint.com
Which Linux distribution is suitable for me?
Here in this post, I have mentioned only 9 of the major distributions, don’t forget that there are hundreds of other distributions available out there, one of them also might suits to your needs. But we recommend you to use these top Linux distros to deploy the servers in your production environment. Ubuntu, Fedora and Open Suse are top of the line distributions offering many advanced features suitable for your needs. You should explore these major distributions first, as these are very stable distributions and offer very rich features with them.