favorite *nix distro

Whats are your faviorite nix distros?

For the desktop I prefer either Ubuntu or Mandriva.

For a server I prefer either pure Debian or Fedora.

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JavonR

Desktop: Fedora or Debian

Server: CentOS

shednik

Desktop: Ubuntu or LinuxMint(currently trying out)

Server: CentOS

Silentsoul

In the last month I have ran everything from Mandriva, Cent0s 5.2(server) Ubuntu, backtrack, FC, Opensuse, PclinuxoS(which would not run) Slack and BSD.

It came down to one thing for me, CentOS cannot be beat for your server needs, it's free red hat.

For a desktop, i ended up back at ubuntu, It is hard to find a distro that takes care of everything as well as one based off Debian. Apt is where it's at. Yast is OK until it fouls up. I want refuse to have to sit and work through dependencies all day, there is no need for that. If Slack ever gets it's stuff together in that aspect i will switch.

I really wanted to run Sabayon, but it uses the same crappy gui installer that Gentoo has and I could not get it to install on 3 different machines.

More than you wanted probably.

Lantzvillian

For desktop Fedora. I have ran SuSE and personally I find it plainly rough. When most of the OS's put there confs in one place or nearly the same place and SuSE puts theres in some other random location.. you get the picture...

For server, CentOS. Stable as heck, but too bad alot of the newer projects don't have documentation for Cent.. or are a pain due to dependancies.

Slowhand

I broke my teeth on Red Hat, working primarily with Red Hat Linux Enterprise Server 4 and 5 a few years ago, so I'd have to say that my favorite Linux distro is Red Hat, and its derivatives, (Fedora and CentOS). However, I've also used FreeBSD 6.1 and 7 pretty extensively, and I'd have to say that FreeBSD falls under my category of absolute favorite *NIX distro altogether. I'm also a fan of Solaris, but thanks to running specs that rival (and sometimes surpass) even Microsoft Windows Server and XP/Vista, it's hard to really get any work done with Solaris outside of an enterprise environment.

I have nothing against other distros, like Debian, Slackware, Mandriva, and the like, but I just haven't used them as extensively as Red Hat Linux and FreeBSD Unix.

Talic

I say my favorite desktop has to be Ubuntu. People will always say Ubuntu is for noobs or its just a introductory distro but I always go back after trying other distros. And when I say after trying other distros I mean it, I've went through every major distro out there.

Some Linux people say they move over to Slackware or Gentoo but I found it a major annoyance to compile everything from scratch every time I wanted to install something.

As for servers, I don't manage any servers right now but I would guess either CentOS or Debian since they are distros that are built from the ground up for that kind of stuff.

Silentsoul

Not to thread jack, but I am getting ready to move from a windows based web server to a *nix distro of some kind. I am thinking about going Cent since i already have it installed.

What about BSD? I played with it before and didn't care for it to much on a desktop, but I hear for servers it's where its at.

What do you guys think?

jmanrta

Silentsoul wrote:

Not to thread jack, but I am getting ready to move from a windows based web server to a *nix distro of some kind. I am thinking about going Cent since i already have it installed.

What about BSD? I played with it before and didn't care for it to much on a desktop, but I hear for servers it's where its at.

What do you guys think?

If you're looking for a LAMP implementation I'd go with ubuntu server since that has an option on the CD for LAMP installation, that way LAMP is running right out of the box.

NullCode

Backtrack & Ubuntu(really nice and simple).

Backtrack is for testing/learning only .

shednik

jmanrta wrote:

Silentsoul wrote:

Not to thread jack, but I am getting ready to move from a windows based web server to a *nix distro of some kind. I am thinking about going Cent since i already have it installed.

What about BSD? I played with it before and didn't care for it to much on a desktop, but I hear for servers it's where its at.

What do you guys think?

If you're looking for a LAMP implementation I'd go with ubuntu server since that has an option on the CD for LAMP installation, that way LAMP is running right out of the box.

I would never go by just ease of use to decide whether or not I would use something...there's alot more to consider when migrating a production web server then ease of configuration IMO...ie security, reliability, feature set, and support/updates. Ubuntu wouldn't be a bad choice but i always think its better to have a clean and light install so then you can add things as needed and not have things necessary for the server's function.

Plazma

Server: Solaris, AIX, Free/OpenBSD

Desktop/Workstation - OS X, FreeBSD, Arch Linux

Development box/Hack box - Arch linux, FreeBSD, OpenSolaris

rfult001

Glad to see I am not the only person who likes AIX here.

But for pure cost efficiency: CentOS

OpenSUSE 11 is impressive for desktops, never loved Ubuntu but I still use it.

FreeBSD is great for making Olives. Knoppix is great as a live disc and even better when modified to use as a router (Quagga).

Everything has its strengths and weaknesses, and I have so many options!

Silentsoul

I would never go by just ease of use to decide whether or not I would use something...there's alot more to consider when migrating a production web server then ease of configuration IMO...ie security, reliability, feature set, and support/updates. Ubuntu wouldn't be a bad choice but i always think its better to have a clean and light install so then you can add things as needed and not have things necessary for the server's function.

I agree completely but then again I don't want something that is such a pain in the ass to use that it becomes a chore to do anything.