Which linux is best? and why?

[MaxSmith90]

i am getting an alien ware laptop and i am going to dual boot one type of Linux with the operating system it gives me or i am gonna wipe it and put some type of Linux on it. The problem is there are so many types of Linux and i want to know which one the public thinks is best and why. I am letting you guys decide what my next operating system will be so give your honest opinion.

[Elligari]

RedHat Enterprise Linux.
Fedora Core.
Debian Linux.

If you want user friendlier:
Ubuntu.
Kubuntu.
Linux Mint.
Knoppix.

[Dr_Phil]

Gentoo!
Linux From Scratch

Maybe not the easiest to start with, but it will gice you hell of control.
Why you should use this?
Cause this is Linux, real Linux.

[SunSpyda]

Arch Linux 2008 Overlord 64bit - The most 'real' Linux you will see because all it comes with is the 2.6 kernel & bash. Only add the software & XWMs you will actually use. Very fast.

SUSE 64bit Server - Because it comes with all the tools & security needed to make a good router/server. I still can't decide if this is better than Red Hat Server or not.

Backtrack 3 - Because it comes with excellent security tools & a clean KDE UI. Also works great as a HDD installation.

They are the Unix OSs I use....

[The Lieutenant]

Debian, Slackware, and Fedora for me

[syncmaster1990]

BackTrack 3 Finall or/and Ubuntu 8.04 (more stable then 8.10)

[mischief]

ahem.
debian ftw, screw you all.

oh, and maybe OpenBSD/OpenSolaris. :>

[neocontra]

mischief, stfu. lol j/k

Just find a flavor you like. Ubuntu/Debian is good for starters....BSD is a little more advanced. It all depends on what you want out of your OS. Ubuntu is good for basic usage, Fedora is more basic than that, and BSD (though not linux) is more advanced.

There's a wiki on linux about this...if someone has a link, post it here, cause I think that'll end the questions.

[edit] btw, check hardware compatibility issues first. Some linux distros may not come with all the drivers you need.

[drstargazer]

I use openSuSE. That's mainly because I been using SuSE since I first started using linux.

[insomaniacal]

If you've never used Linux before, and just want to get something up and running, then Linux Mint is for you.

However, "learning the ropes" wouldn't hurt either, so you might want to go with something like Ubuntu or Debian. I definetly don't recommend Arch for a first time user though.