Central Iowa Linux User's Group

This is not a religious war topic. This is intended to list Linux (Pronounced: 'LIN-ucks') distributions by ease of use by different user levels. It will help us select reasonable distributions for Install Fests. While I am sure than an initial bias will show, feel free to adjust as needed.

• Novell Linux Desktop http://www.novell.com
  • Pros: Very easy to use, works very well
  • Cons: Updates past the intro period cost money
  • Level: Beginner
  • Target: Workstation
  • Last version: 9
• Fedora http://www.fedora.redhat.com
  • Pros: Active support community
  • Cons: Poor multimedia support
  • Level: Beginner - Intermediate
  • Target: Workstation / Test Server
  • Last version: 4
• Ubuntu http://www.ubuntulinux.org/ (Pronounced: 'oo-BOON-too')
  • Pros: 6-month new release cycle; targetted at desktop users; Live CD option.
  • Cons: Some dependency issues, so better off using Ubuntu specific packages.
  • Level: Beginner - Intermediate.
  • Target: Workstation
  • Last version: 5.10
• Mandriva http://www.mandrivalinux.com (Pronounced: 'man-DREE-vah')
  • Pros: Easy to install and use and rich feature set.
  • Cons: RPM based, "upgrade treadmill"
  • (what packages aren't available???)
  • Level: Beginner
  • (... to expert)
  • Target: Workstation and Server
  • (many advanced server apps, Apache ADVX)
  • Last version: Mandriva 2005 LE (aka 10.2)
• Knoppix Live CD
  • Pros: Non-committal live CD with option to install to HD.
  • Cons: All-or nothing installer. Requires some tweaking to install correctly.
  • Level: Beginner (live cd tryout) - Advanced (hd installed).
  • Target: Workstation (Live CD)
• Debian http://www.debian.org (Pronounced: 'DEB-ee-un')
  • Pros: More packages than any other distribution, active support community
  • Cons: Highly opionated user community can be scary to newcomers
  • Level: Intermediate - Advanced
  • Target: Workstation / Server (See Knoppix for Live CD version)
• SUSE http://www.novell.com (Pronounced: 'SOO-suh')
  • Pros: Excellent hardware support
  • Cons: Not a very large support community
  • Level: Intermediate - Advanced
  • Target: Workstation / Server (Live DVD available for some versions)
  • Last version: 9.3
• Slackware http://www.slackware.org
  • Pros: Geek points, one of the oldest distros.
  • Cons: Not very user friendly. Not as mature for its age as some of the others.
  • Level: Advanced
  • Target: Server
• Gentoo http://www.gentoo.org
  • Pros: You can get an extra 2% of speed out of your system. Great for high-performance tuning nuts.
  • Cons: Dude, it's really hard to set up.
  • Level: You've got to be kidding. Advanced - Beyond Guru
  • Target: Server
• Archlinux
  • Pros: Excellent Package management; off by default policy.
  • Cons: Constantly repairing software settings, too bleeding edge.
  • Level: Advanced
  • Target: Server
• Linspire http://www.linspire.com
  • Pros: Practically brainless to install, analogous to Windows XP, it just works.
  • Cons: Very commercial linux
  • Target: Desktop - somebody who knows what a computer looks likce but couldn't tell the difference between AOL and Windows.

Server Distributions

• Red Hat Enterprise http://www.redhat.com
  • Solid company behind distribution
  • Last version: 4
• SUSE Linux Enterprise
  • Last version: 9
• Mandrake Enterprise (Mandriva Enterprise?)
• CentOS http://www.centos.org/
  • Based on Redhat Enterprise Sources
• TAO Linux http://taolinux.org/
• Whitebox Linux http://www.whiteboxlinux.org
  • RedHat+ Enterprise-based
  • Cons: Supported by a single person
• SME Linux http://contribs.org/modules/news/
  • All-in-one small business server
  • Pros: Toaster-like system for many common services
• User Linux
• cAos Linux http://www.caosity.org/

Specialized Distributions

• Scientific Linux http://www.scientificlinux.org
  • Redhat enterprise-based distribution
  • Developed by Fermi Labs.
  • No atom-smasher required
• Asterisk@home http://www.asteriskathome.org
  • CD Installs Asterisk and management tools
  • PBX in a can
  • Possible con: installs without warning on hard drive
• Monowall http://www.m0n0.ch
  • Firewall distribution, very complete, better than some commercial offerings.

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