Choosing which way to walk with Linux

I use Linux in a variety of ways, business, home, hobby. Because of the ways I use Linux, I am glad there are choices in distros. A plethora of options to look through, see what works best for what situation.

I also work with a handful of others who are techs and admins and just helpful folks in general. We have found a somewhat common ground in which distros we use most often and in what environments.

Lately, we have taken to using the following distros for the different purposes in which we use Linux.

Commercial Business Desktop:

I have to say Suse/OpenSuse is the choice I have used and people I work with have chosen when looking for a commercially supported business use desktop. The implementations have altered between the Gnome and KDE usage but overall, Suse has a pretty solid presentation and choice of management tools and options to work with. Also, because it is a commercially based distro, the chances of it going away quickly are diminished. Support will be there should we opt to pay for it and with the release of 11, it has become a much more "usable" distro.


Commercial Home Distro:

It's almost a draw as to which commercially supported distro gets the most attention for the home user. We use for the most part, either Mandriva or Ubuntu. Both have support options and both have pretty active development teams. Mandriva has shown that even when things get tough, they make every effort to hang in there. Ubuntu is enjoying the benefits of having the "Media Darling" title and gets much attention. Although I have to admit, while these are probably our most used commercial distros for the home user, they are still not our top choice for home use recommendations, unless the user simply insists on commercial support. Then, it's one of these two.


Commercial Server Distro.

Hands down, for a commercial Linux server, it's RHEL. Again, we have to pause to say that is only if the user in question absolutely insists on going for commercially supported "Brand name" buying. Despite some security issues recently, RHEL shows quick responsiveness and attention to customer needs by not denying or hiding concerns, but instead by pointing out the issue, fixing it and alerting customers as to how to get things right. They have been probably one of the most consist, longest lived commercial distributions around and doesn't appear likely to disappear anytime soon.


Non-Commercial Business Desktop:

Many small businesses, new startups small businesses and "adventurous" business types want to use Linux but still don't want to pay or have the ability to pay for the "boxed" commercial distro. Because of this, I will have to say, for a business desktop, OpenSuse still fits the bill here. Now, once we have left the commercially supported realm of distros here, almost any distro can be modified to fit a businesses needs. Most distros are shipped for use as a home use distro with games and multi-media apps, fancy graphics and 3d enhancement which most businesses don't really need or care about, unless they are trying to display a certain image to their clientèle who may regularly see the laptop or desktop monitor due to the nature of the business. This applies to OpenSuse as well.

Non-Commercial Home Desktop:

There are two distros that share the most usage in this category. PCLinuxOS and Linux Mint. Both of these are very user friendly, and pretty much are usable "out of the box" so to speak. The install processs and setup have been made very user friendly, they both use the synaptic front end with apt package manger which makes for easy locating and installing of new software and both have hard-working communities of people updating and adding new pkgs and apps for a wide variety of interests and uses.

Mint is based on Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS is based on Mandriva, but each brings a unique and creative spin to their upstream bases by almost completely redesigning the presentation and selection of tools. Both have communities of helpful and dedicated people who enjoy using Linux and go to lengths to help others and share what they learn.


Non-Commercial Server:

Again, here there is a tie between CentOS and Debian. CentOS is essentially the same as RHEL, it uses the same source packages and strips away the name branding of RHEL, leaving a "free" version that is very stable and dependable. Debian, as always, is a cornerstone of the Linux community with a reputation for dependability and stability. Both have very active core groups of developers and community members who take Linux development very seriously. Both also have very serious communities who can provide a wealth of help and support and they maintain a bit more "straight to business" attitude in their forums. It is always good to do searches and a little homework before asking for assistance because the chances are that your issue has probably been asked and answered due to the large number of users who interact in those forums and the expectation of the community that it is incumbent on users to do as much as they can for themselves.


Hobbyist distros:

Hobbyist here is much the same as the notion of the "super-user" or people who are very familiar with computers, applications and operating systems and try to tweak as much performance as possible from their system. Often the hobbyist find entertainment in their pursuits of tweaking perfection as well.

Debian also fits in this category as well as Sidux, and Sabayon. Fedora is included here as well. These distros seem to appeal to the users who don't need to have a uniform desktop required by a workplace or school, etc and they prefer to include the latest and more exotic apps and pkgs that are often called "bleeding edge".

Another level to this category is the "Geeks Dream" distributions for the "ultra-hobbyists" who are often developers, technicians and involved in the computer industry/community on a regular basis. These are folks who make computers "macho". For them, it's a contest to who can script better blindfolded or compile a new app faster than the other person. Two of the most used of these distros we see are Gentoo and Arch.


In conclusion:

This is not a definitive list nor is it conclusive. This is just what I and others I work with have concluded are the most commonly used among our clients/customers/users and the main reasons why they are selected. There are several distributions in each of these categories that may provide a unique and appreciable experience to a user individually for artistic or particular needs reasons.