Which Linux distro is right for you?

In our earlier article – the Art of Linux – we saw some prominent features of the *NIX based operating system - Linux. The actual power of Linux can only be unleashed once we have an installation at our disposal. So before we move ahead in our quest of mastering Linux, we shall have to to make sure that each one of us have at least a copy of Linux installed on their machines. This shall allow you to have a hands-on experience with stuffs we discuss over here. I am sure most of you would already be having a Linux distro on their desktops/notebooks, but we shall not lose out on the newbies too!

Today, most of the students and would-be-geeks crave for a Linux distro (or may be, more of them). With the development of rich GUI enabled installation procedures and the introduction of live-CDs, installing a popular Linux distro is a matter of minutes. Gone are those days when you needed to compile the kernel from the source for days or months and then debug it, repeatedly!

Linux is available in various flavors depending upon one’s needs and desires. Primarily, a Linux distribution is categorized as - rpm based or deb based. This classification is based on the kind of package manager the distro has. Each distro has a Linux kernel coupled with an intuitive GUI and a host of software’s or packages depending upon the genre of the distro - who are the targeted users?

To know the details of various Linux distributions, I would recommend a website: Distrowatch. This is a perfect platform to learn about various distros - what do they offer, whom are they intended for and how good are they.

Still confused?

Try out this Linux Quiz by polishlinux to help you know which distro fits you.

My personal recommendation for a newbie is Ubuntu - a popular Linux distro. It is getting popular day by day due to the kind of community based support it has. It is also has a great, out-of-the box Wi-Fi support. Moreover, its has a rich repository of software.

If you’ve been using a Windows or a Mac for several years, you would take some time to adjust to the new interface and a completely different file organization schema which a *NIX based system has had over the past 35 years. But once you get accustomed to this operating system and its Command Line Interface (CLI), administering Linux would be a cake walk. You might just not feel like bothering your boot menu to switch to any other operating system!

Now, take a leap and decide which distro is for you. You can download Ubuntu, the free installation CD/DVD from the distro’s website. You may even order your free and they’ll ship it to a destination of your choice.

So, with the advent of next-in-the-series article, we all shall have a Linux distro running on our computers. I hope that’s easier than said for you. Stay connected!