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Linux: A Review of Linux distributions

Choosing a Linux distribution is not an easy task. There are a large number of them available and each has unique qualities.

Below I will discuss some of my top picks and why I chose them.

Redhat Linux

http://www.redhat.com
http://fedora.redhat.com

Redhat is an older distribution, which has a large number of followers. Some consider it to be the defacto standard as far as Linux distributions go.

Redhat has divided their Linux offerings into two groups - Redhat Enterprise Linux and Redhat Linux (free version) Redhat Enterprise Linux is not free but does come with varying levels of support. Most companies opt to select this version just for the support. Redhat Linux is freely downloadable, but does not come with any support.

Unfortunately, Redhat has recently chosen to drop support for their free version. Instead, they have passed development of future releases to the open source community. The project is called Fedora Core and Redhat will remain as a contributor.

While Fedora Core promises to add more cutting edge features to their releases, they do not guarantee that updates will be available for bugs and security related problems. (Updates and fixes are left to the open source community to release.) Many companies are not comfortable with this arrangement.

Even though Redhat no longer provides support for Fedora Core, it has the same "look and feel" of previous versions. It remains my personal top pick.

Mandriva Linux (formerly Mandrake)

http://www.mandriva.com

Mandriva Linux (formerly Mandrake) is also one of the older Linux distributions available. It has many features that cannot be found in Redhat Linux. Some of these are considered to be unstable. While some users find these extra features useful, others are frustrated with any issues that arise from them.

Mandriva Linux is very popular on desktop machines. The stability concerns keep it from being adopted on servers.

Mandriva has chosen a different road than Redhat. They offer a "Club" which you may pay to join. While Mandriva still offers free downloads of their basic product, Club membership offers additional benefits.

SuSE Linux

http://www.opensuse.org

I have not done extensive testing with SuSE Linux, but it is another that warrants investigation. SuSE is very popular in Europe.

Although SuSE was purchase by Novell, they are still maintaining a free version.

Whitebox Linux

http://www.whiteboxlinux.org

Whitebox is a very new distribution. Whitebox Linux is the result of Redhat's decision to discontinue offering a free supported linux product. Redhat supports their Enterprise Linux versions for five years after release. Whitebox was created from the Redhat Enterprise 3.0 source packages.

Whitebox may offer some relief to those who cannot afford the frequent release schedules that Fedora Core offers.