Which is your Favourite Linux?

I love FreeBSD but on 30 Oct 2008 was released Ubuntu-8.10 (server edition based on Debian) and I have tried to install and use it. I'm very glad as big african elephant :)
 
Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Debian are my favorites. They follow Unix principles relatively well, are quite stable, and have good quality. However, nothing beats BSD.
 
Debian seems to be nice

When I have to use Linux, Debian is the one I can tolerate.

I still have to install my own .bashrc and other HOME configuration files; some of the default shell startup scripts in /etc drive me mad; clearing the screen on logout in the default .bash_logout script triggers several obscene curses in Greek or English to exit my mouth; and I sorely miss ^T whenever I work through Linux terminals.

But Debian's "apt" package installer is really nice. A bit nicer than portupgrade some times.
 
I started out with Slackware and that was the one I used for the longest time so I suppose that would be my favorite...
 
I tried Ubuntu then move on to Debian then move on to FreeBSD (got stucked here :e) I really like the ports system
FreeBSD is very well documented and the layout is neat and standardized
I also trial installed Fedora, OpenSUSE, Slackware
My votes goes to Debian and Slackware
 
Gentoo rocks - portage is very much like FreeBSD's ports
And yet there is ArchLinux, with its ABC and prebuilt packages if you want them.
 
Gentoo is everything that FreeBSD isn't. ArchLinux's ABS system is quite complicated to use. Ports is very automated and simple, which makes it a treat to use.
 
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I never tried Linux before starting with FreeBSD. And I haven't tried it, yet. Whenever I have to work with a linux system I'm annoyed by all the subtle differences and by package management systems that exchange the kernel during an update.
 
I work in an office with three BSD guys (including me) and three Linux guys. The Linux guys usually spend loads of time rolling back patches that screw up their systems, can stare for hours at Yast screens (it's apparently hypnotizing), and I haven't seen a single upgrade gone right without at least walking over with a USB stick to fix something. The BSD guys have working servers and drink coffee. No Linux for me, ever.
 
ArchLinux's ABS system is quite complicated to use.
Ports is very automated and simple, which makes it a treat to use.
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I haven't said that Arch or Gentoo is better than FreeBSD, neither that ABS or portage is better than ports. They are just similar to FreeBSD ports, which makes me choose Arch and Gentoo amongst all the linuxes out there.
 
At work I have to deal with Linux on our severs.
Unfortunatelly we use SuSe and Yast, but I'm not responsible
for them, only for the FreeBSD systems ;)

When studying I started with Linux at home and especially SuSe, Debian and Ubuntu. But after having first experiences with
FreeBSD, I now have FreeBSD instead of Linux systems at home.
 
For desktop I haven't found anything that beats Ubuntu, and if I had to run a linux server it would be a Slackware Linux as it resembles FreeBSD.

Have tried ubuntu and debian on server which I just didn't get along with. RHEL4 and gentoo on desktop. RHEL4 is quite nice, but this is usually a forced alternative from a software vendor. Gentoo is like a shopping trolley at the supermarket: it starts in a straight line, but then one wheel wobbles and were of to the ditch.

The big question for me on a desktop system is: Do I need a special version of something or optimized software? the answer is usually: No, how much opimization do you need to run firefox ;)
 
DutchDaemon said:
I work in an office with three BSD guys (including me) and three Linux guys. The Linux guys usually spend loads of time rolling back patches that screw up their systems, can stare for hours at Yast screens (it's apparently hypnotizing), and I haven't seen a single upgrade gone right without at least walking over with a USB stick to fix something. The BSD guys have working servers and drink coffee. No Linux for me, ever.
Click to expand...

Interresting.. me and my friend have exactly the opposite experiences with FreeBSD and Gentoo compared to Debian and Red Hat.

But then again ours are based on desktop. Now don't get me wrong I like FreeBSD, but on the desktop it doesn't have the proper install method and "sane defaults" + integration. Not to mention that source-based desktop is going to hit you when you need it least.

Our case was a Gentoo guy who reinstalled for some reason once. My friend also reinstalled but he went with Debian. Needless to say his desktop was ready and configured in 1 hour. The Gentoo guy spent 3 days "tweaking" the damn thing.

Likewise for me to get this laptop running FreeBSD as a workstation. I spent 2 days "tweaking" and port installing.

As for the original question, Debian and Ubuntu. Nothing beats their package management (in speed, stability or availability)
 
We have mix of *nix in our data center:
  1. FreeBSD web, smtp, pop3, squid server
  2. Redhat used as Mysql cluster
  3. Debian used as Load balancer using LVS to send traffic to all freebsd nodes.

My laptop has both FreeBSD and Ubuntu Linux. All desktop at works run on either Windows XP or Fedora.
 
I started in the early 90s with NetBSD - of course no Linux ;-) - and some time later with Slackware. If I need some Linux today I'm using Slack or sometimes Arch. The latter for some multimedia machine only. I do know Debian from servers, but I try to avoid it if possible the decrease of quality during the years is obvious. I'm prefering *BSD, especially FreeBSD and I can live with Linux too - I'm fine with everything FOSS, as long as noone tries to sell some proprietary crap to me :D
 
@Almindor

Using ports on a desktop/laptop sounds like overkill to me. I will only use ports on heavy servers where I need the extra edge of compiling in a certain way. On the desktop, I use packages 95% of the time (I will use a port if I need a quick security upgrade, or if I just don't want to wait for new functionality).

My latest laptop was up and running in 1.5 hours (STABLE compiled + 478 installed packages, X11/windowmaker). If it takes more time, you're doing it the wrong way.

By the way: GenToo and FreeBSD, while 'alike in spirit', are still very different beasts. I don't think a less-than-optimal experience with GT has any reflection on BSD (one of my colleagues ditched GT for BSD, and he couldn't be happier).
 
In 90ies, after OS/2 I started with Debian, Slackware, try SuSE and back to Debian for long time than try Arch and back to Debian, first try to FreeBSD 7 beta ad now is on the computer just FreeBSD 7.0 about one year. I am sorry that I didn't try it ten years earlier :)
 
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