You Should Try At Least One of These 7 Leading Linux Distros
Let’s face it, Linux has come a very long way. I recently installed Linux on my little brother’s old computer and the only thing he said about it was that “Windows” was running much faster and that it looks different now. What he thought was a different looking, newer Windows XP was actually Linux Mint 4.0.
Once I explained what Linux was, and how it was a completely free alternative to Windows, it was as though he felt like he had the inside scoop on how to get the best speed out of his computer while sticking it to ‘the man’ at the same time.
Through my journey to discover the right Linux distro to install on his computer, I tried nearly every reputable distro I could find.
These are 7 of the best Linux distros out there, especially if you are looking to install this for someone new to linux. The best part is that you can try one by running it off of the LiveCD without having to install anything.
- Ubuntu
Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distro these days, and for good reason. It is very user friendly, and it detected nearly all the hardware without the need to install drivers. I was online right after putting in the live cd, and I hadn’t even installed it yet. It comes with enough bundled software to get you going right away. - Linux Mint
Linux Mint was originally launched as a variant of Ubuntu. It has grown into one of the most user friendly distros. It is Debian based, and it comes bundled with Firefox, Open Office and more. On the Mint website, it says that “There is a strong focus on making things work out of the box.” This is definitely true because the only thing I had to do after installing it was tweak the sound settings to get it to play. - OpenSUSE
OpenSUSE is a worldwide community program sponsored by Novell, that “promotes the use of Linux everywhere.” OpenSUSE is definitely well built, and most of the hardware was working automatically right after I installed it. The goal at OpenSUSE is to have the most widely used and easily attainable linux distro. - Fedora
According to their website, “Fedora is all about freedom and rapid innovation.” I would have to agree, and the new features in Fedora 9 definitely back that up. It features a clean interface, and it didn’t take long to configure everything on my brothers computer. In fact Fedora is so good it is used for applications such as NASA and Roadrunner, the worlds fastest supercomputer. Fedora was also used in the OLPC.
Find out more about Fedora here or download it here. - PC Linux OS
PCLinuxOS was originally based on Mandriva and it has some of the same features such as the Draklive installer and the control center. This distro is one of my favorites, and it I am currently running it on my Gateway laptop also. It ran very smoothly, even off of the LiveCD, on my little brothers computer and it is a well rounded distro. - Mandriva
Mandriva is one of the older linux distros, having been around since 1998. Mandriva took the command line dominated world of linux and integrated a graphical user interface. Mandriva gained a lot of popularity due to its renownd ease of use. It looked good right out of the box, and it was very easy for my little brother to adapt to using it. There were some problems configuring a few things but the Mandriva forums helped resolve all of that. - Debian
Debian is officially called Debian GNU/Linux and it is a very solid distro. According to their website, Debian is more than just an Operating System. “It comes with over 18733 packages, precompiled software bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine.” After getting this installed, I found myself stuck looking through the 18000+ packages as there were so many good apps I wanted to try.Get more info about Debian GNU/Linux here or download it here.
Other great linux distros include Sabayon, SimplyMepis, Puppy Linux, Gentoo and many many more. Tell us what you like most about your favorite linux distro in the comments below.
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