[Pierre-Marie Baty]

Since I am a hardcore POSIX integrist, and also a BSD freak, when it comes to Linux I can only bare the sight of a Slackware, eventually a Debian. There are several reasons that make me dislike one thing or two in Linux.

First, it's a MESS. The base Linux system, the kernel and the GNU utilities that are at its core are good stuff, but the problem is that since 1996/97 when Linux started to be THE fashion word in the mouths of the commercials, many distros ambitiously realized they could hit other customers than the aware sysadmin, and they put a lot (too much) effort in simplifying their user interfaces. Obviously all of them took a different route, and none of them managed to set up a potable standard. That's why one thing you MUST BE AWARE when you learn Linux, is the knowledge of how to make a difference between what is REALLY Linux, really standard, POSIX-compliant and all, and what is part of the myriads of layers of proprietary crap that the distros have stacked up with years. Examples ? YaST, RPM packages, /etc/init.d, SysV runlevels, the /opt hierarchy, userland binaries in /usr instead of /usr/local, non-standard logins, non-standard init and RC scripts, etc, etc, etc, etc.

The real Linux isn't an user-friendly clickodrome. The real Linux is pretty close to what is Slackware, that is, a command-line installer, the strict minimum to run the system, and all the other stuff is not only optional, but also you have to install it yourself by hand, following the standards as much as possible. This is exactly how the BSDs work too. The advantage is that once you know how to deal with a Slackware, you know how to deal with ALL the linuxes (and also all the Unixes). On the other hand, if you install a Knoppix or "Dead Rat" push-button clickodrome, chances are that you'll be stuck to this system forever and that you'll be unable to get your hands deeply enough in the system, where the real things happen.

Only Slackware and Debian made the choice to stay basic enough by default to stick with the standards (and I believe only Slackware still has a command-line installer). The advantage is that these systems are really ROCK solid, since everything has its place and there's a place for each thing, which you as the system administrator have to know and put to work according to the standards - that's to say you always KNOW what you are doing. It's a great thing to know things work, and it's an even greater thing to know why. Frankly, if I wanted to learn Linux again, I'd go with these two - but be aware that you'll be landing in another world, really.

On the other hand, if you're afraid of the system, or if you can't imagine a computer can work without a mouse attached to it, go with the popular distros, the ones with the larger user bases.