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Home > Archive > Linux/Unix > January 2001 > Unix Flavors
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| With all the different versions of Unix floating around it can be confusing to pick out which ones to try out. What are your favorite variants and why?
Here are my preferences:
Mandrake Linux - great OS for newbies just getting started with Unix. Also good for those who are familiar with Linux, but don't feel like dealing as much with the command line.
Slackware Linux - probably the most Unixy Linux. Runs extrememly fast. Ideal for a server, but definately not ideal for a newbie.
FreeBSD - probably the most popular OS for web servers. For some good reasons too; it's more stable then Linux, has one of the fastest TCP/IP stacks (the Internet and BSD were designed around each other after all), and has the easiest instalation of all the BSDs. It's also the most popular BSD OS out there so it has the most documentation.
OpenBSD - very simular to FreeBSD. Its main focus is security which has the added benifit of also making it more stable. The downside is that it doesn't support a lot of the bells and whistles that most Unix distros do. There isn't much documentation available for it either.
NetBSD - Runs on almost anything, even PDAs. I'm just waiting for a port to my graphing calculator  Simular to FreeBSD. Not very good on documentation though. | |
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| Slackware -- Well, one of the best things about Unix is that it really REQUIRES you to know more about your computer. For a newbie this can be intimidating, but in time this wil be seen as a Good Thing. Slackware is the best for letting you get your hands dirty anmd thus will allow you to learn the most out of your computer. It's also really stable and extensible. Also, the source code makes it ideal to practice kernel hacking and reverse engineering device drivers.
Caldera Open Linux -- this was my first real intro to Linux and I like it still. Stable, easy to configure, extensive documentation.
FreeBSD -- Speed, and stability and price. |
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