Finding the Right Linux Distro

Or: If It Works for You, Go For It, and Let’s Be More Human about It

So, as a first proper post for this blog, I’m gonna hit the ground running with probably what might be one of the most polarizing subjects in the Linux world, and one that has started many a flame war on message boards, Usenet postings, IRC chats, etc., none of which I will ever understand why, personally.

That subject? Choosing a Linux distro that’s right for you. This is a subject that I’ve been wanting to talk about for a while, so sit back and let me tell you a little bit about Linux distros and picking one that you feel comfortable with.

In the very early days, there wasn’t really any sort of thing as a “Linux Distro”; when Linus Torvalds developed the Linux kernel, it was distributed first as source code, and later as a pair of floppies that would boot into a basic system. Eventually, users would package together the kernel with utilities that would make for a usable operating system, giving birth to distributions of Linux (which would be too long to talk about here, but you can read more on Wikipedia about distro history).

As distros came into being, Linux users began getting drawn to distros and the communities around them, and there was a lot of cooperation, working together, improving upon code, and generally making the experience of using any given distro much more pleasant for others. Sounds perfect, right? It was… but there’s also the minority of users that are just angry and nasty and never satisfied with anything, and they’re the types looking to pick fights with others online over choices of distro.

That’s right. There are fights and arguments galore over which collections of the Linux kernel, tools, compilers, and applications are the best. Big fights. Vitriolic fights. Angry rhetoric thrown around about how one distro sucks horribly compared to another, not unlike blasting fire at your enemies (flame wars, natch). And if it isn’t fighting, there’s a lot of pretentiousness as well, with some individuals acting all smug and superior over their distro of choice, often to the point of having to remind everyone that they use said distro, and somehow, you’re an idiot, or an inferior, or a subhuman for picking another distro over theirs.

To that kind of attitude, I say this: to hell with assholes like that.

What these idiots don’t realize they’re doing is they’re driving potential Linux newcomers away with their attitudes; this form of distro gatekeeping should have no place in the community. I’ve been a Linux user since 1994, and I’ve volunteered with a Linux User Group (LUG) in New York City, the New York Linux Users Group, for almost 15 years, helping to run their Hack Workshops, where we welcome users and programmers, both young and old, fresh faced and greybeards, long time coders and people that have never used a computer before, into a bi-weekly class where we teach programming and Linux usage. And in that time, I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to help ease new users into Linux, helping them pick a distro that’ll allow them to get their feet wet or their daily work done, and it’s been an enriching, eye opening experience.

Here’s one thing that I’ve learned over the years: the choice of distro that you want to use should not be the business of others, but of yours. No one should tell you that you’re an idiot because you chose, say, Ubuntu over Debian. No one should put you down because you want a distro that works right out of the box and Gentoo won’t cut it (because not everyone’s gonna have the patience for Gentoo, let me tell you!)

All that being said, I gladly recommend new users to Linux go with Ubuntu. Out of the box, Ubuntu is very simple to install, has excellent hardware support, gives good feedback, and has all the necessary software needed for most desktop needs (with plenty more available in its repos), or for gaming. It allows for a good balance of getting started and learning the ropes, and being based on Debian and featuring most of the same tools, which are all just a terminal session away. But if a new user says they want to try another distro, I’ll gladly help them there as well. Want to try Fedora instead? Go for it! Wanna try Debian? Sure, why not? Mint? Absolutely! Manjaro? World’s your oyster!

I myself am a longtime user of Debian, and I’ve come from Slackware prior to that. I’ve also used Ubuntu for a couple of years (through its Kubuntu variant), and while I certainly learned a lot from Slackware, it’s Ubuntu and Debian that showed me that things can be accessible, easy enough to work with, and offer precisely what it is I need for my daily needs (writing, photography and video editing, some gaming, and music). Debian won out because it gives someone who knows the inner workings of Linux plenty of flexibility in customization, but is quick an easy enough to install that I can knock out an installation in, say, a lunch hour. I might have a wee bit of favoritism to Debian, but I would never tell anyone that chooses another distro that their choice is wrong. I would instead say, “Hey, nice choice!”

What we as Linux users and advocates should do is be welcoming to newcomers, not hostile. We should take them in and mentor them, help them out… not shoving a smug sense of superiority down their throats and be repulsive. We should reflect a little bit and think, “hey, I know I may have used Linux for a long time, but do I really know everything about it?” A little inner reflection makes one realize that we were all newcomers at one point, and perhaps we should emphasize a bit with them. How would we feel if we wanna pick a distro out to start with and some asshole on a forum or IRC comes in and shits all over our decision? Wouldn’t that make you feel like shit? Wouldn’t that repulse you? Wouldn’t that make you think, “why should I bother?”

So in the end, I say this: we’re all Linux users in the end, regardless of how it’s packed and distributed. Let’s just all agree that we’re all in it together, teach one another, learn from one another, and pass that knowledge we pick up onward. The communities would certainly benefit from a little kindness, and I know it’s there.

Happy hacking, everyone!