Linux distro for newbies?

For a beginner, I'd recommend either Ubuntu or Debian. Ubuntu is actually based on Debian, so they are pretty similar, and both are easy to maintain.

I second Ubuntu. It's a tad bit more user-friendly than Debian, despite being very similar. Ubuntu also comes with more recent versions of most packages (at least for now). Debian is supposed to be more stable because its older packages have been tried and tested for a longer period, but I haven't noticed any instability with Ubuntu, either.

Just to name one, I love the new Uncomplicated Firewall (ufw) in Ubuntu 8.04!!! That means I no longer need to mess up my firewall settings from time to time. Of course you can install that on Debian too, but it takes a bit of tweaking (due to Debian's older Python).

I add my vote for Ubuntu. I still prefer Shorewall to UFW - lets you have really fine grained control over traffic to/from your Linode.

What about CentOS, isn't it made for servers?

You asked for "stable, easy-to-use, and newb friendly". CentOS only does stable.

@John King:

What about CentOS, isn't it made for servers?
Well, just about any Linux distro can be made for servers, depending on what you install on it, really.

CentOS is loosely based on Red Hat / Fedora, and also comes with a package system.

I don't use it myself, though, but experience tells be that Ubuntu might be slightly better if you're just starting out on Linux. I believe the Ubuntu edition installed on a Linode is without X windows (ie. much like the "Server" edition you can download from the Ubuntu website).

If I were you, I'd start off with Ubuntu, and later move on to CentOS once you're more comfortable with the basics of Linux (in general). That's just my personal opinion, though. If you want similar package systems, you have Ubuntu and Debian in one group (both use APT), and CentOS and Fedora Core in another group (both use YUM).

What's great about Linux, is that with all the different flavors of it simply draws up the selection to personal preference.

Each distribution is just as stable as the next; how well it runs depends on your own fine tuning of it.

Considering you're absolutely new to Linux in general, I'd go for Ubuntu, as I believe it's more beginner-friendly.

@NeonNero:

CentOS is loosely based on Red Hat / Fedora, and also comes with a package system.
CentOS is identical to Red Hat EL, except for removal of trademarks.
@NeonNero:

If I were you, I'd start off with Ubuntu, and later move on to CentOS once you're more comfortable with the basics of Linux (in general).

My personal opinion would be, why bother? Either is quite suitable for a Linode, but the details of adminning them are different (different package managers, different network configuration, etc.), and I don't see much reason to change from one to the other. Unless you just want to, of course. I would definitely stick with one of the majors (Debian/Ubuntu, CentOS or Fedora) for initial install, just because there are more people around to answer questions.

I actually find Centos to be easier to work but I guess its all personal preference. I prefer rpm and yum to ubuntu's package management and its pretty standard init script and chkconfig make my life easier.

Thanks for all the help! I think I will go with Ubuntu.

@fendrish78:

I actually find Centos to be easier to work but I guess its all personal preference. I prefer rpm and yum to ubuntu's package management and its pretty standard init script and chkconfig make my life easier.

We had a RHEL server someone installed for us once. It was installed, but never put into proper use. When it came time to put it into production use (or any use, for that matter – it was just sitting there in an off-site datacenter space we rent), I tried my way around for a few weeks, and found rpm to be an endless headache to me (since I'm also used to Gentoo, that's saying a lot), so we ended up reinstalling it as Debian instead.

Yum (CentOS/Fedora) might be lightyears ahead compared to using "plain" rpm (Debian/Ubuntu), though, and probably just as easy to handle as apt, but I'm just guessing since I haven't had any first-hand experience with it.

@NeonNero:

Yum (CentOS/Fedora) might be lightyears ahead compared to using "plain" rpm (Debian/Ubuntu),

Errr, what? The rpm command on Redhat et. al. is equivalent to dpkg on Debian and its derivates. Yum is Redhat's (but originall SuSE, if I remember correctly) attempt at an apt (Debian) equivalent. I find Yum slightly clunky compared to apt, but that may be down to having much more experience with dpkg/apt.

@SteveG:

@NeonNero:

Yum (CentOS/Fedora) might be lightyears ahead compared to using "plain" rpm (Debian/Ubuntu),
Errr, what? The rpm command on Redhat et. al. is equivalent to dpkg on Debian and its derivates. Yum is Redhat's (but originall SuSE, if I remember correctly) attempt at an apt (Debian) equivalent. I find Yum slightly clunky compared to apt, but that may be down to having much more experience with dpkg/apt.
As I said, since I hadn't had any first-hand experience with it, I only made a wild guess. I wasn't aware of the comparison of rpm to dpkg. Fortunately (for me), I haven't yet been "forced" to deal with dpkg directly.

@John King:

What is a stable, easy-to-use, and newb friendly Linux distro? (I've never used Linux before.)

I would recommend Centos. Ubuntu and Debian are good too however, Centos is very complete and easy to administer remotely.

Centos lets you start and stop services by simply typing service start,stop,restart service-name..ie service restart sendmail.

The logging in Centos is better. If you have a problem look at /var/log/messages or whatever your working on. I find Centos more complete in that regard.

I really like Slackware but you should install it at home and learn about it before you try to handle it remotely.

@SteveG:

@NeonNero:

Yum (CentOS/Fedora) might be lightyears ahead compared to using "plain" rpm (Debian/Ubuntu),

Errr, what? The rpm command on Redhat et. al. is equivalent to dpkg on Debian and its derivates. Yum is Redhat's (but originall SuSE, if I remember correctly) attempt at an apt (Debian) equivalent. I find Yum slightly clunky compared to apt, but that may be down to having much more experience with dpkg/apt.
To be accurate, Yum is a total rewrite of Yup which was the rpm package manager for Yellow Dog Linux, not SuSE. You're partially right, Yum was written to support Redhat.

Jim.

Personaly Ubuntu better match my needs. Ubuntu is based off of Debian Linux, and as such, used Debian's APT package management system. Unlike RPM (RedHat/CentOS/Fedora), APT has full dependency tracking and resolution, meaning if you want to install package A, and package A requires in turn packages C and D, it'll install the whole kit and everything for you automatically. This is very nice, especially for beginner admins.

Also, Ubuntu has a bigger userbase and active support forums out of which you'll be able to draw much information (http://ubuntuforums.org). That means more free support. They even have a forum section titled ‘Absolute Beginner Talk’. And like most LINUX distro you can choose between both Ubuntu community support (free) and Ubuntu professional support (cost) from Canonical (http://www.canonical.com). According to ‘Google’s Trends’ Ubuntu is the most active Unix distro: ~~[http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+debian%2C+centos%2C+fedora%2C+slackware&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0" target="_blank">](http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2 … all&sort=0">http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+debian%2C+centos%2C+fedora%2C+slackware&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0](

Also, Redhat abandoned it's free distribution several years ago (2003) in favor of its for-cost enterprise versions (http://www.linux.com/articles/32467). This is why the included versions of mysql/php/etc are so old. You may have heard of the Fedora Core project - it is basically the continuation of the old free Redhat distro…it has more recent packages available, but still comes with the RPM package management system and all the difficulties it brings along with it for beginner.

Lastly, Ubuntu has frequent updates (twice per year for major releases), and its founder and benefactor Mark Shuttleworth gives freely (http://www.shuttleworthfoundation.org) of his time, money, and energy to a myriad of causes, Ubuntu being one. According to Ken Hess (http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3322.html) Ubuntu employees also appear to be the happiest of any he had meet. They are congenial, inviting, engaging, and are truly excited about what they do.

Be aware that like any newly released software, you may have problems with the latest version (8.10 at this writing). If you're going to use this linode as a production server (serving stuff instead of just playing around), you'll probably want to stick with an LTS release once it's been out there a while.

Read up on it a little bit before you commit a lot of work:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu

Right now, the best release is Hardy Heron, 8.04.1

Of course, linode makes it fun to play with distros, and the newest Ubuntu 8.10 is available. It's just that I'm not crazy about being an early adopter, I'd rather wait and let them work out the bugs.