Linux is a Unix based operating system , which serves as the kernel of a variety of distros, linux is most popular among servers and advanced users, as it runs on more than half of the servers in the world, it also operates the world's top ten super computers
today Linux is gaining more popularity in the consumer market through linux based distros that power smart phones, TVs, game consoles and tablets, besides it's usual market share in the PC market
here i will try to find the best Linux distro for my PC so i will go through a few common distros and compare them to each other and compare them to my personal needs
1. Gentoo:
the first thing i found from the little research i did, is that this distro requires you to compile the source code on your own, which is said to be very time and effort consuming, but it will help you learn a lot about linux from the start, and will also allow you to compile it according to your preferable choices
although the basic software included like Open Office and Firefox comes pre-compiled, which will save lot's of time, it seems like you will be doing a lot of compiling later if you choose this distro
and it also doesn't have a user friendly graphic interface which can be boring when it's mixed with learning a new OS
so basically with Gentoo you have all the possibilities and all the freedom Linux can give you, and it will help you gain great amounts of knowledge about Linux, but it won't be an easy task getting used to it especially if it's your first experience with Linux
my plan is to get used to Linux by using Debian and then start using Gentoo after i feel used to Linux and compiling source codes
2. Ubuntu
What i got from wikipedia and some other sites "usually community forums" is that Ubuntu is basically a modified version of Debian that has a more "user-friendly" interface, and some built in drivers and software which make it easy to start using it as soon as possible, and it seems like that it's easier to install third party software on it since most Linux software are compiled for it and you don't need to waste your time compiling the source code for your own distro
though i'v seen many Linux users accusing it of being over simplified and wouldn't teach you much about Linux or how it works
3. Debian
I'm personally starting to prefer Debian over the rest of the distros for a number of reasons, the main one is that i got the idea that it combines the best of both worlds
as it isn't over simplified yet not hard to learn, it uses the GNOME user interface and doesn't require me to compile it which is probably why i would prefer it over Gentoo, and after i get used to Linux and it's commands i can go to Gentoo
and it seems like it has a variety of options as it says that it supports thousands of software packages for the Linux kernel and even openBSD kernel
and it seems that the configuration isn't to easy, which is considered a good thing by me, so i may learn as much as possible before i start using Gentoo
a down side that is worth mentioning is that it has bad hardware support, although i don't think this will be a problem for me since i'm planing to install it one my old PC which has standard hardware "not very old, not new at all"
4. Linux Mint
this one just seems lame so i didn't put much effort to it, it's yet a more simplified version of Ubuntu which seemed to me as a simplified version of Debian
there are also other distros like Fedora and Arch Linux, openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, Puppy Linux, Slackware
but they didn't seem like they could serve my needs or interests
