Selecting a distribution is a personal decision
Distribution of Choice

maddog explains what's behind his use of particular Linux distributions.
Every time I have been asked, "Which distribution do you use?" I have given a truthful answer: "I use whatever distribution my customers use. It depends on the situation." Typically, that answer is sufficient, but recently someone asked: "Who are your customers? Why is it dependent on customers? There are many 'Linux' (sic) distributions, like Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, etc. Anyone can choose what he likes."
So, in this column, I'll explain why, over the past 20 years, I've hesitated to tell people which distribution I use. First of all, I typically take no "honorariums" for the presentations that I make. I earn my money through writing and consulting. As a consultant, I sometimes do work for various companies, such as Red Hat Software. So, Red Hat is my customer. I think it would be fairly insulting to my customer if I showed up at Red Hat with Ubuntu on my laptop, even though I know from experience that the people at Red Hat would not say anything about it.
More importantly, the work that I do for Red Hat might be less useful if I developed it in a different environment from what Red Hat's customers typically use. If I were developing a solution that required a different media player from the one Red Hat normally delivers or a different codec from the one Red Hat recommends, this would create a needless incompatibility in the solution.
If you are working in a large company, that company may dictate the distribution of Linux you use – not only the distribution, but the desktop, window manager, office package, and a lot of other things. Companies do this so they can have consistency across all their employees for ease of systems administration and security issues.
Thus, the "end user" does not always have as much choice as people think. Yet, people ask me what distribution I use on my laptop from day to day. The answer is: I use a lot of them. Over the years, I have used Yggdrasil, Slackware, Red Hat, PHATLinux (hello, Cameron!), SUSE, Ubuntu, Mint, Knoppix, Debian, and some others that most people would not recognize. And, that does not include the hundreds more that I have put on virtual machines or installed on various hardware in my house just to see what they were like. The distributions I named above are ones that stayed a significant amount of time on my "main machines."
From time to time, I change distributions to test out new features, interfaces, etc. To me, it makes little difference which one I use and, therefore, should make even less difference to you. I can say that there are some distributions I used for a very short period of time. They were typically unstable, short-lived distributions, usually done by people who brought little or nothing to the table of the GNU/Linux community other than creating "yet another distribution" that had their name or stamp on it.
In the past, I have told a distribution producer to their face that they should "get out of the distribution business" because their time and resources could be better spent in making another more useful distribution stronger. Their ego and self-importance thwarted that recommendation (distribution vendor, you know who you are) to their eventual shame.
I do not answer the question "What do you use on your laptop?" because the real question people are asking is: "What should I be using on my laptop?" And, the real (and truthful) answer is, "I do not know."
I do not know, because I do not know you. Typically, the people asking do not want to take the time for me to know them or their needs. People who do want me to really know them typically pay me money in consulting fees to help them discover their (or their company's) real needs. Then, I can help them. Other people usually just want a quick answer so they won't have to invest time and effort to figure out the answer for themselves, and I refuse to play that game.
I have lost a lot of income over the years because I have tried to stay independent of distributions because of my particular role in the Linux community. I could have become an "evangelist" for one distribution or another, and I might even have enjoyed it (I certainly would have enjoyed a more even distribution of income), but it would not have been fair to all the other distributions that were struggling to be seen. This is why I tell people to try several distributions to find out which one is best for them.
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Find SysAdmin Jobs
News
-
Kubuntu Focus Announces XE Gen 2 Linux Laptop
Another Kubuntu-based laptop has arrived to be your next ultra-portable powerhouse with a Linux heart.
-
MNT Seeks Financial Backing for New Seven-Inch Linux Laptop
MNT Pocket Reform is a tiny laptop that is modular, upgradable, recyclable, reusable, and ships with Debian Linux.
-
Ubuntu Flatpak Remix Adds Flatpak Support Preinstalled
If you're looking for a version of Ubuntu that includes Flatpak support out of the box, there's one clear option.
-
Gnome 44 Release Candidate Now Available
The Gnome 44 release candidate has officially arrived and adds a few changes into the mix.
-
Flathub Vying to Become the Standard Linux App Store
If the Flathub team has any say in the matter, their product will become the default tool for installing Linux apps in 2023.
-
Debian 12 to Ship with KDE Plasma 5.27
The Debian development team has shifted to the latest version of KDE for their testing branch.
-
Planet Computers Launches ARM-based Linux Desktop PCs
The firm that originally released a line of mobile keyboards has taken a different direction and has developed a new line of out-of-the-box mini Linux desktop computers.
-
Ubuntu No Longer Shipping with Flatpak
In a move that probably won’t come as a shock to many, Ubuntu and all of its official spins will no longer ship with Flatpak installed.
-
openSUSE Leap 15.5 Beta Now Available
The final version of the Leap 15 series of openSUSE is available for beta testing and offers only new software versions.
-
Linux Kernel 6.2 Released with New Hardware Support
Find out what's new in the most recent release from Linus Torvalds and the Linux kernel team.