Using Which Version of Linux

[Magnus Lycka]

blah at blah.blah wrote:
> ok, i m going to use Linux for my Python Programs, mainly because i 
> need to see what will these fork() and exec() do. So, can anyone tell 
> me which flavour of linux i should use, some say that Debian is more 
> programmer friendly, or shold i use fedora, or Solaris. Because these 
> three are the only ones i know of that are popular and free.

Maybe you've already figured it out, but Ubuntu is your distro.
See http://www.ubuntulinux.com/

It's based on Debian, but while standard Debian is a bit daunting
to get up and running the first time, Ubuntu is one of the easiest
Linux distros. Ubuntu is also much more up-to-date than the stable
Debian, but still very stable.

If you just want to try it out, and don't want to repartition your
disk (or install a second disk), you can try the Ubuntu Live CD.

Ubuntu has good support for modern hardware and a polished user
interface, and it's very much focused on Python. You'll find a lot
of Python modules that are maintained in the Ubuntu repositiories
and will be kept up-to-date with something similar to Windows
Update, all very convenient if you're on the net. Naturally, you
can install Python source packages and run 'python setup.py install'
the normal way, but then you won't get this auto-update feature.

Mark Shuttleworth's projects, such as Ubuntu and School Tool, are
also investing good money in Python development. You can even get
Ubuntu CDs sent to you for free! Order ten and give out to your
friends! I think it's a good way to promote Python.

I've used Linux since Slackware 2.3. (Or 2.2?1994?) I'm certainly
computer literate, but never had the stamina to get the normal Debian
distro to work. After Slackware, I've tried Red Hat, SuSE and Mandrake
etc, and I mainly use Red Hat Enterprise Linux at work, but given a
choice I prefer Ubuntu these days.