which linux distro offers best performance/stability+ best development environment?

Question

i am new to linux in general i have tried a few distros mainly ubuntu 10,12 and open suse 11.4 and mint 12 with far too much disappointment in terms of stability,driver issues and performance, in short i never got the level of stability that i get on a windows powered machine, i am looking for a high performance distro that has as little bugs as possible especially in its x64 version and offers a STABLE seamless development environment for php web development as well as python and all major development platforms, if it exists please direct me to it since i am about to give up on linux forever :), also if you can direct me to a book for linux beginners that can help me with all the gotchas to expect i would really appreciate it

Answer 1

Debian is renowned for it's stability. Debian has a very strict quality control policy. Packages start off in Debian Experimental then go to Debian Unstable then when there are no critical bugs to Debian testing. Every 2 years or so Debian testing is frozen (ie. no new packages are allowed into it) so that all effort can be concentrated into fixing any remaining bugs of the packages already in testing. When and only when extensive bugfixing etc has taken place and the package tree has been found to be rock solid stable will testing become the new release of Debian stable. This long development cycle (approx 2 years) ensures a quality, reliable, very stable product. Whereas Debian has a new release every 2 years or so, Ubuntu has a new release every 6 months, which means they have the latest software but it is not so well tested.



For learning linux I would recommend the Linux reality podcast. These podcasts are a bit out of date now, as they were recorded some years ago, but the principles are the same now as they were then. The presenter does a terrific job of explaining the concepts in a simple and easy to understand manner.



click on the following link to download the episodes (be aware it is a large download - 3GB):



http://ia600603.us.archive.org/13/items/Linux_Reality_Podcast_Archive_DVD/LRPodcast_Complete_Archive_DVD.iso



The Debian handbook is a great resource. I would not really describe it as a book for beginners, but you sound like a technically minded person so you might want to have a look:



http://debian-handbook.info/get/now/



Try this:



http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/linux_beginner_books/debian_linux_desktop_survival_guide/index.html



Finally the best way of learning is to use the internet... there is so much great stuff out there... brilliant tutorials on blogs and forums... how to videos on youtube... there are also irc channels if you would like help in realtime.



Good luck - hope you persevere.... it will be worth it.

Answer 2

High Performance Linux Distro

Answer 3

Being new to Linux I understand your problems...Linux for most Linux users is a very solid stable platform that rarely crashes (for me much more stable than Windows); but this is down to familiarity and a bit of effort is required to get comfortable. BUT it is not for every one. Certainly most drivers in Linux for hardware is a result people working without much cooperation from the hardware vendors; this is not a fault of Linux, but that manfactureres tend not to be helpful in providing support fro Linux users.



ALL Linux distributions have built in development platforms because Linux, being open source, tends to be distributed with the build environment.



Debian is the most stable distro and has the widest supported software packages

Ubuntu is the most commonly used

openSuSe is best for those seeking easy integration with windows builds.

All Linux distributions allow you to create a build PHP, python C++, etc with a few clicks of the mouse button.



You are keen to have a Out-of-the-box php and web development platform, may I suggest XAMPP.

This single package contains everything you need

http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html



Python and PERL interpreters are often built-in on most Desktop distributions



There is no shortage of books. I would however suggest that the biggest aids to learning Linux is 1) patience, 2) an open mind 3) reasonable level of interest. 4) search on Linux forums for support...

Answer 4

Redhat is usually your best bet for stability, as it is maintained and supported by the Redhat company specifically for this purpose. Businesses that use Linux for servers and such generally employ Redhat. As much as the Open Source community likes to harp on how everything is "supported" by the "community" -- for a business, nothing beats having somebody who is ultimately responsible. Somebody who can get your answers NOW, not a week from now when the "community" gets around to reading your question.



This raises an issue for folks who expect everything to be "free", because Redhat Linux is decidedly NOT free. That's how they can afford to keep it running, businesses pay them.



But you can also get CentOS, which is built from the same sources as Redhat. While there is absolutely no business-level support for it, CentOS users benefit from the second-hand Redhat support. Security and bug-fix updates are usually not more than a few months behind Redhat.



And, being free, it doesn't hurt to try it out.

Answer 5

I would have to say, CentOS (RedHat), Debian, and Slackware would be considered to be the most stable.