well within Java land it doesn't really matter, as you're so abstracted away from the OS. Just pick whatever you prefer. Of the two I would suggest CentOS if this is a build / dev *SERVER* if you're messing with desktop stuff too, especially on a laptop, a desktop distro like Fedora, Ubuntu etc will probably give you a better overall experience. That's nothign at all to do with J2EE though, just linux basics.
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