Hey guys,i know this has been tossed around a bunch of times, but Im looking for a distro that I can use for work. Im a system admin, so i need to be able to manage my servers,network gear. Im currently running mint on my laptop and it seems pretty good, but I was debating if something like Core or Cent would be a better fit. The requirement would have to be
* connect to cisco VPN
* RDP into Winblows servers
* add network shares from winblows servers
* DAVmail for exchange connection

Other then that im looking for something that is going to be stable and easy to use. Im pretty good with ubuntu/mint

any ideas or suggestions

If you are looking for stable then go with Debian. That will be good since you are already familiar with the Debian type of OS

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What is it about Mint you're not happy with? Without knowing that I'm not sure what to recommend.

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Its not that im not happy with Mint, its been pretty good so far. I can pretty much do everything i need to do, with the exception of accessing our phone system, I have to have IE for that, so i typically remote into a server to manage that, other then that its been good. I was thinking about the switch that is more "enterprise" friendly then "home" friendly if that makes sense. Thats why i was thinking FC or CentOS as CentOS is enterprise based, I know FC is "home" based, which i actually tried the LiveCD and it reminds me of unity, which i can not stand...so FC is actually out lol.

But I guess the main thing is im looking for something that has LTS like CentOS. Ive never actually used straight debian, do they have LTS distros?

I don't think you'll get anything more from using another distro. CentOS and Scientific Linux are good distributions but just because they're "enterprise" doesn't mean you get any special software that will make your work life easier. In fact, by their very nature you might find you don't get more modern software -- I'm not saying this is the case but for example you may find WINE is a few versions behind the one you get in Mint and an application won't work. The same goes for
Debian Stable another distribution well used where rock-solidly stable servers are needed.

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oh ok, didnt think about it from that point of view...good points. Thanks for the advise :-)

You're welcome. If you just want to install something to try something new you could always try a new desktop environment or window manager. I think Fedora uses KDE so you probably don't want that but you could install XFCE or LXDE for soemthing familiar but stripped down or go for something like Ratpoison or Windowmaker to really step outside your comfort zone.

But again, for work you need (I believe, but I don't know, and I am nobody so pay no attention to my comment this is just my thought) something that is stable and long term supported. That is what Distributions like Red Hat, CentOS, Ubuntu LTS, Mint LTS, Debian Stable, Slackware offer, also other OSes like: FreeBSD, OpenIndiana offer a similar experience.
You wont get that with Fedora, Arch, Gentoo, Debian testing, or normal releases of Ubuntu and Linux Mint (stay with the LTS releases).
If you need IE you can run it under wine (I have never tried wine though, and I am not a Linux Mint user)

Good luck to you

MS's IE in wine
-- not good
I think they finally updated the very DEAD IE4
and are using IE6 -- also a DEAD VERSION
seeing as MS's Internet explorer is a 10

If you MUST use internet explorer then DUAL BOOT with windows7 for ie9 and windows8.1
for IE10 ( and get into the habit of working with the FUBAR'ed mess that is called "secure boot" )

Fedora a VERY long time ago dropped the "core" from it's name
Fedora Core 6 was the last
the current version is Fedora 19
Fedora also ONLY supports a version for 13 MONTHS
and releases a new version ( and often is is very different version ) every 6 MONTHS

Fedora is not a good choice for an enterprise install
a WAY WAY TOO SHORT of a lifetime


From the first post i would BUY ( yes BUY ) RHEL6.5
and install that ( talk with the sales rep and make 100% SURE that your laptop is supported

laptops are a rather bad choice to install a server class OS on
some will mostly work mostly well
some will never install rhel
and some will have NO problems

but with a 10 year lifetime

or

use SELD 11 sp 3
SUSE Enterprise Linux Desktop 11 - service pack 3
also you HAVE TO BUY IT , it is no free
but Novel is now offering a 10/13 year lifetime support