which linux distribution is best for starters like if you want to be a linux system and server administrator?

Arch -- you have to learn how your system works to use it.

Slackware & Debian are also very good in this respect.

BEST ???

that is relative to needs and skills
there is NO answer to your question as stated

please restate it

RHEL
SUSE
Debian
Slackware
Arch
BSD


pick one

If you are looking to get a job administering Linux servers in the enterprise, CentOS is your best bet, as RHEL and CentOS dominate in the enterprise.

For learning how Linux works, you can't beat Slackware. Once you understand Slackware, no other distro will every intimidate you.

Just my two cents.

In general you will want to experiment with a Linux distribution that is easily installed, has great hardware recognition, is stable, and has a helpful community. Another requirement is how software is installed and if the package manager is simple to administer. I do not recommend trying out a niche distribution of Linux because they tend to follow conventions that are specific to only that distribution of Linux. Unconventionality makes switching between distributions confusing for new Linux users. Ultimately new Linux users should stick to convention and keep things simple.

With that in mind I will mention a few distributions that follow common conventions, are widely used, have been around for some deal of time, and will continue to be around for a great deal more time.

• Slackware
• Gentoo
• Debian
• RedHat

All have excellent communities, stability and the installation process should be painless while recognizing all of your hardware.

With package management in mind you will need to consider each of the four independently, as they are each different.

• Gentoo is a source based distribution and it will require you to compile your system from source, but offers a high degree of customization.
• Slackware is mostly a binary based distribution, but leaves the customization of the system up to the user. Additionally, with Slackware you will sometimes have need to build packages from source and there is no automatic dependency resolve. Despite what you may read, Slackware does have a package manager- it works extremely well and is simple to get the hang of.
• Debian has easy dependency resolution. All packages are binary format, and on very rare occasion packages will need to be built from source. Debian tends to make a lot of decisions about how a system should run prior to a user ever installing it.
• RedHat is also a binary distribution and you will not likely need to ever compile any software from source. RedHat also makes most of the decisions for the user prior to installation.

Whichever distribution of Linux you pick, you should try out it's live boot CD/DVD first. After you are comfortable using the live cd, move onto a virtual machine installation. Virtual machines allow you to make mistakes without compromising the integrity of your data. Use your virtual machine installation for everything you would normally do on a regular day. Once comfortable, back up your data and install your chosen distribution.

For a list of distributions for download, visit:

• http://iso.linuxquestions.org/

Debian or RedHat (CentOS is the free version) will be used the most on servers.

Another vote for Slackware.

You can't beat the simplicity. As Patrick and the team don't actually add "customization", and sticking to the SBo (SlackBuilds.org) software, you can maintain the original integrity of the programs you are installing, by building your own packages from source. This ensures no added "features" create bugs the developer didn't intend or include in the original software.

While CentOS and RedHat are good for servers, as can be Debian (personally I wouldn't advise it, but mo), they are so setup for that kind of application that you lose the experience and knowledge of the manual server setup and creation and therefore lack the skills/knowledge needed to truly "administer" the computer.

Use Slackware or Gentoo (if you have time for a long install) first. Know Linux before you know it's distributions.

all said above is true. If you want to become a Linux administrator you might have some job in focus. In this case try to familarize yourself with the system used there.

May I ask you why do you need that? starting and administrating are not the same level I think.

Learning Slackware doesn't grant you any of the skills/knowledge needed to truly "administer" a Debian/RHEL system either...package/service installation, maintenance, configuration, etc. are all completely different. The only way to learn how to administer an RHEL system is to administer an RHEL system (preferably not a live one). Building a Slackware/Gentoo/LFS system doesn't do anything to help matters. It might teach you more about how Linux works (or used to work) at the lowest level, but that part is mostly irrelevant when it comes to maintaining an actual distro like RHEL.

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The OP says that they want to learn Linux, they wish to become a system administrator, and they are a beginner.

I've used Debian for 10 years at home and I used CentOS in production for nearly as long. Since having switched to Slackware at home, I learned things about Linux that I never needed to know before. Linux is the kernel, not the distribution. If you can manage to learn Linux, switching between distributions and using different package managers is seamless. It is just a matter of viewing the man page at that point.

Yes and all that new administrator will know is how to administer a RHEL system. Most of administering a RHEL system is using the software configuration tools( if its even necessary), prepackaged config files and installing software with rpm. This will not teach a new Linux user the finer points of Linux- which is what I believe the OP is asking for.

You don't build a Slackware system. When using a Stable Slackware system in production environments, software is built when it needs to be patched, and this is largely handled by the package manager. Gentoo is excellent for highly hardened or tailored systems. Doing at least one Linux From Scratch installation, or even getting half way through a build, teaches a new Linux user immensely if they read the documentation and do their research. Are these good distributions for a beginner? Who is to say? It largely depends on what each person feels comfortable jumping into.

Bottom line is that a new Linux user needs to pick a distribution that is friendly enough to foster a learning environment that will allow a skill set to flourish. The choice should be left up to the person picking the distribution. Providing feedback that is largely dependent on opinion and opinion alone, is counter intuitive. Advice should help the decision making process, not make the decision for the receiver.

The finer points of managing a Linux operating system are kept under the hood in a distribution like RHEL. That is what the large enterprise companies are paying for when they subscribe to RHEL. If you ever plan to get to the point where an enterprise company hires you as a system administrator, you first need to learn how Linux works.

With that said, the CompTIA Linux+ Certification is an excellent way to learn Linux. Information about it can be found here.

adding to the said above: stay on command line, no matter what else is offered. Using GUI tools (even the TUI tools) keeps you away from the real thing and narrows down your possibilities. Gnome, KDE etc are nice playgrounds for users and definitely have their use cases, but administration can (IMHO) only be done properly from CLI.

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Every year some-one does a survey of the distros used on web servers. The common ones are always Debian Stable and CentOS. CentOS is the free version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux: if you have enough in-house expertise to run your own web servers 24/7, you probably don't need to pay for RHEL support.

No-one is going to use Arch in a production environment because it's not stable enough: it's a hobbyist's distro. No-one is going to use Arch or Slackware because they don't have tools for automated installation: imagine the poor administrator with 50 computers to install on and every single one has to be done manually! Also Slackware does so many things differently to other Linuxes and its repository lacks most of the things that businesses need. Don't get me wrong: these are both very good products, but they're not for business use.

So, my advice would normally be to get Debian Stable or CentOS. But you already have Ubuntu, which is built on Debian. If you learn that, concentrating on working with the command line, it will be a very good start, as what you learn will also apply to Debian. And a lot of companies and organisations actually use Ubuntu: Google, Wikipedia, the French parliament, the Dutch police... There's a lot ot silly snobery in Linux: "My distro is better than your distro!" -- ignore it.

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I suggest you do your research before you state inaccurate facts. See the section on automated installation. See this LQ post. It is perfectly possible to do a mass automated installation of Slackware over a network.

Please explain what you mean. I switched from Debian to Slackware a couple weeks ago and have not encountered this lack of software you are referring to. Most packages are available in one Slackware repository or another. Slackware does not do much differently compared to other distributions aside from leaving freedom of choice available in how a system is configured or customized. This statement is ambiguous and inaccurate.

My distro is better than your distro - he said. And bamm - he found one!