I am collecting Linux boot disks and I am trying to learn the subtle difference between Red Hat, Ubunto, Suse, ect. Any information could be very helpful.
Thank you

how many should you have?? one should be fine really... you're best of going with one major popular one and getting comfortable with it, then diversifying if you wish. don't look to get overwhelmed by the big inconsistencies that do exist.

My opinion:
Download all distros that interest you. Use each for a while to get a feel. Find the one that you think suits you best. Use it until you're really comfortable. When you're ready, play with others some more, just to get your hands on the different tools that each provides.

My reasoning:
Fedora is my distro. This means I know my way around the Fedora file system, and the nuances particular to Fedora (that you can only find in Fedora).
As a tech, I think it best to get to know more than just Fedora. I think I should get to know Ubuntu, as it is more of a beginner's distro. New Linux users will likely flock to Ubuntu. When I feel I'm ready, I'll also try to tackle Slackware, since it's a distro configured for the more advanced.
This way, when a friend running Knoppix gets stuck, I will hopefully be able to dig him out easily enough, because I know the tools for that distro too.

One of the things about Windows (I'm not rooting for Windows) is that there is effectively one interface, and one set of tools. Once you learn them on one system, you're set on any other system you touch. With Linux, one distro may have a totally different set of tools than another.

SlowCoder
so NOT true!
ok I agree with the Ubuntu part
but I would disagree with the Slackware part
I'm no "advanced linux user" or I was not, but i'm still using slackware from the begining of my "linux path"
first I tried Mandrake(now known as Mandriva), had it installed for 3-4 days, i crashed it, had to reinstall, and had an electrical faulire, disk crashed(disk heads scratched the disks a bit 2 much)
then tried Red Hat, witch I borrowed from a friend, installed for few hours, then there was suse 8 or 9 i think, installed and deleted...
then I had my "linux pause" witch lasted 3-4 years
after that I installed slackware 10 and never used any other distro, when i was a complete newbie(like i'm any better now lol) and never had a problem using it, ok minor problems witch got fixed in a day or two
so don't scare people with slackware like it is a ghost in the dark

my opinion on your question would be
don't download all distros, it's heck of a lot to download(almoast all newer distros come on a DVD)
download all their's LiveCDs
it will also give you a feel
and when you find your best, download it full and install it

and what tools are your talking about?
i use slackware
my friend uses KUbuntu and i never had a problem of finding any tools
as there were all the same
maybe you meant the GNOME and KDE tools, these are different...

There seems to be the general misconception that everybody who uses Ubuntu/SuSE/MEPIS/whatever is a "new user" and everybody who uses Slackware/Gentoo/etc. is an "advanced user". Quite not the case.

If you want to know the so called "subtle differences" between distributions, you'll have to get familiar with each and every one. Don't grab ISOs like crazy. Say you grab Fedora, Gentoo, Slackware and Ubuntu. By the time you've tried and ran the first 3 long enough to know what they're about, Ubuntu will probably have a new release.

Take on distribution, try it out, see if you like it etc. If you can't come to a decision and want to try something else, do it. Nobody says that if you go (i.e. this route:

Slackware->Fedora->Gentoo->Ubuntu->Suse you can't, afterwards, go back to Fedora. And then back to Slackware. And then to Fedora again. And then SuSE. And then you decide on Gentoo. Until you give it up and settle for Fedora. But then you discover you want to try out Arch Linux. A N Y W A Y. This whole process of hopping from distro to distro back and forth and forth and back will give you a rough idea of some of the differences.

Also, try not to be a jack of all trades, master of none.

Cool, we all have our favorites. We don't have to agree on which is the best.

However ...
Please reread my statement. I said it is geared for more advanced users. "Ghost in the dark"?

I think it's ok to download the LiveCD's for a very cursory look. But the cursory look doesn't really involve you in the subtle nuances of each OS. Unless you're actually going to install to your hard drive, you won't be able to tinker with Linux without losing all of your changes. You can only personalize a LiveCD distro so much, which generally requires space on a hard drive or other writable device, anyway. Why not go ahead and dual-boot?

- Directory structure and configuration files. Example: Fedora keeps net files in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts directory, while Slack keeps (kept?) them in the /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf file.
- Configuration utilities. Different distributions come with different various utilities. Example: Fedora comes with the 'yum' package manager, and Ubuntu comes with 'apt'.

I suppose it all depends on what you ultimately want to do with your Linux knowledge. I am a systems tech. This is my perspective, and the direction from which I originally posted. I want to know as much about Linux as possible, and be able to configure servers, etc. This means I need to investigate each distro. Another user may just want to browse the web and type documents. Those users would probably end up happy enough with Ubuntu as their distro.

Point taken. However, if I need to fix a LILO boot issue, but I only know GRUB, I'm stuck. Having to research before I can fix it. So, for me, knowing as much as is possible about as many of the utilities as possible is a good thing.

I agree with everyone here. Best thing to do is find a distro you are most interested in. If you want to play with lilo and grub make a dual boot system and play with two. I love Slackware but my wife loves Ubuntu. The main question is what are you going to do with it, and will it do everything or can it be made to do everything that interest you. I tried many of the live distro's and settled on Slackware because I liked the look and feel as well as the options. Some distros may be easier to use (they call them newbie distros) but any distro's ability is only limited by the user. Thats just the beauty of linux. The rest is eye candy.