Alternative to Centos
 

Hi all I'm new to these forum but not to Linux I've used several distros ranging from Live CD's to Centos and I'm up for something new and can't make up my mind so I need a little help.

I am looking for a non red hat based distro that is very performance based and relatively easy to learn. This will be used for a personal blog so Apache is a must.

I know that more than one distro will suit my needs for this new experience so I'll take the top 3 listed and start my research from there.

Thanky ou all in advanced

System specs
P3 with 512mb ram

Debian stable.

Cheers,

Evo2.

I'd suggest Ubuntu Server Edition. I've found it quite easy to use; I'm currently setting up an Ubuntu server for personal use. It's essentially the same as the normal Ubuntu desktop edition except that it doesn't come with a graphical interface by default (you can install one pretty easily if you want) and the kernel is tweaked slightly to improve performance.

Debian 5 :)

I agree. Extremly powerfull system for LAMP. Centos is also nice but not so fast and it doesnt have so nice repository. In Debian You have everything. In Centos for example You dont have PHP 5.2.6 in repository... buuuuuuuuuu

If You have x64 hardware... Try x64 bit version.

Do note CentOS (and so does RHEL) keeps the same versions of there tools. So you are sure within a major release your applications shouldn't break. Only security and bug patches applied.

Have yet to see a debian stable be unstable and break, unless you mix testing or unstable with it. Debian is rock solid though. CentOS and Redhat are solid but so is debian, however, note that Debian stable is never and has never been considered bleeding edge either. But has good security updates and a large repository, plus additional repositories like backports which makes things oh so easier to get the occasional newer package you need. So if I haven't made myself clear Debian, possibly Ubuntu Server if you are looking for something with a little more hand holding, the stable version, it is also based on Debian.

I was not talking about debian breakage... but an application that runs on rhel will less likely break as through for example rhel5 all api and stuff keeps the same.

I have to say I prefer debian as I like package manager alot and there are alot of packages.
However I most familiar with RHEL as this is supported and company standard.

I am most familiar with red hat/Centos... as well but in order to add to the resume I have to take a dive so I guess Debian it is. I'm not gonna use a packaged version like Ubuntu but will learn how to build it from the groud up.

Will update on progress later or start a new thread if I run into trouble

AGAIN THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED!!!!!