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  Gentoo   Gentoo is not for the faint of heart   It wouldn't be wrong to claim that the current crop of Linux distros expend far too much effort to appear more pleasing to new users. From installation to package management, everything is aimed at being more user friendly. What's more, most of these distros aim to take much of the control away from users.   With Gentoo, users can exert their influence in building the system from the ground up. It's one of the most configurable distros, and expects you to compile the kernel after tweaking it according to your needs during the installation.   The distro packs an awesome package management system in Portage which you must use to fetch every package you wish to install. The Gentoo DVD, although not an installation medium, can be used to come to terms with the Portage system.   You will encounter a steep learning curve as you're introduced to critical Linux internals and several new techno…

Conclusion   With hundreds of possible distros to choose from, it's never easy to select a few and make recommendations. We've tried to pick distros that will suit the different skillsets of users.   For those looking to move away from proprietary offerings, Elementary OS, with its focus on beauty and functionality, may seem like the obvious choice. More than 100 Keyboard Shortcuts (Microsoft Windows) Linux Mint, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, and Mageia are flexible enough to appeal to new and experienced users alike. While it can be used as a desktop, Debian is still best suited for running servers.   Fedora used to be a wonderful desktop distro, but being the test bed for Red Hat Enterprise Linux makes it unsuitable for most new users. Thankfully, Korora has stepped up to replace Fedora as the perfect RPM-based desktop distro. Linux Sparky Gentoo is the only oddity in our list, and certainly not for the novice. Most experienced users also shy away from it becau…

More than 100 Keyboard Shortcuts (Microsoft Windows) Sparky Linux   Sparky is based on the Testing branch of Debian   Based on the Testing branch of Debian, Sparky Linux releases regular installable images despite being a rolling release distro. Designed to work with older hardware, it's also at home with newer machines.   The distro also borrows Debian's installer and is available in several editions, each favouring a separate lightweight desktop environment. Apart from the installer, the different flavours also share several custom Sparky apps.   The SparkyAPTus app provides a basic front-end to the command line apt-get and dpkg tools and serves as a capable software management tool. The new SparkyAPTus Extra utility can be used to install popular apps such as Dropbox, Skype, Steam, Tor Browser and more with a single click. Linux Elementary OS The distro also includes custom apps to back up and restore app settings. The settings are saved in …

  Elementary OS Elementary is a slick performer, and a looker too   Despite being a derivative of Ubuntu, Elementary has little in common with its source. Apart from using Ubuntu's backend, almost every other component of the distro is home-grown. Elementary OS features a custom application launcher, file manager, desktop environment, icons, themes and more.   The distro also places a great emphasis on design and as a result offers a curious choice of default software packages. It draws inspiration from Apple products and features several custom apps. Its Apple fixation is evident from tools like Snap, a webcam application similar to Apple's Photo Booth. Other custom tools include Geary Mail, Scratch text editor, Audience video player, Gala window manager, and there are many more. Some of these tools, like Audience and Snap, will debut with the next release, Freya. Linux Mageia The distro is lightweight and blazingly fast. It doesn't offer many apps …

Korora   Korora is now based on Fedora Linux Mageia   This distro was initially based on Gentoo but now uses Fedora as its base. It ships separate editions for Gnome, Cinnamon, Mate, KDE and XFCE, and offers each for 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.   As the project is based on Fedora, a new Korora release is shipped roughly two to four weeks after the latest Fedora release. The distro ships a live DVD which includes a wide array of applications, making it suitable for a large number of users. This package selection is driven by the distro's need to be usable straight out of the box. Linux Fedora Apart from the included software, you can always install even more packages from the software repositories. Several third-party repositories, such as RPMFusion, Google Chrome and VirtualBox are configured by default. The newer releases of the distro also include the Steam client.   The default browser, Firefox, ships with several useful extensions su…

Mageia Mageia 4 was released earlier this year   Mageia is the result of the community-driven fork of the Mandriva Linux distribution. Back in 1998, Mandrake Linux, based on Red Hat Linux 5.1, was the first distro designed for the everyday user. The distro underwent several name changes and acquisitions. After persisting with many incarnations, the community members decided to fork Mandriva. More than 100 Keyboard Shortcuts (Microsoft Windows) The first Mageia release was in 2011 and the project has produced four major releases since then. The latest, Mageia 4, was unleashed early this year. Mageia is an RPM-based distro backed by a solid community infrastructure. Along with an installable Live image, the project also ships an install-only DVD. The distro offer both KDE and Gnome desktops. Software packages are split into three repositories named Core, Nonfree and Tainted. Between the three, the distro provides just about all the packages you may need. Propri…

  Debian Debian can be configured as a desktop or server OS   While this distro is still considered to be the best offering for rolling out servers, Debian has also made inroads into the desktop. It now ships with all the popular desktop environments such as Gnome, KDE, Mate, XFCE, etc. The recent releases have also introduced a simpler installer. Debian is flexible and can be configured as a desktop, or as a web/mail/file server. One of the biggest contributions Debian made to the free software world was the dpkg manager, which is the underlying system on several popular distros like Ubuntu and Mint. It ships with no proprietary drivers or codecs, but being one of the oldest and most popular Linux distros has its advantages. Almost every software vendor provides pre-packaged binaries for Debian, so installing stuff is a breeze. The project subscribes to the "release when ready" philosophy but aims to release a new distro every two years. Debian produ…

  Linux Mint   Mint wisely steers clear of any interface controversy   There are two key reasons for Mint's stellar rise in the popular distro charts. One is that it's based on Ubuntu, and the other is that despite being based on Ubuntu, its default desktop is much more traditional than Ubuntu's controversial Unity interface.   Linux Mint offers users a choice of two Gnome-based environments, which are dubbed Mate and Cinnamon. Mate is designed to be a faithful continuation of the outdated Gnome 2 desktop. Cinnamon on the other hand appears more modern with a neat menu that provides quick access to all the system's settings and applications in one place.   Like Ubuntu, this distro is also preloaded with a full complement of daily use applications for work and pleasure. But in a marked departure from several mainstream distros like Ubuntu and Fedora, Mint ships with audio and video codecs catering to your multimedia needs out of the box.   The latest rele…

  Fedora   Fedora most certainly isn't old hat   One of the oldest Linux distros, Fedora can trace its origins back to the 1990s and Red Hat Linux. Fedora came into being when Red Hat decided to split its Red Hat Linux distribution into Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora Project in 2003.   The distro aims to provide a completely free software system and has traditionally been pitched as an alternative to Ubuntu. Due to its focus on providing bleeding edge software and server-centric features, this RPM-based distro has often been described as suitable for advanced users.   Fedora's ease of use has diminished since the introduction of the Gnome 3 desktop, a phenomenal departure from the traditional desktop metaphor. The Gnome project, however, has worked tirelessly to provide a better user experience to new users and this is evident in the latest releases.   Fedora has traditionally lacked a decent software management tool despite seve…