New Linux distro?

These last years have really taught us about openness/open-source/free-software etc.
I've been onto Linux since first distributions of Slackware, back in 1996... I've been testing different Linux or Unix distributions every now and then, mainly testing their progress.

• Mandrake impressed me in 1999, when it shipped out of the box with i586 compiled kernel and packets. Then I saw that an easy Linux distribution doesn't really have to be named redHat to be stable and reliable. And what about that really cool installer, way over redHat's Anaconda. Version after version they improved their config tools (hardDrake, drakeConf), distribution packages and introduced nice small features - back then there were some of them where very innovative and cool - like: lilo graphical mode, graphical console, graphical console with a cool background, graphical booting with progressbar indicator, nice little graphical fdisk utility even in the installer, etc.
• I've tried SuSE in 1998 and in 2001 and I was disappointed (first contact was with a German version of SuSE and it was painfully hard on me and in 2001 Mandrake or Slackware seemed to me as a better choice). Last year I've tried version 9.1 and was very impressed. The only drawback it had: little support for developers, witch was very bad.
• I've never really liked RedHat or Fedora simply because of the multimedia glitches and various licensed technologies problems (as no mp3 decoding capabilities, no ntfs support)
• Slackware was as always more of a distribution for experts: with it's sober installer and minimalist media. Instead was bitchin' fast and very good choice for systems with little resources. Worked great for me.
• Lindows was always a joke of a Linux distribution. All that debate on "running windows apps capability right out of the box" (aka "we ship our system with wine, but you'll have to configure it by hand and then you'll have to run it by yourself. Cool!") and "click-and-run" system (aka "click-go-to-our-website-buy-pay-download-and-run" - cool acronym.
• QNX was bliss when I first saw a QNX distribution on a single diskette (1.44MB). Way cool! All you had to do is to write the image on a diskette, then boot with it and there you had it: a realtime os, a cool graphical interface, network support, modem support, a browser and few other applications. You had to be impressed! A later version (6.1) wasn't that big of a fuss, because it already diverged so much from the regular Linux distributions that it's about worthless for a simple home/power user.
• I've tested a FreeBSD in 2003 and more recently a 5.3. cool system, an X system that was way faster that anything in that moment
• Knoppix launched a new style: Live Distros. A very cool and practical idea, also reasonably flexible and fast. Tons of packets at a click-of-a-button distance away from you.

Mini-Distros:

• Damn Small Linux (DSL) & QEMU - nice small distro, with lots of packages, and weights less than 64MB (~50). With QEMU you can run Linux in a virtual-machine on top of Windows for example. (to be noted that QEMU supports multiple platforms)
• Shinux - Very cool French distro. The full version is about 154MB large but has very good hardware support and lots of good packets. It's a little bit multimedia oriented but it's a nice little distro for all purposes.

I've tested last month few distributions:

• SuSE 9.3 - At some point tried version 9.1 and was very impressed. 9.3 it's only better. It's solid, has good support (no mp3 support right of the box :( ) for hardware (YaST it's a hell of a application, I tell you that!), lots of good packages and good updates support. This distribution it very polished, even than Mandrake's. Lots of customizations, lots of eye candy, lots of nice little features that make your life easier. Very recommended. Now it's free. OpenSuse it's more like a Fedora distro, and 10.0 it's in my opinion the bleeding edge now.
• Mandriva 2005 LE - I would be absurd to tell you that I've tried them all since 8.0, but I've had my share of Mandrake because it was the best distribution in my opinion: fast, good hardware support, good config tools, lots of polish, good distribution (lots of good packets), good update support and good developer tools. Very recommended.
• Ubuntu 5.04 - I've heard so much about this distro that I had to try it. Ubuntu stands for "humanity to others" or "I am what I am because of who we all are". It means that this distribution will have the same support for everyone, for free. I've tried it on, but no luck with my video board (ATI 9600XT), no luck with my sound card (Audigy 1), a pretty small installer with little room to chose your packages at the install time... What should I say, I didn't feel too good. It's like you're somehow restricted to use its full power only because lots of people will have a hard time installing a Linux distro (which it's not the case anymore for many assortments of Linux).

I've heard of these distros (which determined me to write this article), and I'm determined to have a look at them in the near future. If you get to play with them, please let me know.

• Elive 0.3 (Enlightment Live) - Looks cool, loved the avi with E17 demo (lots of eye candy)
• Open Solaris - the greatest UNIX that I know of. Now Sun decide that it's wonder baby will be free, for everyone (the x86 version was free since v8.0 but now it's Open Source. Cool!)

Some cool sites that you have to dig for yourselves:

• DistroWatch - the first site regarding Linux distros.
• Linux Planet - good Linux related articles. And something related to my article here.
  
• Linux Magazine - some good articles