0

Possible Duplicate:
Linux distributions comparison

As a Windows developer, I want to start developing on Linux - developing web apps using NetBeans, Ruby etc. I'm confused as to what to use - Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Lubuntu/Fedora/Debian...?! Why are there so many distributions of Linux? What's that about?

Appreciate it if someone could guide me on this.

Update: Thanks for all your answers. I installed Ubuntu and after about 30 minutes, the mouse freezes! Still looking for a fix :(

Community
  • 1
Zabba
  • 879

5 Answers5

2

Well, it's always a personal choice. I suggest you to start with Ubuntu 10.04 because of 1 rule:

Bigger the community, better the support.

Netbeans 4.1 works on Linux (for sure in Ubuntu)

zengr
  • 1,384
2

I just installed Linux Mint (first installation of Linux for me). Being a Windows developer, I'm so far very happy about it - I'm trying to learn Python, Vala and Mono on it. And as far as I understand it - NetBeans should work on most Linux distros incl. Ubuntu and Mint (which is based on Ubuntu).

Story about the many distros - I guess, since the source code is freely available, many people will decide to make a distro that fits exactly their needs...

Goblin
  • 136
0

Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Lubuntu are all based on Debian, the distribution I favor for my servers. They all have shorter release cycles than Debian and have an integrated desktop system.

For development machines I also would recommend Ubuntu because I like Debian and you get early updates through the shorter release cycle.

If you are developing through a virtual machine like virtual box, you could run several different distributions on your windows host and use your windows netbeans ide to connect to the headless (no desktop system) virtual machines.

0

Since you're a Windows user I would recommend that you install cygwin and donwload a UNIX tutorial to star practicing, once you feel comfortable with the basic commands then you could do the move to Linux.

Ubuntu (Linux for Human Beings) is the best distribution to start.

Regards.

0

Netbeans 6.8 and 6.9 Installs perfectly in Ubuntu 10.04 and CentOS 5 and certainly many others. You can get the combined Java JDK+Netbeans installer

As others mentioned Ubuntu is the friendlier desktop when coming from Windows. Other distros have different purposes

renick
  • 101