I have worked with LMdk 6.x-8.0, RH5.2-7.1, SuSE, Corel (joke), Caldera 2.2-2.4, Debian, Slack and a few smaller distros.

For Internet gateway/firewall I would go with Caldera Open Linux 2.3, but use good NICs like ones from Intel. COL2.3 is a quick install when you don't want and GUI apps.

For anything else, Linux-Mandrake 7.2. I even use LMdk7.2 for mixed network servers and for desktop workstations. IMO it has the best install and at the end of the install it askes you if you want to create an install disk to duplicate the one you just did. I have a disk for Web and mail server, one for Networked Workstation, one plain install for router/firewall installs, one for network storage device and database server, and one with the works minus a bit of junk that comes on the 4 CD's. It's a big time saver when you do a lot of installs, but it's also great for that single install when you want it to detect a lot of hardware.

RH7.0 is not an improvement over a fully patch RH6.2, I think it, along with LMdk8.0 are both as buggy as it gets, maybe has to do with the new 2.4 kernel, so I'm waiting for the stable versions 7.2 and 8.2 to be released.

Debian and Slack, great compilations, solid distros, but a lot more work to get set up, so why reinvent the wheel. I guess I'm just too lazy and would rather someone compile all the goodies for me. :P

SuSE was a pain in the butt, so I didn't even get much futher than installing and networking up and running. just didn't like the feel of it, but there are a lot who do like it.

Corel, well I won't even go there as it would probably get moderated to death.

There are a lot of good "tiny" Linux distros out there. Build a router in 5-10 minutes with some of those, but most lacking in NIC drivers.

Skot.

My experience, that is not very big, is the following,

I've been using window$ for too long, one day I decided to try Linux, I'd use it if it did the same or better then win, and coul menage my stuff in Word and excel, so....

I started with RH7.0, a distro included in a book about RH, but RH did not work, I could not install it properly and Lilo never worked.

Then I tried Mandrake 7.2, I was extremely pleased to see a great suit of Office like aps and a very nice setup install interface and a rpm manager that atually worked very well. but Lilo still did not work.

Then, after a real War against Win98 and Lilo with the help of some friends here and some support from some others I finally manged to get it all working with Win98 in a 15Gb drive and RH7.2 in a 6Gb one, all together and happy with Lilo working properly.

But.....

RH7.2 is not very friendly, and since Win98 is all gone for good, for I have some kind of virus that is slowing me down very much, I am going to reinstall Win 98, and use it as a game station.

And I am going to install Mandrake 8.0 and use it to work, email and surf, in peace, safety and full protection.

This is what I did and what I'll do next.

My advise is still, try a lot, then choose one and by the way, I tried Slackware, free BSD and Open BSD. Forget it, if you want a simple system that does it all without a fuss and without haveing the will to sladgehammer your PC go for Mandrake 8.0.

Ask yourself: Do I really need a server? a mail server? a Samba server, a bla bla bla server, if you don't, go for Mandrake, and if you do, go for Mandrake, but above all, try to keep it simple, and before doing anything, READ THE MANUAL, and then READ THE ARTICLES HERE, eheheheh that's what I did, and it saved me.

Good luck

There can be only one, may it be LINUX

all right pipas great take!

well, i found a caldera book in a bargain bin and took it home for 4.95$!!
so, i tried it out and got very lousy results only because my system cant use xf86setup....
it never has even on other distros.

pipas yur 100% correct! this is a great board, everything i know about linux i learned here!