Recommend me a Distro

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Ok, so I don't know a hell of alot about Linux. I can do some basic stuff from the command line, and can use the various Window Managers no problem at all. I've messed with Ubuntu a little, and I don't mind it, it's pretty good. I've heard it isn't really a good representation of a Linux distro because it's so "dumbed-down".

Basically, I want to learn more about Linux. I'll be dual-booting my main box (which runs Windows) with a Linux distro, but I was wondering which distro would be good for me if I want to learn about Linux and "get my hands dirty"?

I liked Suse, but I'm not too into Linux since I use Ubuntu aswell.

Maybe Gentoo? I know that it's not user friendly, but if you want to learn about the system, it's not bad!

Distrowatch is always good for info on Linux distros.

How deep into the system do you want to go?

Slackware and Debian are good if you want something widely used with lots of software, but not dumbed down. Both of them (especially Debian) are very widely used as a base for new distros.

Arch is good if you want to be deeply involved in the details of setting up your system. Last time I tried it, the "automated installer" told me that it had loaded an installation guide on another virtual terminal, and suggested that I use that and the command line to do the rest of the installation because "all the cool kids do".

If you're willing to write your own config files by hand, arch is great. You don't even have to know how ahead of time, there's pretty good documentation. Also, it has a really knowledgeable and friendly user community.

Try Red Hat

Arch, Debian, and Slackware have reputations of being a bit more in-depth than Ubuntu. Debian is similar to Ubuntu in terms of package management and such, and since you said you didn't like Suse or Fedora, you might want to avoid the Red-Hat style distros in favor of the Debian types.

I prefer Fedora, but since that's been ruled out, Ubuntu is very good as well.

Ubuntu is a very good first distro to use, it's easy to setup and unless you have some kind of wacky or obscure hardware everything should install smoothly. Gentoo as well. In fact, the install when I tried Gentoo was smoother than the install for Windows XP on the same system!

Personally I prefer Red Hat (Fedora Core) because it has such a large user base and is one of the most thoroughly documented distros.