Which is a better linux os?

Question

i am a web developer and i have a server that im gonna use to manage my site.Ive narrowed down my results to fedora and debian.which is better and more open

Answer 1

Either Fedora or Debian would be fine as a base. Its the Linux Web development tools which are the main issue.

Taken from http://www.linux.com/feature/48643

A survey of Linux Web development tools

Choice is a good thing, and Linux users have plenty of it when selecting a program for Web development. Users can choose from the basic no-frills text editors, to full-featured "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) programs. Here's a survey of the best programs I've used.

This is by no means an exhaustive overview of all Web development programs available for Linux. For example, since the original Mozilla Suite has largely been displaced by Firefox and Thunderbird, I've decided not to review Mozilla Composer (or Netscape Composer). I've also kept to programs that are mature, and available under free and open source software licenses.

This is also not an exhaustive overview of all features in each program. I've tried to highlight some of the most interesting features in each program. In particular, I've focused on HTML/XHTML editing and support for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

Let's start with a look at two general-purpose editors, Vim and Emacs, that offer some specific features for Web development.

Vim

Vim is one of the most popular text editors for Linux users, and it offers a number of useful features for editing HTML and other languages you might use for Web development.

One of the first features I look for in any editor is syntax highlighting. Vim supports syntax highlighting for HTML, PHP, Python, Perl, CSS, and many other languages. Vim uses syntax files for each markup or programming language, and if it doesn't have a syntax file for your favorite language (unlikely), it's possible to write your own.

Another useful feature in Vim is support for editing files on remote machines. Vim can edit files over FTP, Secure FTP (SFTP), SSH (scp), rsync, and other protocols. This may be a bit slower than editing a local file, but it's otherwise seamless.

Vim is also very extensible. It's not too difficult to add keymaps that insert frequently used tags, and to create scripts or macros to use with Vim. The Vim Web site has quite a few tips on using Vim more effectively, and scripts to extend its functionality.

One script I recommend is the closetag.vim script, which makes it easy to "close" the last tag used. For example, if you've put in a <strong> tag, press Ctrl-_ to insert the </strong> tag. Another useful add-on for Vim is HTML.vim, which provides a set of mappings and menus for working with HTML.

If you're not familiar with Vim, it's not your best choice for doing Web development. If you have experience with Vim, spend a little time checking out Vim's advanced features that make Web development easy.

Emacs

Like Vim, Emacs enjoys a great deal of popularity amongst Linux users -- although usually not the same users. Emacs is particularly popular with users who've been working with Linux or other Unix-type systems for a long time. As with Vim, Emacs has all the features you'd expect in a world-class text editor that make working with text easy. However, if you're looking for WYSIWYG features, Emacs is not for you.

By itself, Emacs is pretty good for Web development. It supports syntax highlighting for a number of languages, and completion of tags and other standard language keywords so that you don't need to type out the entire HTML tag or keyword.

Emacs is also extensible, and there are a number of Emacs modes that make things even easier. The html-helper-mode, for example, provides shortcuts to insert HTML tags and entities, and even an entire HTML document "skeleton" with all the basic tags a document needs. The html-helper-mode also brings support for basic CSS.

The Transparent Remote (file) Access, Multiple Protocol (TRAMP) package makes it easy to edit files on remote servers with Emacs. TRAMP works over Remote Shell (RSH), SFTP, and SSH (scp).

Of course, the other benefit to Emacs is that you can do pretty much anything from the editor. Want to read email from Emacs? No problem. Want to chat in IRC using Emacs? You can do that too. This has little to do with Web development, but if you "live" in Emacs already, you probably want to do your Web development with it as well.

Emacs, like Vim, is fairly complex -- it's very powerful, but it will probably take novice users a while to master.

This article is carried over to a second page on the source link.

LUg.

Answer 2

Both Fedora and Debian are the same OS, being "Linux". They are different distributions though. Debian is known for stability and security (although OpenBSD is probably the most secure in the UNIX-world). Due to that, the software versions might be a little outdated.

There is no "better" here. They are slightly different and I'd prefer Debian over Fedora any time, but that's my personal experience/preference.

If you really want a decent server OS, go for a BSD (OpenBSD, FreeBSD etc.). Very clean, very robust and stable :)

Answer 3

Hi Dear

I understand your question on choosing the right OS for right purpose of web hosting..uploads and web creating/editing.

I would suggest using Ubuntu Oerating System and you can download it right here .Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server Edition - Supported to 2013

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

Why you should use ubuntu,

Ubuntu has best community support , even better than the ones you mentioned,

Application installation is very easy in ubuntu unlike fedora . Fedora is rigid as per the support and variety of applications.

you have to use apt-get program which is already in the uubuntu os and apt-get install <your program> will install your program 90% because all latest and greatest program are added in repository by community and ubuntu developers.

updating and upgrading the os is easy in ubuntu and not only that at beginning installing OS itself is very easy....

give it a try and I am sure ubuntu won't let you down...

Good luck with manging web stuff..

Answer 4

I started reading Tom Hagen on Fedora and Debian being the same OS and said NO.  I was thinking about the guy at the Linux User Group I go to who said he hates Fedora Core 9 because it's NOT UNIX.  And Debian has the Debian Hurd distro -- Debian with a GNU Hurd (that is hacked Mach) kernel.  Then as I read him I realized the rest of what he said made a lot of sense.  Especially try Unix.

Debian is actually more open right now.  That doesn't necessarily mean it's "better", by default Fedora puts up an selinux server which has some security advantages you can of course throw away if you like.  If your server is relatively modest I would go with Debian -- or with Slackware which of course is the closest thing to Vanilla Linux there is.  If you have the iron for some serious overhead, I'd think seriously about Fedora.  The only down side is Gnome and Mono come in Fedora (at least the latest and greatest Fedora) by default, and of course Mono is one reason I threw Gnome off my debian box.  Daily crashes are for Windows users and other losers.

But also, think very seriously about FreeBSD.