"DistroWatchis a website, it's a portal, it's a news and reference site about Linuxdistributions," says Ladislav Bodnar, the founder of ,which is perhaps the Web's most complete survey of the different flavors ofLinux available out there.
Linuxdistributions are built on the same reliable core but each one adds differentbells and whistles.Some distros (asthey're known) are for general home, school, or business use. Othersspecialize: there are editions for Linux novices and computer security experts;Christians and Muslims; language versions in Vietnamese and Bulgarian andFarsi, among others; even minimalist versions for old and slow computers. Butmost users will be interested in the mainstream offerings on the MajorDistributions page.
"Thislists the 10 most popular Linux distributions with screen shots and littledescriptions that tell you what it is and what it's best for," saysBodnar. "That can help somebody new to Linux decide how to choose theirdistribution."
Andone of the great things about Linux is that many distributions come in the formof a live CD, which boots up on your computer without affecting anything onyour hard drive, so you can do a no-risk test.
LadislavBodnar says DistroWatch gets more than 100,000 visitors a day. Others keep upwith the Linux world by subscribing to the various RSS news feeds or bylistening to the site's podcast.