I've been running Gentoo Linux on my DHCP server/Firewall for the past year and a half. Some circular dependencies that I should have taken care of better managed to make the machine unbootable the last time I tried updating it and I have decided that instead of rebuilding gentoo (a process that would take no less than a day...you compile everything from source) that I was going to branch out and try a different distro, something that has precompiled packages this time...

So here's what I'm looking for. I want a distro that is quick to install but not so easy that it won't let me leave out X when installing it. I want something that keeps up-to-date with the latest patches and fixes (this is my main protection from the outside internet after all). Preferably, I want something that is going to recognize all my hardware without me having to recompile the kernel, though I could do it if I thought the distro was otherwise idea.

I know that's not a lot to go on and that a lot of distros would fit it, which is why I decided to get outside opinions. What have you or do you use? Bad experiences, good experiences. I don't want to put something on here only to find that I hate it in a month and have to either suffer through it or take down my internet while I install something else.

RHEL or Suse

try RHEL but you will need to buy a support
or you can try freeware CentOS its based on RHEL and it have normal support so you can keep your sustem up-to-date
i've run CentOS on the servers three year and didint have aby problem with booting updating and drivers for new hardware
Also you can tru Ubuntu. Im using it on my laptop

On workstation i've used Mandrake. now its named Mandriva

I've had a couple of people mention CentOS to me. My problem with Ubuntu is that it installs a bunch of crap I don't need and don't want to take the time to get off and there is no way to turn off in the installation process. I'm not sure of the state of Mandrake/Mandriva at this time, but I might look into it. I remember being able to actually select what packages I wanted on install.

Easy.... Debian.

Go for a minimal net install and build your system from there.

If you want some newer packages there is always backports and testing.

Ta,

Chris.