# Which flavor of Linux should I use for a Rails dev box? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [September 30, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/which-flavor-of-linux-should-i-use-for-a-rails-dev-box/195823 "2010-09-30T20:10:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sithadmin)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/which-flavor-of-linux-should-i-use-for-a-rails-dev-box/195823/1 "2010-09-30T20:10:31Z")
Hey everyone, I’m looking to set up a development server for my Rails project and have a shiny new hard drive. Which version of Linux is the best to use? Or does it not really matter? Thanks in advance for any help. ---
**Author:** ![sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sithadmin)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/which-flavor-of-linux-should-i-use-for-a-rails-dev-box/195823/2 "2010-09-30T20:15:38Z")
I am partial to Ubuntu Server 10.04 (current version). Given, I was new to Linux the first time I set it up for a production server and overall pretty easy to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sithadmin)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/which-flavor-of-linux-should-i-use-for-a-rails-dev-box/195823/3 "2010-09-30T20:27:55Z")
On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 1:10 PM, Jeff M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I’m looking to set up a development server for my Rails project and have > a shiny new hard drive. Which version of Linux is the best to use? I use Debian. > Or does it not really matter? Versioning aside, every Linux OS looks 99.99% identical compared to any other… same glibc, same gcc, same Linux kernel. I find it’s the package manager that makes me like to use a certain flavor of Linux or not. I like dpkg/apt, so I like Debian and it’s family of off-shoots like Ubuntu. I hate rpm with every bone in my body, so I steer clear of RedHat, Fedora, Suse, and Mandake (or whatever they’re calling it this week), etc. One thing I also always look for is if it makes me install an X server or not. If it does then I’d never use it. I like my development machines to be headless, giving all the cpu and memory to my development. – Greg D. [destiney.com](http://destiney.com) | [gregdonald.com](http://gregdonald.com) ---
**Author:** ![sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sithadmin)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/which-flavor-of-linux-should-i-use-for-a-rails-dev-box/195823/4 "2010-09-30T21:09:42Z")
Jeff M. wrote: > Hey everyone, > > I’m looking to set up a development server for my Rails project and have > a shiny new hard drive. Which version of Linux is the best to use? > Or does it not really matter? > > Thanks in advance for any help. I use Ubuntu. In general, it doesn’t seem to matter much; pick a distro you otherwise like. ## Best, Marnen Laibow-Koser [http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sithadmin)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/which-flavor-of-linux-should-i-use-for-a-rails-dev-box/195823/5 "2010-09-30T20:37:17Z")
On 2010-09-30T20:10:31, Jeff M. wrote: > I’m looking to set up a development server for my Rails project and have > a shiny new hard drive. Which version of Linux is the best to use? > Or does it not really matter? Debian has superior package management ([http://debian.org](http://debian.org), [http://www.debian.org/misc/children-distros](http://www.debian.org/misc/children-distros)) and a very large collection of packages. There is, by definition, little or no difference between distributions with respect to Rails. You install the same gems. ## /Allan Allan Wind Life Integrity, LLC [http://lifeintegrity.com](http://lifeintegrity.com)