best linux os for gameserver

[Rio]

I have the choice between four operation systems on my new root server. Whats the best for game and voiceserver? Here are they:
Suse 9.1
Debian Woody 3.0
Debian Sarge
Fedora 2.0

Thanks for help!

[Goofy666]

My server is running with Debian Sarge, Fedora is also used a lot if I read around this forums... My vote would go to Debian if you know how to work with the command line, it's the only one of those distributions which comes without a GUI which makes it (standard) a lot faster (read: less resource consuming) then SuSE or Fedora.

Debian Sarge is stable enough to run an srcds server, no need for Woody here.

/edit: Fyi, Fedora is already at version 3.

[Rio]

I used SuSe 9.0 on my old server. Is the handling almost the same as on Debian?

[Goofy666]

Definitely not, unless you've always worked through the console. In that case differences should be minimal.

As you've noticed, SuSE has a nice GUI to work with. If you want a GUI for Debian you have to install one specifically as it is not in the 'standard' installation of Debian. However if you know how to work with the shell (if you are working with Linux you should at least have minimum knowledge about this) you will be fine in Debian without installing a GUI. The advantage of not installing a GUI is the performance gain, as the GUI will use a lot of your system's resources.

If, for example you're about to use the tutorial from the Tutorials section you can easily use Debian for it, as all the installation steps are done through the shell.

[messiahnet]

Quote:My vote would go to Debian if you know how to work with the command line, it's the only one of those distributions which comes without a GUI which makes it (standard) a lot faster (read: less resource consuming) then SuSE or Fedora.

This is not necessarily true. I am running Fedora Core 3. The cool thing about linux (most distros anyways) is the ability to customize it to any extent that you want. With Fedora (and most others), you can install without XWindows. Now, you don't have to worry about a GUI cluttering Hard Drive space, memory, or CPU power. I recommend always doing a Custom Installation no matter what distro it is. It's impossible for the defaults to make everyone happy. That's why they let you select what's best for you. In conclusion, I use Fedora Core 3. I would be open to just about any distro except for the fact that RedHat-based distros (like Fedora) use primarily the RPM package system. This is my main reason for choosing Fedora.

[skysurf76]

The issue of of a GUI on a Linux distro eating memory is very easily fixed.

In the /etc/inittab file (every linux distro SHOULD have this) simply find the line that says something to the effect of default, or default runlevel, and if the computer is set to boot into graphical mode you will see a 5 by it. Change the 5 to a 3 and it will now boot into text mode thereby saving all the memory that the GUI would use. Usually once the computer is booted into text mode, you simply log in at the prompt and type startx and that will bring back up your GUI.

Heres a link for a bit of reference.

http://apollo.saultc.on.ca/~fcarella/PersonalHowtos/boot.slave/RedHat/6.0/etc/inittab

You can see in that file the line.......

id:3:initdefault:

3 means its set to boot into text based mode, if it was 5 it would boot into graphical mode. Thats the line with the number you change.

[Ap0kalipSe]

I use slackware10 on all our current hlds servers, just starting to look into srcds ( hence registering here )

my private box runs fc2 with latest kernel

[FiRe]

SuSe is really the best "linux" variant, 9.1 at the moment, 9.2 (with 2.6.11 kernel!) when it's released soon

[cryotek]

I still love my Gentoo servers running 2.6.11

[Ap0kalipSe]

9.2 is out?

[Lifyre]

Hehe this is like asking a room full of Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, etc... what is the best Christian denomination?