[Canonsx130]

I know there are hundreds of Linux distrbutions out there. Every single one of them are different, having their own pro's and con's. It's really hard for a beginner to understand which one to choose, the problems etc he will have to face and what to expect when installing a particular distro. So I thought I would link you to some very awesome sites that lets you choose a Linux distro according to your needs. In these websites, you will be answering over a dozen questions and in the end, they will show you the most appropriate Linux distro you can choose, it's features and more about it. So I will list two of them in a chronological order, the best one at first.

Zegenie Linux Distro Checker
TuxRadar Linux Distro Picker

Hope you find these links useful. This helped me in the past so I'm sure it will help you too. Good luck!

[rabcor]

I'm already a linux user, i took the former test but was unsatisfied with the result (i wanted to see arch linux in there from my replies but it gave me ubuntu first and then stuff like opensuse the only one it showed i should use that i agreed with was linux mint, and the mandriva which i am unfamiliar with so i can't judge) it seems to choose distros based on your current skill level assuming you do not want to improve your skill level.

The latter test gave me the desired Arch as the best match like i had hoped, listed gentoo highly and my hated ubuntu as low as 82%, it also showed me inbetween those some distros i have never thought about to begin with (Debian, PureOS, Foresight, Slackel...)

So in my opinion:

So for accuracy take the latter link. If you don't know much about linux, don't bother taking the first link as it'll probably just say ubuntu+similar no matter what you do (unless you actually know much about linux)

what i say to beginners is that i recommend ubuntu for people with an apple/mac background, linux mint for people with windows backgrounds, gentoo for people with a BSD background

and if you really really really want to get to know linux, i recommend you start with arch linux, get comfortable with it, get good at using it and then try gentoo (in which you need to customize the kernel settings and C compiler settings upon installation) both of which do not have a GUI installer so you will be forced to get a little familiar with the awesome command line interface (CLI) bash, which is one of the best things about linux to begin with.

[Goodies]

I know it's old school, but you can never go wrong with Ubuntu.

For pentesting/coding in C++, Java, Python, Ruby I use Kali. Only because many of my programs require MSF and libraries I don't want to install into ubuntu.

I really like Kali actually.

[LiamLC]

Pro: Arch
Noob: ArchBang
Super Noob: Ubuntu

Kali is good for hacking, but tbh your OS doesn't really matter. If you have the expertise to fully utilize Kali, then you probably don't want a preconfigured distro anyway.

At least that's my philosophy, but I'm an Arch fan boy.