Most Stable Distro

[SonicPet07]

I've been looking around and trying to find the most stable version of linux around. I'm working on a school project that requires me to take GPS info transmitted from a number of vehicles, and send it to a sever on Campus. We're using an old Mac Mini (some spares were lying around) with Snow Leopard. However that install is buggy and being weird. Also since its over kill for what we need I thought maybe I'll drop Linux on it.

I'm looking for the most stable distro of Linux I can find. This Mac Mini, when installed, will be extremely difficult to get to and as a result will likely be up and running for as long as it possibly can. It will be on a radio tower so we can get the best range out of our radio transmitters. It doesn't need to do much but read an input from the radio reciever, run some Java or C code (we're rewriting the code for C), then send the data to the sever on Campus.

Any ideas on what would be the most stable distro? I'm figuring it'll be something stripped down but so long as it can handle these things I don't care.

Thanks in advance

[MikeTbob]

Hello and Welcome.
I'd say any of the following in no particular order. Slackware, Gentoo, Debian, Arch or Crux. Start with the minimal install and add only what you need. Or you could just try Linux from Scratch.

[Roxoff]

Just to add to Mike's comments. Distributions built with stability in mind are the ones aimed at the server market - so Debian, CentOS/RedHat, Ubuntu Server, SuSE, etc. These have a long release life and don't normally include the latest and greatest versions of packages, but they use known stable versions which have had extensive use and/or testing.

[Bemk]

Debian and ubuntu server are my personal favourites here.

The project looks interesting, although I doubt the Java bit, as I haven't really had stable experiences with it.
Java has a habit of allocating memory and not returning it until that particular environment is closed. Speeds up internal allocation, but it can also mean that a large peak in heap usage (such as a lot of simultaneous requests/events) will last until the next reboot.

[cynwulf]

Debian Stable.