looking for "the" Linux distro for hardware/software development

[kamilsok]

Hi

I'm looking for some advice on choosing the proper distribution for building a hardware/software development environment.

My main field of interest would be:
- HDL (VHDL mainly)
- FPGA/CPLD (synthesis, simulation etc)
- C\SystemC
- Tcl scripting
- network hardware applications development (FPGA-based network processors i.e.)

Key (or nice to have at least) system features would be:
- large, stable and willing to help community (especially the large developer part of which would be welcomed)
- support for wide spectrum of development tools (proprietary and open source)
- bunch of docs, tutorials, guides, hints for devel's

As far as my online research went, I've manage to shorten it down to 3 favorites:
- Debian
- Fedora/CentOS
- Gentoo

Maybe there are some fellow devel's out there willing to share their experience on working with various Linux distributions to finally settle with "the one" that fits them best. Maybe You have some hints, tips, guidelines etc. for a from-Windows-converted newbie. Any advice on the subject would be very much appreciated.

[Schmidt]

Any distro is always on your preference. Most of popular linux distros has different tools for any development. The easiest way is to install one of such distros and then install specific packages using integrated package managers (yum in Fedora, zypper in OpenSuse, apt-get in Debian/Ubuntu). In most cases you can even choose all of them at the installation stage, when you will be asked to configure your software. For example, try to use netinstall mode (download a specific .iso for your distro)

Debian -- Network install from a minimal CD

Fedora Project - All available methods to get Fedora.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In...tion/MinimalCD

And so on