Help me rank distros in difficulty level

I'm currently developing a forum ranking system for my forum (I won't list it here since doing so would be spamming) in which you slowly install more operating systems the more you post. You start of setting up the computer, going through a massive phase of DOS, then Windows then Mac Classic then Mac OSX and finally I'm gunna do some linux phases followed by less known operating systems.

For the 15 Linux phases I want to have 15 popular/well known Distros included. 5 will be in the easy/beginner phases, 5 in the Intermediate phases and 5 in the advanced phases. So I'm thinking:

Beginner:
- Ubuntu
- Linux Mint
- PinguyOS

Intermediate:
- Debian
- Fedora
- TinyCore Linux
- Arch Linux

Advanced:
- Gentoo
- Linux From Scratch

I'm still not sure what others to add and whether Debian and fedora should be in the intermediate phase... What do you think and remember that I'd like to also list them from easiest/beginner to hardest/advanced within their own categories too.

Thanks in advance for your help ;)

Ubuntu should have sub categories. For example if installing ubuntu with the 'mini.iso', that would be advance.

I have tried manjaro and pclinuxos that are on the distrowatch top 10. there is also mageia (use to be mandriva)

I don't know where they fit in as I would say they are between beginner and intermediate

I would have classed Debian as "beginner".

A distro can present a certain level of difficulty when it comes to installing it and setting it up, and a completely different level of difficulty in keeping it maintained. For example, Debian Stable, once it's installed and set up, seems like I never have to do anything but run Synaptic for updates every now and then; it's about as easy to maintain as it gets.

You can add Linux Lite to beginner. Or maybe "more windows-like".

I would also include Puppy Linux as intermediate (or possibly advanced depending what it is being used for). Although rather easy to use at its surface, it does boot with root privileges which should be used by someone who knows what they are doing.

Will this ranking also be for fun ?

If so, first GNU/Linux rank should be Yggdrasil (first Linux distro), you forgot Slackware (probably advanced, the oldest distro still undergoing development), Knoopix (probably beginner, first Live CD), MythTV, Back Track (forensics, intermediate/advanced), CentOS, SUSE and openSUSE, crunchbang etc.

You should probably sneak in Android and Google Chrome OS somewhere.

More here for confidential distros if you want to look smart in a conversation ^^: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._distributions

I'm not sure I like the difficulty levels being ranked "beginner, intermediate, and advanced", as it implies that "Beginner" is not only easier to install, but less capable in production use than is "advanced". And I don't think that's true of any of the distributions. A distribution that's easy to install and set up, AND performs well AND supports advanced operations is not merely "Beginner" if you ask me.

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Originally Posted by llanitedave

I'm not sure I like the difficulty levels being ranked "beginner, intermediate, and advanced", as it implies that "Beginner" is not only easier to install, but less capable in production use than is "advanced". And I don't think that's true of any of the distributions. A distribution that's easy to install and set up, AND performs well AND supports advanced operations is not merely "Beginner" if you ask me.

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Well, yes, but let's not forget the purpose of the OP. It wont be a state of the art essay :)