This is a complex question. There are many right answers. bediger is right, in that Arch and Slackware will be by far the most powerful and flexible tool. Howev

This is a complex question. There are many right answers. bediger is right, in that Arch and Slackware will be by far the most powerful and flexible tool. However, distrubtions like Ubuntu have by far the easiest use and set up. If you are new to Linux, going to Arch wouldn't be impossible, but it would be incredibly difficult. I personally would recommend Ubuntu. It is very easy to use, customizable, and has great package management. I text edit in Vim, run a LAMP server, run my programs from Terminal, and customize my shortcuts via the Ubuntu menu for workspace management. My experience with Fedora is limited, as is mine with SUSE (though mine with SUSE was negative). You can email me at mrjordangoldstein@gmail.com if you need more help or have more questions.