i came across the linux timeline in wikipedia and learned that there are three major distros(distributions) where most of them came from. debian slackware redhat ubuntu, KNOPPIX and gibraltar are some of the distros that were based from debian. i would say it's a cross between slackware and redhat - and that's based from some of my research. i just dont have time to post details madriva, fedora and the "philippines distro" bayanihan are based from redhat. a very corporate feel and stable distro if you ask me slackware, which was the basis of openSuSE and vector, is a hobbyist distro basing from its history. althought, its support and community are as stable.