This is the tiny, tucked away Slackware section at Written and Read.
This site is not going to go into technology that much; but just as a reference - Slackware is the oldest actively maintained Linux distribution and the preferred operating system of your host here.
Slackware is a private operation, but there is a great community around the distribution - so comments can be asked in the Slackware forum at LinuxQuestions.
Slackware has a limited software selection. Therefore, a lot of people use Slackbuilds for access to additional software.
I work with the following applications:
- Firefox (web browser)
 - Newsbeuter (RSS client)
 - Claws Mail (email client) * W&R article on Claws Mail
 - DeaDBeeF (audio player)
 - Umplayer (media player, Mplayer frontend)
 - Inkscape (vector graphics editor)
 - Scribus (Layout design application)
 - Filezilla (FTP client)
 - Uget (download manager)
 - Transmission (Bittorrent client)
 - Skype (VOIP client)
 - Medit (editor)
 - Heybuddy (Identi.ca client)
 - LyX (document editor) * W&R article on LyX
 - LibreOffice (Office package - mostly for MS-Office files)
 - FocusWriter (distraction-free fullscreen text processor)
 - Abiword (lightweight text processor)
 - GTK-Recordmydesktop (desktop recording application)
 - Poedit (software translation application)
 - Puddletag (audio file tag editor)
 
From the behind-the-scenes-toolbox category:
- Sakura (terminal application)
 - Dmenu (I use dmenu_run as the runbox)
 - Slock (as a screenlocker. Less annoying than Xlockmore and using Xscreensaver)
 - Openbox (window manager) - documentation from Urukrama
 - Tint2 (panel)
 
Interesting applications I keep an eye on:
- Arora
 - Google Chrome/Chromium
 - Midori