It might be nice to include BeatriX(http://www.watsky.net/) as well.  It's a pocket-CD sized Ubuntu variant cut down for use on limited hardware, or by non-technical users.  Full Linux kernel, but only a small selection of applications, and no active servers. It's nice for "just get me a simple system I can use" requests, and it works well to see if Ubuntu will work on a system prior to doing an install (boots faster than the Ubuntu Live-CD).

Might also be good to include the SLAX Live-CD along with Slakware, since it's a very useful way to see if slackware will work well on a system (and get some of the hardware detected) without taking the time for an install...

I'd say definitely include Debian (testing and stable), even though the CD set is huge, just to have the packages available locally (aptitude and apt-get can use the CD's as sources for any of the Debian based distros if needed)
I understand the uncertainty on Gentoo.  I'd say just have the Universal Live CD for x86, AMD64, and PPC.  I don't see much point in using Gentoo if you're not going to do a ground-up build of the system.  I'd also say that any Gentoo install should require advance notice, to ensure there is sufficient expertise available to get the system build process started (it's pretty unlikely it'll be finished in one day) before the installfest ends.

For the 64-bit versions, be sure to note whether it's IA64(Itanium) or x86_64(AMD), since the two are incompatible.

Just some thoughts...
==Joseph++

P.S. Thanks, Dennis, for offering to create this kind of resource, it's a lot of work to keep up with this many distributions, and we appreciate it.

Dennis Kibbe wrote: 
I'm putting together a "Distro Silo" to bring to the PLUG and ASULUG InstallFests loaded with the following distros.  My criteria for including a distros is 1) There are PLUG members active on the list that can support it 2) A good user community exists (either represented on LinusQuestions or on the distro's website) 3) It's not a beta version or limited time evaluation version 4) Security updates are available on a regular basis. 5) There is a free download version (I know I've included a couple that don't meet this requirement).

I'm listing a few intersting Live-CDs because they are fun to play with, not because they make a good install cadidate.  Distros shown in parenthesis I'm undecided about.  Where possible I'll include PPC, 64-bit and DVD versions.

Am I missing anything that you feel *must* be on the list?

There's the list so far:

MandrakeLinux
Fedora
Ubuntu
Mepis
SuSE
(Debian)
KNOPPIX
(Gentoo)
Slackware :-)
DamnSmallLinux
Xandros
FreeBSD
(Vector)
SLAX
CentOS
Libranet
PuppyLinux
Yellow Dog
IPCOP
Morphix
RubberChickenLinux - New, very flexible distro.  Look for it the first of next month! ;-)
NetBSD
SystemRescueCD
SmartBootManager
ScanModem
OpenCD
LT Modem Driver
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