In the end I went for debian cause it is widely used.

So I'm using the following command to install linux:
qemu-system-arm -m 1024 -hda arm.img -cdrom debian-7.1.0-armel-CD-1.iso -boot d

And I get this error:
Kernel image must be specified

In the documentation is mentioned that i don't need a bzImage if the CD is bootable.
any suggestions?