Linux Distro

[Richard Hubbard]

This thread can lead to religious wars, but here are
the distros I have used (which is why I won't mention
suse or Debian. I'm sure they are good, I just haven't
personally worked with them) goes:
Slackware, great distro, but usually adopted only by
those with the biggest pocket protectors. This one
will put hair on your chest (or burn it off!) Usually
a little behind the other distributions because they
prefer to release more stable versions of the
kernel/applications.  So they might be a point release
behind, but it will include the latest patches.  For
this reason, some will claim that it is geared for a
more conservative business environment. Fewer wizards
etc than the other distros (of course we have a
service configuration program....its called vi!)

Red Hat.  The McDonalds of Linux.  Good Distribution,
all the standard stuff.  I initially liked it because
it had some good text utilities, but they seem to be
taking those out. (Xconfigurator, etc) They have an
'new' front end for Gnome and KDE called Blue Wave (i
think).  It strives to make KED and Gnome look the
same.  However, if you are accustomed to the way
either front end works, then you will be more confused
(initially) than helped out.
Red Hat is definitely taking aim at Microsoft with the
way they package and display linux.  Wizards
everywhere. They have an excellent install system, the
RPM (redhat package manager).  (yes, I am familiar
with apt-get.  From what I understand, Debian's
apt-get, and Red Hat's RPM are both good.  apt-get may
have a slight edge because it combines the install
features of a package manager with updating features)

I use Red Hat most of the time, and am starting to get
a little disappointed with the dumbing down of the
system.  However, standard installs do throw in
everything you could need.  So I will probably stick
with it until clippy makes an appearance.

Mandrake - This is also a good distribution, initially
based on Red Hat.  Mandrake is definitely geared
towards the end user.  Installation routine is very
good, but it left out a couple of important programs
that I thought should be standard (sudo comes to mind)
(of course, I may have messed up the install).  Since
it is an rpm install, adding them was easy.

Since I need to work with windows (damm you d-link!) I
usually do a multiple boot.  Mandrake works fine, but
they have a funny way of partitioning the disk that
partition magic has a hard time dealing with.  (PM has
no problem with redhat)

In nflug, you will run into many people who have
experience with mandrake, which is also important. 
Since each distro has their own way of running, there
are always subtle differences to be aware of.  Because
of that, if you are brand new to linux, I would shade
my recommendation towards Mandrake.

Knoppix. The ultimate try before you buy distro.  The
complete distro comes on one bootable cd.  KDE
desktop, standard set of server programs.  The bad
news, a little slow (hey, it comes on a cd and there
is nothing to install!) and it needs quite a bit of
memory to speed it up.  Also, as soon as you turn it
off, everything goes away (they are working on stuff
for mounting memory sticks as key directories, so that
you can save their own work)


Hope this helps!



--- Tim <speljamr at speljamr.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm also new to the group. I'd like to throw my 2
> cents in the direction of
> SUSE. I have been running SUSE 8.0 on one of my
> machines for the past year
> and I love it. I has one of the easiest install
> interfaces I have ever used
> with a Linux distro and it's critical update feature
> through the YAST
> interface is also very useful.
> 
> Timothy J. Finucane
> http://www.speljamr.com
> speljamr at speljamr.com
> 
> Smith & Wesson - The original point and click
> interface
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-nflug at nflug.org
> [mailto:owner-nflug at nflug.org]On Behalf Of
> mihakriket Steffens
> Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003 6:55 PM
> To: nflug at nflug.org
> Subject: Linux Distro
> 
> 
> Hi All,
> 
>      I am new to this mailing list as well as new to
> Linux. I have 2
> computers I wish to install Linux to and I want to
> use the same distro on
> both computers. The first computer will be a dual
> boot with Windows the
> other I want to setup a firewall/proxy/print server.
> I have a small network
> with a boradband connection(with a Linksys Router)
> and another Windows
> computer. The specs of the 2 computer are as follows
> :
> 
> Computer 1:
> 
> pIII 733
> 256mb
> ATI Radeon 32mb ddr
> 40gig Drive (10gig for Windows)
> 1 nic
> 
> Computer 2:
> 
> P75
> 64mb
> 630mb Drive with a possible 2nd 850mb HD.
> 2 nics
> 
> Thank you,
> mihakriket
> 
>
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