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I supported Toymods
Banned User
Location:
Brisbane
Registered:
May 2002
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What Linux distribution?
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Wed, 17 December 2003 06:33
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What Linux distribution do you use and why?
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Location:
Gawler, SA
Registered:
August 2003
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Wed, 17 December 2003 06:40
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Gentoo for quite a while as I liked the packages it came with. Lazy now and just gone back to windows.
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Location:
Brisbane
Registered:
February 2003
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Wed, 17 December 2003 08:24
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mandrake - very stable installer, knows just about every hardware config ever manufactured, never failed so far (tho that 's the linux thing anyway).
i have an old ipex P2 at my work running a older mandrake customised server install , configured to Web serve, run java servlets and MysQL - not a single crash in >1yr, restarted from command line only when power cut to building. Best my older Macservers did was 190 days uptime. Am aiming for much longer with Mac OS X 10.2.3 server.
charles.
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Location:
www.geocities.com/drextacy
Registered:
August 2003
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Wed, 17 December 2003 09:26
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whats a package?
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Location:
Brisbane
Registered:
February 2003
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Wed, 17 December 2003 09:43
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all the various tools, applications, utiities that come with Linux distributions. From the basic command line apps (like ls, mv. cp, etc) to full blown application servers (like Tomcat java & javabeans) and databases (e.g. MySQL and postgresql) then onto development tools (e.g. C++ compilers and libraries) and across to language-specific things (fonts and customisations for lots of languages) then up to window managers (e.g. KDE or Gnome) ... and so on.
go to www.mandrake.com, or www.redhat.com or www.suse.com (or www.yellowdoglinux.com if you have Mac harware) and use their search windows for 'packages'.
charles.
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Location:
Adelaide
Registered:
December 2002
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Location:
Perth
Registered:
August 2003
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Wed, 17 December 2003 15:32
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mandrake is good use to have that till i brought my new computer
stupid xp stop crashing 
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Registered:
May 2002
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Wed, 17 December 2003 21:53
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On a "related" note, can anyone point me in the direction of a good Linux publication which will help a "newbie" like myself (schooled for the last 10 years in DOS/Windows) to properly transition to Red Hat 9?
I have Red Hat installed on a Server at home, which will eventually be a web/mail and file/print box. I've done some very basic config (and got a bit of help with some other stuff), but really need to get to know the OS from the ground up. Any suggestions on a book which would help?
Note that, as someone who has worked in IT/Network support for a while, I'm familiar with most of the concepts; it's just achieving the results in Linux I need to learn about...
Server is a quad Pentium Pro with hardware RAID and 1Gb of RAM. (Should be adequate...  )
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Location:
ballarat
Registered:
April 2003
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Wed, 17 December 2003 22:32
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redhat 9.0
have been using knoppix as well, debian based (linux live-cd, runs totally from the cd)
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Location:
ballarat
Registered:
April 2003
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I supported Toymods
Location:
Perth
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Thu, 18 December 2003 06:15
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Using RH8 on my server. Once I set it up I haven't had to touch it once. It's just a P3 533MHz and its my web server and firewall/router. The only time it's been reset since I've had it running was when the power went out and I don't really have a use for a UPS.
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I Supported Toymods
Location:
Sydney
Registered:
December 2002
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Thu, 18 December 2003 06:23
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I'd recommend SuSe for newbies... its got some great configuration tools (Yast2 etc) beats the hell out of editing /etc/ files
I never really liked Redhat... It doesn't seem to have any features which make it stand out (e.g. aptget or YAST2)
Mandrake is a nice simple to setup system... Personally I liked SuSe's YAST too much to stay with Mandrake
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Location:
ballarat
Registered:
April 2003
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I supported Toymods
Location:
Perth
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Thu, 18 December 2003 07:12
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My Linux skills are still fairly dodge, but I still managed to get a working Pentium 120 with Redhat 7 running just a console That was fun...not 
I don't think Redhat is hard at all, installing it all when I had a GUI (this time around) was a piece of cake. RPM's make things so easy, its like installing things on Windows. Maybe it's just because that is what I'm used to at uni, but still, I didn't find it hard at all.
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Location:
ballarat
Registered:
April 2003
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Thu, 18 December 2003 07:15
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the redhat 9.0 installer GUI actaully detected more hardware on my computer than win-crud xp, thats a BIG step for linux on the desktops
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Location:
Sydney
Registered:
January 2003
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Thu, 18 December 2003 07:31
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Debian & Knoppix. They do exactly what I need them to do & dman reliable been on for 120 days & conting..
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I supported Toymods
Banned User
Location:
Brisbane
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Thu, 18 December 2003 11:51
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for newbies I think Lycoris has to be the best.It is also based on Redhat which will help for later on.
A just to note, there are no free Refhat distributions anymore. The free Redhat distribution is now called Fedora.
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Registered:
May 2002
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Re: What Linux distribution?
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Fri, 19 December 2003 23:15
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| ehendrikd wrote on Thu, 18 December 2003 09:34 |
| biased99 wrote on Thu, 18 December 2003 08:53 |
but really need to get to know the OS from the ground up.
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man pages are your friends 
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 .... 
The man pages are, indeed, excellent. Only "problem" is that they contain SO much info, it can take 30 minutes to troll for the info you require...
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but if you really get stuck, give us a bell
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Thanks mate, I may well do so!
As for the comments on the various distros, I've only played with RH distros, so am not sure about the others, but have always found the RPMs an easy way to install things. Also, RH's Plug 'n Play is actually pretty bloody good; Apart from the odd video card/monitor combo causing issues with X, I've generally always had the hardware work "out of the box".
For reference, I originally had Win2K "Advanced" server running on this server, with Exchange. Worked for a few weeks and crashed, taking AD with it  I tried to re-install, but it wouldn't even "take", reporting memory parity errors. I ran a tester over it for a day or so (no problems) and then installed RH9 on it. Hasn't been touched (except for config) since.
I for one am looking forward to (eventually) having it all running and forgetting about it...The way a good server should be!
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Location:
Cabramatta, NSW
Registered:
May 2002
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 Re: What Linux distribution?
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Fri, 26 December 2003 11:37
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| Toobs wrote on Thu, 18 December 2003 17:23 |
I never really liked Redhat... It doesn't seem to have any features which make it stand out (e.g. aptget or YAST2)
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Do a search for "apt rpm".
I've been using apt-get on Red Hat systems for quite a while now. Very happy with it all.
apt-get build-dep <packagename>
I've never used YAST but Red Hat's installer (anaconda) is pretty damn good at getting everything right.
As for me. I've used Red Hat for years and years and years. I believe it's the best distro for a server.
For a desktop though, I love Gentoo. It's just so easy and you start from a clean sheet of paper. Not really recommended for n00bs though. But with their GRP install disc, they've made things quite a bit easier. Not to say that it's easy by any stretch of the imagination though, just easier (or much less time-consuming at least).
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