Re: [BLUG] newbee

Anyone that has only used an RPM-based distribution should really try a
DEB-based distribution at some point. -- Just to see some of the other
options.

I've heard a bunch of the Redhat Engineers jumped boat and formed
Foresight Linux: http://www.foresightlinux.org/ I've not used it
myself, but I do know it uses a package management system that is a
full generation beyond the (good) package management systems in other
distributions.

When I try to use RPM-based distributions, I almost always come away
wondering just exactly who the competition of the product was supposed
to be.

I mean, with any DEB-based distribution when you install a package it
will (1) use sane defaults, or (2) ask just enough questions. This
results in packages that always work when installed.

My experience is that RPM-based systems do not ask questions even when
they really need to.

Plus you have the whole upgrading thing... DEB-based distributions
have had in-place upgrades from one major version to the next for 15+
years. Even current Fedora releases "highly recommend" you perform fresh
installs instead of in-place upgrades.

Cheers,
Steven Black

On Mon, Nov 09, 2009 at 09:10:57AM -0500, Kelly McEvilly wrote:
> Well, I chose CentOS mainly because I maintain a RHEL 5 mail server.
>
> I can do the really basic stuff, but that's about it.
>
> I need to learn a lot more about it though. Troubleshooting services,
> disk management, updates, etc.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mark Krenz" <mark@slugbug.org>
> To: "Bloomington LINUX Users Group" <blug@cs.indiana.edu>
> Sent: Monday, November 9, 2009 8:57:17 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Re: [BLUG] newbee
>
> On Mon, Nov 09, 2009 at 01:41:14PM GMT, Kelly McEvilly [kellym@wbhcp.com] said the following:
> > OK, since the topic was raised, I'm pretty much a complete noob too.
> >
> > I'm concentrating on CentOS right now.
> >
> > Good, bad, indifferent???
> >
>
> CentOS is pretty solid as its widely used, based on very mature
> technologies (rpm package management), well maintained and is the direct
> copy of another very important commercial distribution (Red Hat). So
> its a good choice. It tends to be a little behind when it comes to
> desktop stuff. Its mostly used for servers and when people want a
> desktop distribution based on Red Hat stuff they use Fedora. But using
> CentOS for desktops is fine too.
>
>
> Some common criteria I use when deciding which distribution to use are:
>
> o Well maintained (packages are updated frequently)
> o Good package management that has good dependency management (RedHat
> used to be a failure in this area)
> o Generally free of bugs
> o Doesn't have weird restrictions
> o Good user community.
>
> Because Linux distros are usually supported by the community, if you
> use a distribution that is not widely used, you will have limited places
> to go when you have questions. On the other hand, sometimes small
> distributions are so eager to get their distro going in the beginning
> that the help is excellent. Usually those distros end up being big
> eventually.
>
> The weird restrictions one can be more subtle, for instance one thing
> I noticed with the XpressLinux distro is that on this page:
>
> http://www.debianadmin.com/xpresslinux-a-new-kubuntu-based-linux-operating-system-for-windows-users.html
>
> In the comments the admin says "xpresslinux is only for desktops"
>
> I kinda doubt this is actually true, but it if was really this way and
> there wasn't an easy way to install Apache, why? I mean I understand
> its trying to be like Windows, but there is no reason to restrict what
> software a user can install like Windows does.

_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug