[AuckLUG] Installing Linux

[Nevyn]

On 4/26/07, Martin Bähr <mbaehr at email.archlab.tuwien.ac.at> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Apr 25, 2007 at 03:37:12PM +0200, Martin Bähr wrote:
> > On Thu, Apr 26, 2007 at 12:48:58AM +1200, Nevyn wrote:
> > > Back when I was using dial up, Redhat was my preference. It just
> > > seemed to work for me - no modem specific tools. The modem was just
> > > seen as a network interface and things like dialing were the
> > > equivalent of obtaining an IP address.
> > debian and ubuntu do the same, however you still need a modem specific
> > tool to configure the conection.
>
> rereading the original mail i just noticed that the configuration was
> not the issue but calling up the dialer was. maybe that is the problem
> here. possibly richard went about the wrong way to 'call' the dialer?
>
> greetings, martin.
>

Which to me just smells of progress - rather than a distro war flaunting
this distro over that, should we not talk about common tools to use for
configuring and using the modem? Thus we can let Richard make up his own
mind as to the distro he wants to use.

Personally I think it's a bit of an organic process - my favourite distro is
likely to be disliked by at least half this list. Still.... I like it and
that's the important bit for me. I had to try twenty odd suggestions for
distro's and came across stuff which I thought was just plain dumb with all
of them (My latest gripe is with Ubuntu's installer - why would I want the
memory footprint of a livecd when I'm just wanting to install an operating
system?!?). It comes down to what you prefer. However, it probably helps to
get some idea of what differentiates the different distributions.
I.e.
Debian - rock solid and well tested BUT older packages as a result.
Ubuntu - Debian without being quite so solid (look at the number of
outstanding bug reports) but more packages to install without jumping
through hoops.
Gentoo - Compiles everything on your machine for use.
Slackware - one of the oldest distributions out there. I don't really know
much about this distribution except that it appears to be slow and steady.
The installer wasn't terribly robust the last time I tried it (no back
button on most screens).
Fedora - Not one of my favourites anymore - appears to be a testing ground
for Redhat. (and I HATE yum)
Redhat - Enterprise level. Expensive for the home user (you buy a support
contract with the software). Try CentOS if you want Redhat (they take
Redhat's sources released under the GPL and rebrand it as not to infringe on
the copyrights placed on certain images and themes).
OpenSuse - Novell's testing ground. Great admin tools.

You are always going to have to do something special to get DVD's and most
video formats to play and if you need drivers for a nVidia video card,
that's yet another 'lil hoop. All of which are due to legalities.