On Thu, 30 Mar 2000, Cannibul_VI wrote:
> Ok, so I have used Redhat since 5.0, and I know this makes me a
> newbie. And I have tried Mandrake 7....
> Is there a better Linux distro?
>
All the major Linux distributions are quality distributions.
I don't think one can really rank them from worst to best without
considering your particular applications. One distribution is
better for some users and another one is for other users.
In general, I like:
SuSE for my own use. It is big and fat with lots and lots of tools.
It also has rather plain looking, but very
efficient configuration tools.
I strongly recommend SuSE to developers
and scientific or other power users.
Debian for certain clients. It is big, but philosophically pure.
Thus, I prefer it for LinuxFund.org, PLUG,
ltplus.org, and other OpenSource organizations.
I also recommend Debian to hackers and other
philosophically pure power users.
It can be a pain to install. On the other hand,
Debian doesn't hide configuration files with
"user friendly" tools, so Debian system
administrators know what files are getting changed.
On the down side, it uses .debs instead of .rpms
for package management. Altho .debs work fine,
they aren't as universially accepted .rpms.
However, this is only a minor inconvenence.
RedHat for most clients. It has sort of become the accepted professional
standard for Linux in the USA.
(SuSE plays this role in Europe and TurboLinux plays
this role in East Asia.) RedHat uses linuxconf
for system administration. A lot of people like
linuxconf. Personally, I find it confusing.
(It reminds me of regedit in Windows.)
Corel or Caldera for certain end-users
Corel is cool. It is polished, very easy to
install (when things work), and easy to use.
However, it is a desktop distribution without the
security needed for servers. It also lacks the
tools hackers want (compilers, emacs, etc.)
Slackware or Soft Landing (SLS) for historians
SLS was the first Linux distribution I used.
As far as I know, it was the first distribution
and hasn't been updated in years.
It was rather buggy; but it was very important,
because it made Linux easy to get and install.
(Well, not by today's standards, but by the
standards of 1992/93.)
Slackware came out after SLS, and was a great
improvement. It was basic, but it was a quality
distribution. Unfortunately, it fell behind
Redhat, Caldera, SuSE, and the others; and I
stopped using it. Slackware is still around
and is regularly updated. Since I no longer
use it, I don't know how the current version
compares to other major distributions.
TurboLinux and Mandrake
These are major distributions that I have not
used. However, I should mention there existence
for the sake of completeness. On the other hand,
maybe I shouldn't mention them, because these
are only two of the many many available Linux
distributions.
Finally, I commonly mix and match things between distributions.
I often create my configuration files with SuSE
(or sometimes Corel) and copy them to my RedHat
systems. Sometimes I will go the other way.
I also move software from one distribution to
another. It all works together - at least most
of the time. So, there is no reason to get too
attached to any one distribution.
Sincerely,
David Mandel
Chief Activist
Portland Linux/Unix Group
1440 NE 59th
Portland, Oregon 97213
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(503) 246-3630 Voice Portland, Oregon 97201
(503) 246-3124 Fax http://www.avalongroup.net
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