On Sat, 26 Mar 2016 10:59:40 -0500, Steve Beaver wrote: >First of all I am first and foremost an zOS Systems programmer that only >writes in HLASM and REXX as needed. > >My goal is to learn Linux and then develop in Linux and then as needed port >it to zSeries box. That being said,
First of all, it is GNU/Linux. That is, it is the GNU operating system with a Linux kernel. See http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html It is a distinction that many ignore and many others are tired of hearing, but the fact is that without the work that was done on the GNU operating system starting in 1984, seven years before Linus Torvalds began work on the Linux kernel, there would be no "Linux system". Indeed, in early posts from Linus about his project, he wrote about including bash and gcc, both developed as part of the GNU project. In a follow-up, he wrote about including the GNU utilities. So even he acknowledged the contribution of the GNU project at that time. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/comp.os.minix/dlNtH7RRrGA/SwRavCzVE7gJ >- I am going to build a 64 Bit a box with 16 gig of memory and 8 Tb of >Storage and a DVD/RW. That is the easy >Part. I would caution you that some hardware requires proprietary drivers. Some hardware is difficult to support with GNU/Linux. For example, you will have trouble with nVidia graphics cards and many wi-fi chipsets. https://www.h-node.org/ has lists of compatible hardware. >Does anyone have any input on which version of Linux to purchase? I Know >SUSE has an enterprise 64 bit product? Purchase? Most distributions, or "distros" are available for download at no cost. There are many. I don't know how complete the list is that is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions If you want to pay for support, that is another question, for which I don't have an answer. What are your goals? Do you want the kind of freedom that is described in http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html ? Or do you want a system that looks and behaves as much like Windows as possible? Playing DVDs and using Flash are two things that require proprietary software, and are not available on completely libre distros. Many proponents of free software like to use the word "Libre" to distinguish it from "gratis", meaning without monetary cost. The English language has only one word for both of these meanings. There is a slogan: Think of free speech, not free beer. My son is a strong proponent of libre software and uses Trisquel. At the opposite end of the spectrum are distros like Linux Mint, which includes Flash and the codecs required to play DVDs, as well as other proprietary drivers. There is a list of libre distros at http://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html I usually use Fedora, and have been for about 10 years. They make it relatively easy for a novice to download and create a DVD or flash drive to boot from. Having booted either, you can install it to your hard drive. There are tools to partition your hard drive, and you can set your system up so that you can choose which partition to boot from each time. I like to set my systems up with a partition for the /home directory that is mounted on whichever root I boot. In Linux, /home is the equivalent of /u on z/OS Unix. I also like to create a /service directory where I can mount my other root partitions. It's something that I learned from working with z/OS Unix. -- Tom Marchant ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
