>>> On 3/26/2016 at 11:59 AM, Steve Beaver <[email protected]> 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,
Just to be clear, when you talk about "port it to zSeries" do you mean z/OS, or Linux running on z? If the latter, then there won't be much, if any, porting involved. If the former, then that raises a whole raft of other problems/questions. > - 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. > > Does anyone have any input on which version of Linux to purchase? I Know > SUSE has an enterprise 64 bit product? The answer to this greatly depends on your final target, z/OS or Linux on z. If the latter, then you probably want to go with SUSE since that has by far the largest share of the market on z as well as the most software certifications, etc. (Yes, I work for SUSE but I try to be objective about things like this.) If the answer is z/OS, then as others have pointed out the choice of Linux is more of a matter of what your personal goals are regarding learning. To me, if you want to learn Linux, really learn it, then go with Slackware. You'll have little choice but to learn how things work since Patrick Volkerding's approach to Slackware is that system administrators don't need or want much hand holding. You'll also find that a large number of people who have lots of experience in Linux started out with Slackware early on. Other questions you need to answer are if you want to buy support for your Linux. That will greatly limit your choices. If you want something that's very easy to use and looks pretty, then various derivatives of Debian such as Ubuntu, Mint, etc. are good. And on and on and on. The list of things to consider can be very large. The good thing is that you can try a bunch of various distributions with no monetary cost, just the time and effort you devote to downloading, installing and playing with them. That's true even for Red Hat and SUSE. The versions you can download are identical to what their paying subscribers get. The difference is in support and maintenance. Another thing to think about is finding a local Linux Users Group (LUG). There are a lot of them out there and the people you meet there can be a big help. Mark Post ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
