nice one.. tnx sa tips...
hard wyrd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: How do I choose the best Linux for me?
by hardwyrd © 2007
There are many factors in choosing the best Linux distribution for your own
use. The following is just a basic guide for those who wants to be serious
about using Linux.
Factors to consider:
1. Internet connection - if you have a fairly good internet connection, then
you will have a greater chance of fully customizing your chosen distro and take
advantage of your distro's available online repositories to install the
applications that you really need.
2. Existing hardware - do take note the hardware specifications of your PC.
This will also dictate which distro you will be able to successfully install
without thinking if your existing peripherals will work on your chosen distro.
Consider your network adapter, external and internal modem, bluetooth adapter,
CD/DVD drive, hard drive type (SATA,SAS,IDE), motherboard chipset, available
RAM, sound card, and so on. Do not forget your scanner and printer.
3. Available disk space - some distros are huge. You have to put drive space
into consideration so that you can fine tune your Linux install and install
only needed and required applications and components. The sleeker the install,
the better.
4. Specific purpose for using Linux - consider your reason why you are using
Linux. Are you using it as a general purpose desktop? a multimedia and
audio/video editing system? a server (web, portal, application/database
backend, firewall/IDS/IPS? If you identify your purpose, you might be able to
find a suitable pre-built distro that will require little customization for you
so that you are good to go in a matter of minutes.
So which distro will I need?
There are a lot of distros you can use. Choosing which one is a daunting task.
Ask somebody who is experienced with Linux, or just take some hints from this
guide.
1. Full Distro - these distros are multi-purpose full packages, usually
multi-CD (up to 5 or 6) installers, some already comes as DVD downloads. It
comes with a lot of productivity applications, network tools, multimedia
applications, and a lot more. These also have fairly good driver support and
somewhat polished making these distros considerable usable for novice users.
These distros also are fully customizable and you do not have to download
sources or binaries just to install your favorite application. The distro
already comes with a mini package repository for you to peruse and use.
Sample Distros: SuSE Linux, Red Hat/Fedora, Slackware, Mandriva, Debian,
Linspire, Xandros
2. Live CDs / Mini Distros - these are distros that are not entirely full when
distributed or downloaded. These distros come as bootable live cds where you
can run them off your CD/DVD drive and use Linux right there. The trade off is
you will be limited to the read speed of the optical drive, plus the available
RAM. Sometimes it will come to a crawling wait. However, these can be installed
directly into the hard drive however, you will need to configure the install to
fetch packages from the internet for customized install.
Sample Distros: Ubuntu, Knoppix/Kanotix, Morphix, Debian, Mepis, Sabayon,
Ulteo, Kororaa, FreeSpire
3. Specialist Distros - these distros come pre-configured and are somewhat
fixed for a specific purpose. These are also quite difficult to reconfigure
since these were built to serve as what the author of the distro intended it to
be. These can be either used on cellphones, firewalls, IDS/IPS, VoIP solutions,
servers, etc.. These too are not advisable for novice users.
Sample Distro/Builds: AsteriskNow, TrixBox, Shurdix, Engarde Security Linux,
Nitix
Conclusion
There really is no perfect fit for a Linux distribution to a specific user
since the user's needs will change in time. First thing to do before
downloading a distro is to take a look at its Technical Specification available
at the distro's site and take note of its System Requirements and its Package
List. It is also worth noting some things in its Changelog. This will save you
loads of time when installing and prevent yourself from encountering problems
later.It will also be great if you can read reviews of your intended Linux
distribution to use and know what other people think.
There are still a lot of Linux distros that I wasn't able to mention however
you can visit http://distrowatch.com/ for a list of distros that you can
choose from.
Have a great Linux day!
(Published at http://baudizm.blogsome.com )
--
"A dog that has no bite, barks loudest."
Registered Linux User #400165
Subscribed to:
LARTC, Open-ITLUG, PRUG, KLUG, sybase.public.ase.linux
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