Ralph, Not quite. Red Hat does put their current GA code on their FTP server. They haven't been kept as up to date as their x86 RPMs, though. You can upgrade a SuSE distribution by using the SRPMs they put out for their other platforms to build the binary RPMs for Linux/390. It's a lot of work, but it can be done. Bottom line is, if you want someone else to do the work for you, it will cost you something with Red Hat or SuSE.
I'm not sure what you mean by "do it all yourself" with Debian. The Debian maintainers build the Linux/390 packages on the same schedule as all other architectures they support. Which means, they're pretty current. apt-get figures out for you what you need to update. So, you can stay current, for free, with a relatively small amount of effort. Plus, you can make choices as to whether you want to get _really_ current on certain packages or not, depending on your requirements. If you wait for the next stable upgrade release of Debian, that will take quite a while, since they have so many packages, and put a lot of effort into making sure things work well. If, as you stated previously, you want someone to call when you need help, that will cost money, of course, but per-incident fees will probably run you a lot less than an annual agreement. Mark Post -----Original Message----- From: Noll, Ralph [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 5:34 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: so correct me if I am wrong so correct me if i am wrong if you want to stay current with Linux (either Suse or RedHat) you are going to have to pay. if you want to go totally free and do it all yourself you can go Debian yes?? no??? thanks Ralph
