> > May be the list should be cut down to the following as do we really want to > > install any thing else for new people to Linux? Debian is my distro of > > choice but I would never set it up for a newbie, unless I was prepared to > > hand hold them for the next few months. > > The big advantages of Debian are that apt-get works so well, and you > have a pretty good control of what is installed.
Agreed, apt one of the biggest selling points for me. Being able to easily update my system with two simple commands is great, and being able to install applications easily. The way that the config files are setup in Debian is nice too, very simple text files, no need to deal with buggy interfaces. Still would not recommend for newbies or people too addicted to their mouse :) > > > Redhat > > Mandrake > > Suse > > Smoothwall/IPCop > > I'm somewhat chary of Smoothwall. They are not now offering any support > whatsoever for the GPL edition which they see as a taster for buying a > commercial version. If somebody were to contact them they will probably > either not get any reply at all or else a revolting spew of foul mouthed > four letter words. For somebody coming to Linux for the first time the > behaviour of the Smoothwall crew would be a big put off. IPCop is an > acrimonious fork and by contrast the people there are a delight to work > with. The distributions are currently very similar, but diverging > rapidly. If it makes any difference the attitude of the Smoothwall > people towards the GPL is cavalier to put it kindly. Yes I felt the affect of the madness of that Smoothwall guy a while back. I have been meaning to check out IPCop for a while now, good to hear that the IPCop crowd is alright.
