Sure you can install Ubuntu server just by booting the disc and choosing some options, and sure installing SC is pretty easy too. But I can install XP just as easily and SC on that, again just as easily. But the devil's in the details - because you're never done after the initial install. With XP you'd want to run a bunch of updates post install, probably download & install new drivers, and install an AV. A hassle for sure, and not user friendly, but I know how to do it in my sleep as I've been using Windows for years - hence it's easy for me.
On the other hand, I built a Ubuntu server last weekend. Here's a selection of the things which caused me grief out of the box: * No CPU power saving enabled * No fanspeed control installed * Needed to set noatime to allow discs to spin down (and had to set discs to spin down!) * Had to compile a upnp server from source, which took a few goes to get right * Added a new NIC, which took a few goes to get working properly. * Setting up samba is certainly not as straightforward as sharing a drive in XP, although it's not as hard as it was a few years ago :) * No automatic updates by default (!!) - had to install and configure cron-apt * cron-apt needed a working mail environment so then had to get exim working , and then smtp auth, etc etc (that took a while) I'm sure there was more I'm forgetting, but you get the idea. Now not all of this is needed for everyone (though I would imagine much of it is), and of course next time I need to build a box it'll go much quicker as I know what I'm doing. But I always smile when people who are clearly very knowledgeable in a field exclaim how it's so easy anyone could do it - we forget what we're good at! -- radish ------------------------------------------------------------------------ radish's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=77 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=49951 _______________________________________________ unix mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/unix
