On Wed, 2004-11-17 at 09:05, SOTL wrote:
> I am going to make the assumption that if you are asking for commercial help
> that your Linux knowledge is approximately equivalent to mine. That is you
> have knowledge of some installation procedures but not of writing and
> compiling programs nor the knowledge of Debian or Gentoo installation.
I typically don't like to state anything in terms of Brand X or Brand
Y. As such, one could easily categorize distros either "packages" based
or "ports" based.
A "ports" based distro like Gentoo or FreeBSD tends to cause people to
shy away because of that "compile" word. To me it's just a few extra
considerations, but I actually started out as a developer, which skews
my viewpoint.
Which brings us back to "packages" based distros. There are the Debian
and Fedora projects, and then there are many other distros either based
on them, or a fork of a prior version. The overwhelming majority of
"packages" based distros discussed on this are of either a current or
past version of the Debian or Fedora projects.
> The easiest and safest way for a person with the above level of knowledge to
> up grade is to purchase one of the commercial distributions
To me, commercial v. community is not the overriding factor. It all
depends on what the computing needs of the user are. That brings me
back to the viewpoint I've always held, answered in the first question
here: http://www.vaporwarelabs.com/linux.html
I'm in no position to evaluate the "best" distro for someone. A person
can only determine that on their own. The best and repeat success I've
seen is for someone to find someone else just like them, with the same
or similar computing needs, and follow their lead to start. That way,
they get using Linux now, and they get the best peer support too.
> of which the best choice for some one in the US currently are either
> SuSE or Mandrake.
I don't try to assert what the best distro in the US is, and I never
will. But I do have to note that Linux as a community project is
global, while distros tend to be more localized.
As far as SuSE goes, it's one of the best distros for German consumers,
as it is German-based. For Mandrake, the same holds for the French, as
it is French-based.
Now SuSE certainly has large-scale deployments in the US, and this will
continue thanx to Novell. And Mandrake is well-liked by many American
consumers. But I would not assert those are the two best, especially
since both are based on past forks of (what is now) Fedora.
For example, we should not forget about Xandros, the former Corel
distribution, from Canada. A lot of American consumers seem to liken to
Corel products, and Xandros has taken the distro even farther for a
paultry $79 in the "Deluxe" version.
> Personally I do not like SuSE because of their YEAS-2 installation program
> which if you want to intall and operate as per SuSE standard installation is
> the greatest thing since salted popcorn but if you like me desire to do
> something slightly different then it is plain installation hell.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I don't particularly care for
YaST either, but I know many corporations that deploy SuSE because of
YaST. And with Novell making YaST GPL, this is only positive from the
community vantage.
> The latest Mandrake 10.1 has currently been placed on sale orderable from
> Mandrake in France. There I like the single DVD non box disk version for $US
> 59 as the greatest deal.
As many have stated, they like Mandrake. In the past, Mandrake was
released all of its work GPL. Is this still the case?
> I do NOT need the installation books.
Books are for people who like books, they are neither an indication of
whether or not a distro is "easy" or "hard" nor someone is "capable" or
"incapable."
In fact, the "Fedora Core for Dummies" series is one of my highest
recommendations -- even for seasoned Linux admins. For $29, you get the
distro, a lot of commercial value-add, as well as step-by-step
instruction on both installation and usage. There is also a $39
reference version that sits on my shelf, and it was a good read. John
"Maddog" Hall writes that "more technical" reference version.
<side note>God knows I'm currently writing an article entitled "Why Open
Source Projects FAIL" and I plan on writing a future book called
"Systems and Configuration Management" which focuses on proper Fedora
and RHEL deployment. In a nutshell, just because Linux saves companies
money doesn't mean it inherently removes all of the other, necessary
"costs" like configuration management, deployment, maintenance,
etc...</side note>
> Currently I have a copy on order which I should have before Xmas with luck.
> Mandrake has not started shipping yet so it may be after Xmas before
> it arrives.
So why not recommend the CheapBytes version of 9.0 for now, until he
gets that one?
> As for as upgrading RH 8.0 I did NOT like RH 8.0 to me 7.3 was much better
A Red Hat Linux (and now Fedora Core) ".0" release is _always_ an "early
adopter" release that breaks ABI (binary) compatibility. They should
_not_ be adopted for those looking to minimize frustration.
> and 7.2 was even better than that.
I'm interested in knowing what you didn't like about Red Hat Linux 7.3?
It's still supported via Fedora Legacy, largely because Red Hat Advanced
Server 2.1 (which is based on RHL 7.2-7.3) matches its updates.
> Point is to upgrade RH you would need to up by Fedorada which does NOT
> have any of the quasi commercial programs
Actually, not Red Hat Linux before nor Fedora Core now has anything that
doesn't comply to their "free software" guidelines. There are legally
problematic programs that a US corporation cannot ship. There was a
limited time where Red Hat bundled other software, but that ended around
the same time as Red Hat Advanced Server 2.1 came out, the same time as
Red Hat Linux 7.2.
*BUT* you _can_ get all the "goodies" with 2 commands, tapping the
Livna.ORG repository. Livna.ORG was formed by the original U of Hawaii
"Fedora Project" (Fedora.US) after Fedora.US became "Fedora Extras" and
had to follow Red Hat free software guidelines (largely because Red Hat
provides all infrastructure for Fedora Core, Extras, Legacy, etc...).
I won't argue with the fact that Red Hat requires an extra step or two.
But I will point out that many people blindly download Knoppix and other
Linux distros without realizing that they have serious legal questions
and considerations when used in the US. Questions that make many
corporations scared to allow it in the building, and I don't blame them.
> in it that Mandrake Commercial does. By quasi commercial I mean
> programs that Mandrake provides certain funding to to keep the project
> afloat.
Red Hat's viewpoint is that they'd rather put forth funds to buy out and
GPL things, than support programs than have legal issues. Being a US
corporation, I have to understand Red Hat's viewpoint. Especially since
they develop or buy out a lot of the GPL software, as well as directly
support various GPL developments.
> This is sometimes done by Mandrake to critically needed components
> when there is no fully open source available.
I'm interested in some of the projects (just interested, not
questioning).
> If after my receiving my Mandrake 10.1 disk you would like to up grade by it
> contact me by the SLUG BB and we will meet at either the Tampa, New Port
> Richie, or Dunedin meeting. Dunedin and New Port Richie are much better than
> Tampa because of time limitations.
Just be careful of any redistribution limitations. Most commercial
distributions have limitations on redistribution because of the licenses
of those value-add components.
-- Bryan J. Smith b.j.smith@ieee.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- Subtotal Cost of Ownership (SCO) for Windows being less than Linux Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) assumes experts for the former, costly retraining for the latter, omitted "software assurance" costs in compatible desktop OS/apps for the former, no free/legacy reuse for latter, and no basic security, patch or downtime comparison at all.----------------------------------------------------------------------- This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by Networked Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in messages posted are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NKS or any of its employees.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Fri Aug 01 2014 - 17:31:05 EDT