Posted: 1/18/2004 8:21:43 PM EDT
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Looking for some pain. I've been a Windows Weenie, Novell Novice and a Mac user for 15 years and have only dipped my toe into RedHat for awhile. I'm looking for a Linux distribution to install and run on my Windows XP laptop which is formated with NTFS. Ideally I'd like to be able to dual boot to either system and run with it. Lindows seems interesting but runs $50 plus another $50 for the CNR subscription - not a bad price if this is the one I want. They support 802.11 cards which would be of interest to me  . I teach computer networking at the local state college and I'd like to demo another OS to the kids. Mandrake, Debian, Slackware ... what do you recommend based on my needs? |
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I ran Red Hat 6 for a while, but got rid of it. This is unrelated to Linux, but I recommended you look at System Commander 7 for your multi-boot fun. I'm running Windows 98SE, Windows 2000 Pro, and two copies of XP on the same machine thanks to System Commander. I have another machine running Windows 98SE, Windows 2000 Adv Server, and XP also using System Commander. Each OS has its own partition hidden from the others. Anyway, it's worth the extra $70 if you plan to run multiple OSs. |
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Slackware is about un-upgadable (package management, at least last time I tried, was non-existant). Debian is awesome, and is for power users, but its pace moves -very- slowly, so don't expect it to be bleeding edge. It is, however, rock-solid-server-stable. For a first timer I would recommend Red Hat or SuSE. Mandrake is ok but some version are super-flaky so I would just avoid it. James. |
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If stability is your most important requirement, then Debian. If teaching the kids how to setup machines to use as servers, then Debian. The stable version doesn't have the latest and greatest versions of everything, but it just works. I've got several servers running Debian without any changes that have 400+ day uptimes. It's also made to upgrade and install new software over the Internet rather than Red Hat's reboot and put in a CD method. There's a ~180 Mbyte mini-CD you can download that has enough on it to get you up and going. Debian has gotten much more bloated lately, but you can still run it on a 200Mbyte partition with 16 Mbytes of RAM. We're still using some older (and very expensive) industrial laptops that have 100 Mbyte harddrives w/ 8 Mbytes of RAM, and they run an older version of Debian just fine. If you want a pretty desktop (rather than a machine to do work with), Fedora (the new desktop-version of Red Hat) is probably worth a look. Since Red Hat (aka Dead Rat) has almost completely gotten out of the Linux business (in Sept they dropped the products that made-up over 95% of their Linux sales), a group of volunteers are working on updating Red Hat 9.0. My biggest complaint about Red Hat was lack of network upgrades, but I've read that Fedora is made to be upgradeable via the network so you don't have download CD's and reboot. Also, I got tired of playing RPM-hell when attempting to download the right combination of things just to install or upgrade a single RPM. It sucked to, for example, download and upgrade over 40 packages to just install a new version of a library, like I had to do last week. With Debian, you type one command and it downloads and installs everything that's needed to meet the dependencies.z |
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Kar98 had Knoppix at the top of his list. Runns off of a CD, so u don't have to install it if you don't want to. It has on the fly decompression. looks like it available @ [url]ww.linuxiso.org/distro.php?distro=44[/url] I got my copy off of a german site. knoppix .de maybe??? |
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I like the newer Mandrake. Sorry, but it damn near installs itself, and sets up everything for you, much unlike Windoze. To rehash what I said in another thread, if I could find an AOL/DSL client (only broadband available at this time) I would get rid of the windows partition on my machine LIKE> I have never had to re-boot when running Mandrake, though I reboot at least once a day with WindozeMe. |
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Mandrake 9.1 user here. I like it alot. I started with 8.2 and it has gotten much better since that release. It can quite easily get bloated with packages you don't/won't use like windows, so it's best to know what you need so that you only install the apps/packages that you will use/need. You'll have to play with linux a bit to figure out what you need and want in this regard. If I could get a few p2p apps to run under wine in Mandrake, I would dump my dual boot (Mandrake9.1/W98SE) and go linux only. I think Zoom and the others are right though-Debian appears to be a stability and linux power user's dream. Forgot to mention, Linux From Scratch is another possibility. [url]http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/[/url] |
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No wonder...AOhelL and Winblowz ME? Do you like to be whipped with a cat-o-9-tails too? Quoted: I like the newer Mandrake. Sorry, but it damn near installs itself, and sets up everything for you, much unlike Windoze. To rehash what I said in another thread, if I could find an AOL/DSL client (only broadband available at this time) I would get rid of the windows partition on my machine LIKE> I have never had to re-boot when running Mandrake, though I reboot at least once a day with WindozeMe. |
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No. Long story. Short version: Had Win95. Upgrade version of Win98SE. Upgrade version of WinMe. Hate WinMe. Lost Win95 disk. Can't go back to Win98SE as it doesn't recognize WinMe as a MicroSquish product. Stuck with WinMe or Mandrake until I get enough shekels to buy an upgraded machine that can run WinXP, or until I get an AOL/DSL Linux client. AOL/DSL is the only broadband provider in my area. An AOL/DSL Linux client is impossible to find, as most folks knowledgeable enough to run Linux properly DON'T DO AOHELL! CALGON, TAKE ME AWAY!!!! (If you're old enough to get that reference, you probably built your first machine) Next stop, Dr. Kevorkian's office. |
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Quoted: To rehash what I said in another thread, if I could find an AOL/DSL client (only broadband available at this time) I would get rid of the windows partition on my machine LIKE> Have never seen an AOL client for linux. If the dsl client you are referring to is a pppoe client. I have used a script called Roaring Penguin to authenticate with. |