[thelist] Which linux distribution?

[Sølve Horrigmoe]

Bimal Shah wrote:

> I've used Linux in the past but have been put off by
> the very outdated setup/installation/configuration (like
> adding a hard drive or setting up the video card, modem etc).

The hardware detection is getting better all the time. Adding hardware
on my RedHat 7.1 Workstation with  kudzo (is this name
correct??...anyway it is a piece of software run at boot that detects
new hardware) has been straightforward so far. Still, ISA pnp cars could
create some difficulties, as does my soundcard (Vortex chip based, not
supported at all).


> I understand that things have moved on quite a abit and
> would be interested to install Linux on my laptop (Pentium 2 - 200,
> 128mb ram) - which I wish to continue running Windows 98 aswell.

Laptop hardware has always been less supported than regular hardware by
Linux distros (due to the simple fact that there are fewer penguins with
laptops than dekstops). But here there has been some great progress as
well the last couple of years. I've successfully installed Mandrake (7)
on several older siemens laptops. Laptop support is better for
widespread brands (Dell, Siemens etc) with standard hardware.

If you have weird/ non-standard hardware, my experience is that if
anyone supports it, it is SuSE.


On dual boot systems (win & linux), I usaually partiton the drive first
(using the partitioning tool in the Mandrake intstaller or DiskDruid in
RedHat), install the win OS first (since it overwrites the MBR) and then
install the linux OS (which detects win98 and lets you set up the
booting sequence for LILO). There are great HowTo's out there on this
subject..read them.


> I would like to do Java, PHP, Coldfusion, MySQL development
> on it and run Apache web server.

Yes... I love this software ;-)



> >From SuSE, RedHat and Mandrake (others?) which one would
> you recommend, I want to spend more time on development
> then recompiling kernals, fixing bugs, messing around with
> configuration etc.

On my Workstation I run RedHat 7.1 (both Gnome and KDE), my new server
(installed last weekend) runs RedHat 6.2, no X-windows. No problems. As
I prefer RedHat on my servers, and the new RedHat is great for
workstation purposes, I'd say go for it, but I really don't know if it
is any better (or worse) than other distros. It just a matter of taste -
and also perhaps a ideological question: Which distro is worthy of your
support/ endorsment?


> Does it really matter which distribution I go for, can any
> Linux software run on any distribution?

Most (all) linux software runs on any distro. The installation differs
(the rpm- vs deb- packages issue), I usually compile (if possible) the
software my self (no packeges) if the source tarball is availible.
Compiling makes sure the programs are optimized for your specific
arcitecture.

I've tried several distros (Storm, Mandrake, RedHat, SuSE, TurboLinux
etc). In the beginning i preferred Mandrake (with KDE) for my
Workstation and RedHat for my servers, but now I've switched to running
RedHat as Workstation as well.

hug a penguin today!

-Sølve