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On Wed, Sep 13, 2000 at 01:24:23PM -0700, Alan Dayley wrote:
> What are the technical differences or pros and cons of the various
> distributions?  (By this question, I reveal my newbie status)
> 

> RedHat seems to be getting the US "commercial" nod but I am not arguing the
> good or bad of that right now.  I just wonder what strengths each one
> brings to the party.  X is best for security/firewalls.  Y is best for
> desktop/non-tech users. etc.
> 

Here's my experience:

1) Started with Slackware
2) Moved to Redhat
3) Moved to Debian

Now, here's a breakdown (keep in mind, this is all IMO):

Slackware is best if you're just a hobbiest, and you want to learn as much
as possible about *nix/Linux, and you don't really care too much about it
Just Working.  Slackware is fairly newbie-unfriendly, but if you start
with Slackware, you'll learn a whole lot.

Redhat is best if you want commercial support.  Some companies who claim
to support Linux are really only targeting Redhat and derivatives (such as
Mandrake).  RPMs are much more common than are any other package formats,
such as DEBs.

Debian is a nice combo of Slackware and Redhat.  It provides a decent
amount of comfort for the newbie, plus it doesn't try to control you as
much as Redhat does.  Also, the debian package system is BY FAR the best
I've ever used.  Upgrading your whole system is as easy as issuing a
"apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade" as root.  Much more intuitive
than RPM, but DEB files are harder to find than RPMs.  Of course, you can
always convert RPM to DEB with alien...

> I haven't researched at all, perhaps there are articles or websites with
> this comparison already out there...

There probably are, but remember that distro choice is always
subjective.  There is no one "best" distro.  And there are many new
distros that are looking promising (such as Stampede).

> 
> Maybe a presentation on the topic at the meeting tomorrow?  ;^)
> 
> Alan
> 
> /------------------------------------------
> |Alan Dayley             www.adtron.com
> |Software Engineer       602-735-0300 x331
> |ADayley@adtron.com
> |
> |Adtron Corporation         
> |3710 E. University Drive, Suite 5
> |Phoenix, AZ  85034
> \-------------------------------------------
> 
> 
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Nathan Saper
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