If you're going to talk about relative merits of distributions and
their vendors, it also seems relevant to talk about the realistic
*alternative* to using a distribution.  I.e., installing Linux from
scratch, as described at http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/.

My point is, one shouldn't ask the question "which distribution should
I use?" until they have considered the question "should I use a
distribution?".

Yes I have a personal interest in this as the originator and maintainer
of LFSMake (http://lfsmake.org/), which to a large degree automates LFS
installation.  So I may be a bit too close to the topic and it's fine
with me if someone else wants to cover it.  I just think it should be
mentioned.

-- Rod
   http://www.sunsetsystems.com/

On Wed, 27 Sep 2000, der.hans wrote:
> moin, moin,
> 
> all this FUD[2] about the different dists prompts me to make a suggestion
> I was thinking about.
> 
> How would we like to have a panel of PLUG members talk about several of
> the different distributions? My idea is to have people sign up to cover a
> specific dist. They take turns talking about the good/bad things about the
> dist and maybe even give a company/dist[3] profile, e.g. cover the
> apparent market the company is aiming for, cover other things the company
> works on, especially things that benefit Open Source and Linux in general.
> 
> I figure everybody gets 10 to 15 minutes. That gives us time for 5 or 6
> dists as well as a break and some discussion at the end.
> 
> Specifically I think we need to cover RedHat, debian and Mandrake as those
> seem to be in common use amongst LUG members.
> 
> Just for the record, dists that don't have an x86 version, e.g. Yellow
> Dog, should also be up for grabs if someone wants to cover them.
> 
> It might even be nice to have someone cover a *BSD, but I'd rather have a
> *BSD night some time and have good coverage of it. Same with hurd if
> people are interested and it's considered usable by at least a few people
> :).
> 
> Anybody interested? I think this would make a good topic for Dec.
> 
> BTW, I specifically don't want dist reps. I'd rather LUG members tell us
> what they think and what their experiences were. I do want dist vendors to
> make presentations at PLUG, but one at a time :).
> 
> ciao,
> 
> der.hans
> 
> [1] My original thought was to call it Dist Warz or something, but the
> current threads and Kevin's suggestions make me want to de-emphasize dist
> bashing ( even if it's fun :) and instead foster something positive.
> Comparisions can be made, but we should try to keep it friendly. *After*
> the meeting we can all sidle over to a jello-wrestling bar and let people
> fight it out ;-).
> [2] Yes, I was one of the people spreading it.
> [3] I'll use "company" after this, but not all dists are really companies,
> e.g. debian. Debian as an org still has a focus and still has side
> benefits like hurd, so it can still be covered properly.
> 
> -- 
> #  der.hans@LuftHans.com   home.pages.de/~lufthans/   www.Opnix.com
> #  You can't handle the source! - der.hans