I did not read the initial posting. From the answer it looks like, you 
are discussing about various linux distributions. So, let me pitch in my 
view.

I was using RedHat 6* for last two years on and off. But this march, 
when I was searching for distribution with kernel 2.4 release, I came 
across SuSE 7.1. Oohhh!  I absolutely love it. It's so easy.

I loved it so much, for my next job(I was in-between jobs) on first day 
when the manager asked about the Windoze software that I needed to be 
installed on my desktop, I said, 'just  get me the box from IT 
department, I will install Linux on it.

He gave me the box and RedHat 7.1 CDs and a warning that it's up to me 
to access the printer, LAN etc....

I put in my SuSE 7.1 and went for the meeting came back, it was all set 
and ready to rock 'n roll.
Just had to fireup the yast2-printer wizard, it searched the LAN, pulled 
up all the available printers on the LAN

I love it. And of course, if you want to do it hard way(learn),  go for 
slackware; it's addictive though.

Sundar


Blake Barnett wrote:

>You must have used the Hamm installer or something even older.  You probably
>got tossed into Dselect as well.  The recent installer (potato) is a far cry
>from intuitive but it's simple enough.  The new installer going in to Woody
>(testing/3.0) is much better, and the installer in development in Sid
>(unstable) is quite nice, it includes a GUI and all the niceties that
>mandrake has brought to the table in the install.  I also thought Caldera's
>installer was very nice. (Gotta love playing pacman while installing..
>haha).
>
>Don't get me wrong, I learned the most about Linux by fighting with the
>idiocies in RedHat 4.0-6.1, 6.2 finally worked as intended but RPM is just a
>pain in the ass as far as I'm concerned.  I really do recommend anyone who
>is going to learn Linux to try ALL the distributions.  And it's always a
>good idea to learn about the market leader (redhat/mandrake).  But if you
>have to upkeep/admin/clean-up/update an OS, Debian will make your headaches
>FAR less.  And I love Debian for my desktop, since I can try out whatever I
>want from APT and remove it straight-away without worrying about
>dependencies or duplicate packages.  And I've _NEVER_ had to rebuild my dpkg
>database.  I found that I was doing that at least every month or two on my
>redhat boxes because of corrupted files, or poorly made packages...  blech! 
>
>As far as the technical differences or benefits versus loss between RPM/DEB
>I would love for someone to actually enlighten me as to why RPM is superior.
>I have constantly heard this, but I have never heard a good reason why.
>
>* Blake
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Douglas Jerome [mailto:jerome@primenet.com]
>Sent: Friday, July 20, 2001 12:14 AM
>To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
>Subject: Re: Introductions
>
>
>OK, I just joined this list, but I'll jump right in.
>
>I'm an experienced s/w engineer; I've been hacking on
>unices for 10 years, and I've been using various Linux for
>several years.
>
>The Debian installer is a mess. It is not for a beginner.
>apt-get is great when you learn it, but I've seen too many
>people give up on Linux because they tried Debian first.
>
>If someone who worked for me made a program like the last
>Debian installer I tried, I'd fire him. Installtion options
>that conflict with each other, and let you do just that,
>are brain damage. Having to go through an incredibly long
>rolling command line configuration of everything that you
>installed (even if you dont want to configure/startup them)
>with obscure options is brain damage. Pardon me, but
>if I did that to my customers then I would be fired.
>
>There's absolutely nothing about redhat or mandrake that
>keeps anyone from "getting under the hood". And they are
>a WHOLE HECK OF A LOT easier for a beginner to install.
>