SEO

I was a Linux freak for many years until some 4 years ago that, kind of out
of necessity, I defected to the Microsoft camp lured by XP and Microsoft
..NET and having grown tired of the feeling of having to assemble the car
part by part before I could start driving. Sure there is Mono, the .NET
alternative for Unix/Linux but why would I settle for an incomplete
framework (at the time) when I could have the real thing and a wonderful IDE
right away? that is why I migrated to "the other side"

I haven't used Linux since, specially after a couple of GRUB disasters that
rendered my whole PC useless until I managed some wizardry to recover my
stuff (IMHO good olé LILO was the best).

Yet, while I don't think I will be doing Linux full time, there are things
where Windows will never be as good as Linux, I can think of multitasking,
not eating up your space in mysterious ways, multitasking (did I mention
that?), security and file system permission implementation.

So I was wondering what is the best Linux distro at this point in time? I
started with Yggdrassil (nice but extremely buggy), then stayed with Red Hat
for many years and many releases up to one of the initial Fedora releases
(don't ask me which). I am interested in doing another partition for
securing my stuff.

One of the things I loved from early Linux was the ample choice of fantastic
windows managers such as enlightment with themes. Unfortunately over the
years most of those simply faded and ended up with the boxy look of KDE
(which I never liked) of the other one that I believe was based on GTK made
by the mono people. That one I liked better but unfortunately for each new
release they completely redefined and destroyed your desktop and the
shortcuts of previous installations had to be manually redone, time
consuming and unproductive. I hope that has improved, people want to get on
to what they need to do.

Anyway, let me know which distro you think it is the best at this moment
based on my comments (which might be experienced as harsh by current-day
linux fanatics).

..... www.FocusOnPanama.com .... wrote:
> I was a Linux freak for many years until some 4 years ago that, kind of out
> of necessity, I defected to the Microsoft camp lured by XP and Microsoft
> .NET and having grown tired of the feeling of having to assemble the car
> part by part before I could start driving. Sure there is Mono, the .NET
> alternative for Unix/Linux but why would I settle for an incomplete
> framework (at the time) when I could have the real thing and a wonderful IDE
> right away? that is why I migrated to "the other side"
>
> I haven't used Linux since, specially after a couple of GRUB disasters that
> rendered my whole PC useless until I managed some wizardry to recover my
> stuff (IMHO good olé LILO was the best).
>
> Yet, while I don't think I will be doing Linux full time, there are things
> where Windows will never be as good as Linux, I can think of multitasking,
> not eating up your space in mysterious ways, multitasking (did I mention
> that?), security and file system permission implementation.
>
> So I was wondering what is the best Linux distro at this point in time? I
> started with Yggdrassil (nice but extremely buggy), then stayed with Red Hat
> for many years and many releases up to one of the initial Fedora releases
> (don't ask me which). I am interested in doing another partition for
> securing my stuff.
>
> One of the things I loved from early Linux was the ample choice of fantastic
> windows managers such as enlightment with themes. Unfortunately over the
> years most of those simply faded and ended up with the boxy look of KDE
> (which I never liked) of the other one that I believe was based on GTK made
> by the mono people. That one I liked better but unfortunately for each new
> release they completely redefined and destroyed your desktop and the
> shortcuts of previous installations had to be manually redone, time
> consuming and unproductive. I hope that has improved, people want to get on
> to what they need to do.
>
> Anyway, let me know which distro you think it is the best at this moment
> based on my comments (which might be experienced as harsh by current-day
> linux fanatics).
>
>
>
This isn't a response to your question, just an observation.

Rigjt now we have here and next door at home

My Wife's Macintosh G4, now upgraded to OS-X because she used to be and
still is a graphic artists.

Her old G4 that I am using to do WP, internet and mail also on OS-X, but
nothing else because after exhaustive research and being called the most
incredible names in comp.mac.systems I couldn't actually find any
software at any price to do the rest of the things it needed to do. It
wouldn't drive any of my peripherals either, though it did read my
camera really easily. And like Linux, it uses CUPS,which although the
best *nix print system yet, still falls short of Windows flexibility.

A linux server, which is running a public website. Appletalk and SMB
protocols for file serving, DNS and SQUID proxy. This has no screen..its
running a Debian Sarge distro, mainly because a friend had some boot CDs
for that. Its also got Mysql and php5 for the website..

A second linux server that I am setting up for someone else ,also
without screen and keyboard. No appletalk but otherwise similar to the
above, debian ETCH though as I only built it two days ago.

My battered old PC next door, recently upgraded to XP pro, which is
moderately loathsome,but does work with my scanner, a big A1 plotter,
run Coreldraw (the ONLY program that does some stuff I need) plus a
couple of other windows progs I really need. By some jiggery pokery with
networked mail folders, it can act as a mail agent as well. So I can
read and send mail from here as well.


Why have I ended up with three different OS'es on 5 machines?

Because they all have a different job to do.

Without doubt, once you get used to its quirks, the Macintosh OS-X is
without doubt the smoothest and most attractive window manager. It also
multitasks properly being BSD *nix 'under the hood' and is pretty much
immune from malware. It won't run internet explorer which I need for a
few sites, but the PC/XP will...However you pay a price. The window
updates - even at reduced color depth - are not as fast as the windows
machine, which is of similar power but less RAM... It's that proper
multitasking you see..sometimes the processor has to do something
else..It is obviously a window manager designed by graphic artists FOR
graphic artists. And with MS office and multimedia tools it isn't a bad
'home/office machine' either and with X11 you can window onto linux
machines too... You can pick up G4 macs with OS-X loaded for a couple of
hundred dollars on ebay. If that is all you need a computer to do, get one.

HOWEVER, for server use I go for Linux every time. The fact you can boot
it headless, its rock solid stable, and infinitely configurable means
its the ideal platform for that. I haven't booted up an X-window thing
on Linux ever..because..

....all the desktop programs I have ever wanted to use are available on
windows. Herein lies windows strength. Software availability, and third
party support. No peripheral ever made does NOT run on windows, or it
doesn't sell, period. Ditto malware. I foolishly tried to install a
different XP theme and it came with a load of baggage that I am no sure
I have completely uninstalled. It also took me several attempts to stop
the bloody warning about 'no virus checker is on' stuff. Gong to XP from
OS-X and my old win987 setup reminded me that going with Microsoft is
like going with a whore, you need to be careful not to catch anything..

This only peripherally addresses your question, fr which I apologise,
however the salient points addressed are..

- if you want a really good window manager, try OS-X. There IS a hack to
allow it to be installed on non apple intel hardware. However be
prepared for virtually no access to software you want at any price.

- if its Linux, the Debian stuff is very stable. I struggled a bit to
get it to partition te disk the way I wanted rather than they suggested,
but eventually discovered how..installation went a treat and the only
two issues I found where with the clock..PC clocks are et to local time,
which meant this one came up an hour out due to summer time, and the
HWclock function gave an error..but I found a parameter to set for MY
board, and it worked..and webmin destroyed itself at one point when I
tried to get it to use a standard socket, and wouldn't install properly
the first time..dependencies were all muddled somehow..but that isn't a
directly Debian supported package. So the Debian stable distro was
pretty much all it should be. Stable.

- if its a window manager that is the key issue, they are all available
on all platforms IIRC. Its just a matter of downloading the lot and
trying them all out I suppose. I.e. what distro you use should not be
dictated by the window manager you want to use.

Anyway, hope that is of interest.

..... www.FocusOnPanama.com .... wrote:
> I was a Linux freak for many years until some 4 years ago that, kind of out
> of necessity, I defected to the Microsoft camp lured by XP and Microsoft
> .NET and having grown tired of the feeling of having to assemble the car
> part by part before I could start driving. Sure there is Mono, the .NET
> alternative for Unix/Linux but why would I settle for an incomplete
> framework (at the time) when I could have the real thing and a wonderful IDE
> right away? that is why I migrated to "the other side"

Troll!

Ottavio
http://www.pledgebank.com/boycottvista

On Sun, 26 Aug 2007 10:44:31 +0200, .... www.FocusOnPanama.com .... wrote:

> I was a Linux freak for many years until some 4 years ago that, kind of
> out of necessity, I defected to the Microsoft camp lured by XP and
> Microsoft .NET and having grown tired of the feeling of having to
> assemble the car part by part before I could start driving. Sure there
> is Mono, the .NET alternative for Unix/Linux but why would I settle for
> an incomplete framework (at the time) when I could have the real thing
> and a wonderful IDE right away? that is why I migrated to "the other
> side"
>
> I haven't used Linux since, specially after a couple of GRUB disasters
> that rendered my whole PC useless until I managed some wizardry to
> recover my stuff (IMHO good olé LILO was the best).
>
> [big snip]
>
> Anyway, let me know which distro you think it is the best at this moment
> based on my comments (which might be experienced as harsh by current-day
> linux fanatics).

"Best" is more a matter of opinion than something quantifiable. "Better"
would be a more appropriate term anyway. Which Linux would be better for
a server or which Linux would be better for general use on old hardware,
etc?

Linux has changed a lot, since you left, so much so, that you would
basically be starting from zero. So, for that reason, I'm going to
recommend a few distros that I would recommend for the newbie. These are
"Live" CD or DVDs, so you can use them without installing them on your
hard drive. They boot and run in RAM, if you have enough, or in RAM and
off the disk, if you don't. "Enough" is at least 2 GB. Great for just
feeling your way. In no particular order:

PCLinuxOS 2007
Knoppix
Kubuntu
SimplyMepis
Fedora 7 Live

That should get you started.

Go here --- http://www.distrowatch.com/ -- for info on the other 300 or
so Linux distributions.

Stef

..... www.FocusOnPanama.com .... wrote:

The answer is for everyone, the best is the one they are using as they are
using it for that reason.

However when I started I chose by the most popular at the time because there
would be the most people available to help and answer questions. Back then it
was Redhat which I have used since just before Cartman which I think was 5.1.
Today it appears to be Ubuntu but might still be Redhat under the Fedora Core name.

--
Hodie sexto Kalendas Septembres MMVII est
-- The Ferric Webceasar
nizkor http://www.giwersworld.org/nizkook/nizkook.phtml
Mission Accomplished http://www.giwersworld.org/opinion/mission.phtml a12

On Aug 26, 4:44 am, ".... www.FocusOnPanama.com ...."
<fights...@mailbox.now> wrote:
> I was a Linux freak for many years until some 4 years ago that, kind of out
> of necessity, I defected to the Microsoft camp lured by XP and Microsoft
> .NET and having grown tired of the feeling of having to assemble the car
> part by part before I could start driving. Sure there is Mono, the .NET
> alternative for Unix/Linux but why would I settle for an incomplete
> framework (at the time) when I could have the real thing and a wonderful IDE
> right away? that is why I migrated to "the other side"
>
> I haven't used Linux since, specially after a couple of GRUB disasters that
> rendered my whole PC useless until I managed some wizardry to recover my
> stuff (IMHO good olé LILO was the best).
>
> Yet, while I don't think I will be doing Linux full time, there are things
> where Windows will never be as good as Linux, I can think of multitasking,
> not eating up your space in mysterious ways, multitasking (did I mention
> that?), security and file system permission implementation.
>
> So I was wondering what is the best Linux distro at this point in time? I
> started with Yggdrassil (nice but extremely buggy), then stayed with Red Hat
> for many years and many releases up to one of the initial Fedora releases
> (don't ask me which). I am interested in doing another partition for
> securing my stuff.
>
> One of the things I loved from early Linux was the ample choice of fantastic
> windows managers such as enlightment with themes. Unfortunately over the
> years most of those simply faded and ended up with the boxy look of KDE
> (which I never liked) of the other one that I believe was based on GTK made
> by the mono people. That one I liked better but unfortunately for each new
> release they completely redefined and destroyed your desktop and the
> shortcuts of previous installations had to be manually redone, time
> consuming and unproductive. I hope that has improved, people want to get on
> to what they need to do.
>
> Anyway, let me know which distro you think it is the best at this moment
> based on my comments (which might be experienced as harsh by current-day
> linux fanatics).


Oh Boy, the very question that has puzzled me too. Reading between
the lines, it seems that you should just choose a distro which is
fairly recent, and is familiar. Red Hat sounds good, like in Fedora 5,
not bleeding edge. There is NO DUMMY FOR LINUX (nor for anything
else...are you a dummy??). Its hard, whichever entrance portal you
enter, but then you sound like you know what youre doing.

I am in the very same conundrum and tried to get around difficulties
with UbU. No dice. The best thing is to join forces with other
enthusiasts, or better yet, other people who want to use Linux because
of its advantages; in person yet. Those who talk about reading the
freaking manual doesnt know the full shape of the problem.

..... www.FocusOnPanama.com .... wrote:


> So I was wondering what is the best Linux distro at this point in time?

It's a purely personal decision based on what you need to get done.

If you want to learn as you go, then maybe Gentoo or LFS...

If you're looking for a try it, before you install it, definitely look at
UBUNTU, PCLINUXOS and KNOPPIX. Of those three... PCLINUXOS is wonderful...
based on Debian.

Then on the other hand, if you want something cutting edge with all the GUI
glitter, then SABAYON is for you...

If all you need is a router setup, then VYATTA is perfect for that...

--


Jerry McBride

Jerry McBride <mcbrides9@comcast.net> writes:

>.... www.FocusOnPanama.com .... wrote:


>> So I was wondering what is the best Linux distro at this point in time?

>It's a purely personal decision based on what you need to get done.

AGreed. I like Mandriva. but you might not.

>If you want to learn as you go, then maybe Gentoo or LFS...

>If you're looking for a try it, before you install it, definitely look at
>UBUNTU, PCLINUXOS and KNOPPIX. Of those three... PCLINUXOS is wonderful...
>based on Debian.

Or MCNLive which is Mandriva based.

>Then on the other hand, if you want something cutting edge with all the GUI
>glitter, then SABAYON is for you...

>If all you need is a router setup, then VYATTA is perfect for that...