[ale] Red Hat 4.2 install report

[Tucker Balch]

Since folks have been asking about Red Hat 4.2 I thought I'd provide
a short report on my recent installation.

My last installation was 4.0, so I can't comment on the difference
between 4.1 and 4.2.

What's new:  4.2 is substantially similar to 4.0.  The differences I've
noticed so far are that 4.2 includes Java (the JDK 1.0.2) and improvements
to the GUI sysadmin tools.  One that I particularly like is the printer
configuration tool.  I don't have a printer on this machine, but if
it works like the interface advertises, it's pretty slick.  You just
pick your printer from a list of printers and it configures 
printcap and the filter for you.  They claim you can do things like print
GIF, PS and ASCII files directly.

I installed on a Toshiba 100CS laptop using a SCSI PC-card connected
to a CDROM.

Overall the installation ran more smoothly than 4.0 on a similar machine.
In 4.0 I had to go through a big hassle to get it to see the SCSI 
PC-card.  In 4.2 it figured it out straight away.

Most of the installation flows through a series of menus and works
fine.  The one rough spot is when it drops you into fdisk to partition
your disks.  Not a problem for hackers, but I could never give this
to my Dad and say "here try this on your machine at home."  Detracts
from the "shrink-wrap" appeal of the install.

X: I bought Red Hat because I like how easy it is to install the
commercial X server.   It turned out that Metro-X didn't know about
the chipset in my laptop, but XFree did; real surprise, it's usually
the other way around.  The last time I used XFree it was a nightmare 
to configure, but this time (using Xconfigurator) it was a breeze.
I don't see a real need anymore to use a commercial server.

Recommendation: get the Infomagic 6-CD set for $22 instead of the RedHat
distribution for $49.95.  Infomagic includes RH 4.2 *and* the Metro-X
server if you want that.  Of course no manuals and no "support," but 
I'm not sure anyone ever got support from Red Hat anyhow.

-- Tucker

___________________________________________________________________________
Tucker Balch                                            home (404) 874-9129
Mobile Robot Laboratory, Georgia Tech                 office (404) 894-9311
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~tucker  .                      fax (404) 894-9846