[ale] Linux Distributions

[Michael H. Warfield]

> Ok folks, its time to start the distribution discussions again. :-)

> Like most of us who have used Linux a long time, I was happy to go to
> Slackware from SLS. It was heaven sent in comparison. However, times 
> changed and Slackware had a big lull and I switched to RedHat. I was 
> fairly happy with it and I continue to use it even today. However, I miss the
> BSD style init of Slackware but I really like the RPM package manager of
> RedHat. I like the breadt of packages of Debian. 

	Good Heavens!  There is someone who actually LIKED the old BSD
init!?!?!  That was the numero uno reason for me switching to RedHat.
Trying to maintain dozens of systems is a royal pain with the old BSD files.
I kept running into this system or that system which had implimented startup
features in different ways.  The sysv init system nice and clean and provides
a coherent framework to bolt more packages in.  And I can add them in just
by transporting the pieces between systems.  I would estimate that moving
to the sysv init system as reduced the required maintenance of the init
scripts by at least a factor of four.  I've got LOTS of reasons to dislike
RedHat (like why did they move the /usr/lib/uucp config files to /etc/uucp
and the http files to /etc/httpd?!?!?) but the init package is definitely
not one of them!

> I was wondering what the other ALE members think of various distributions.
> I feel that Slackware has fallen behind the times in my opinion. It takes a
> long time for updates to the distribution to come out and they still haven't
> adopted a package management scheme other than the antiquated but effective 
> tarball method. RedHat is pretty good but for the money, you their much
> vaunted support isn't as good as the stuff you get from USENET. Debian has
> lots of packages but the installation still leaves much to be desired for a
> novice.

	With InfoMagic CD's, one price gets you both ($17.50 an issue on the
subscription) so I don't see the price on RedHat being an issue.  Never
used their support, so I guess that's not an issue either.  Having a
RedHat with SPARC Linux was definitely NICE!

> I was wondering what other distributions ALE members use and the advantages
> and disadvantages of them.

> V
> --
> Vernard Martin (vernard at cc.gatech.edu) http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~vernard/
> Understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, their side and the truth.

	Mike
--
 Michael H. Warfield    |  (770) 985-6132   |  mhw at WittsEnd.com
  (The Mad Wizard)      |  (770) 925-8248   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9      |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
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