[ale] Greg's using "those guys" ; -) (was: could somebody moderate this?)

[Preston Boyington]

Greg wrote:
> Sure;
> 	It is an ancient IBM ThinkPad 390E with little RAM

I use Debian on a Compaq 133MHz/32ram laptop, your system should not be a problem.

> * Req'd programs are vi, quanta, bluefish, aterm, xterm, a
> file manager, ssh, scp, LinNeighborhood (and samba client), jboss (or cuacho resin),
> apache, tomcat, netbeans, j2ee, postgresql, php, smarty, ADOdb, pear,
> abiword, gnumeric, mozilla firefox, mozilla thunderbird, and
> a lite wm - either IceWm or xfce (evaluating both right this minute).
> This will handle my php and java dev stuff as well as light office requirments.
> 

all available under various apt sources or by building from source.  I use Fluxbox personally, but IceWM is comfortable for most people.

> * Needs to be easily updatable.  CVSup is ok.  I am fine with
> a command line.
> 

err, apt-get?  aptitude?

> Summary of what we have tried or thought about;
> 
> Debian is too constrictive (just blew away the libranet
> distro for too many conflicts in a postgresql install). Don't have time for that
> crap.  But was ok for an hour or so.

Ah, you used Libranet.  Libranet is nice for a good "all around" install, but IMHO it doesn't do some things as well as a "real" Debian install.  Especially when you are trying to tailor an installation to fit specific needs.

> Probably should have not upgraded from
> stable and gone to current/release/whatever it's called.  Too many os's today.
> 

Would depend on your situation I guess.  I run 3.0 on my laptop ("Woody" which is the current stable) with no problems.  I don't think I will upgrade to 3.1 ("Sarge") because it does everything I need.  Anything else I can build from source.

> OpenBSD seemed to look like crap on the screen.

Have used OpenBSD for a couple of servers, but for a BSD laptop I would think NetBSD or FreeBSD.

> Suse 9.1 was too heavy also

Agreed.  Like SuSE on a strong desktop, but older laptops it is a bit of a hog.

> 
> Slackware - I have no experience using it and it's probably
> not cutting edge enough.

Haven't used Slack in a while, but never had a big problem.  Even had it running well on the same laptop.  

If you are a BSD fan then I would think Slackware and Debian would be a little more intuitive than SuSE or Red Hat IMHO.  It's as cutting edge as your source.

> RH/Fedora/whatever - I left them when they abandoned the home
> user market.

same here.  Will probably break down and install it again to get familiar with the layout, but don't see me running it as my primary ever again.

> FreeBSD has java,jboss, netbeans, and smarty in it's package
> system.  No one else has any of them (linux only has java).  They have
> embraced java as well as kept things relatively light.  Is used by many large
> installations.  I am well versed in OpenBSD so it's familiar and
> easily updateable (but it puts a strain on the system during make
> (buildworld/installworld/buildkernel/installkernel) as
> opposed to Debians binary download).  FreeBSD will also allow me to use packages
> or ports (more configurable).  Just hope it recognizes the shift-fn-keypad
> combo (IT DOES !!! DANG !! SWEET!!) so I can manipulate screen resolutions
> on the box.
> 

I haven't used FreeBSD in a couple of years, but it wouldn't "bother me" to use it again.  Although I would probably go NetBSD for a desktop system unless the FreeB's have caught up to them with hardware support.

> So the only thing I have left right now is it recognizing the
> cardbus nic.
> 
> Greg
> 

Sounds like a nice project.  I wish you hadn't had the "bad" Debian experience, but at least you have something you are comfortable with using.  I think that is the most important point.

Preston