Any SuSE homies bought/burned/installed it yet? Results?
Agent Smith was right!: "I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell! If there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it."
Chinasaur, I've burned it and installed it on one of my machines, but didn't check out all the new stuff and what not, but I was pleased with the release if that helps any. I was doing a reinstall on a system and just figured I'd load it on for just a sec to check things out, so I didn't tinker with it a lot. Wish I had a better review for ya
ME ME ME
I just got it installed - working GREAT and I'm running the icc version of DF without having to do the ln thang
A few cosmetic quirks, like no back/forward with the M$ mouse, but the scroll wheel works, and I'm still messing with the Desktop resolution thing.
I have a lot to learn... It is not Mandrake
It has awesome visual clarity, best I've seen yet.
The message above was obviously written by an IronBits imposter. The REAL IronBits is a Windoze guy
Well, Ok - how about a short, to the point, comment about which distros you've tried, and why you didn't like them. I've pretty much only heard good things about SUSE, but haven't tried it. I've found all the distros have have different strengths and weaknesses, I like Mandrake, Red Hat, Knoppix, which I have tried. As far as running headless, I'm starting to lean towards K12 - which supports it "out of the box". (In reality, it's just a "hacked up" Red Hat specifically configured for being a PXE boot server.)
Do they use RPM installers, or have their own, like Debian, or something completely different? What makes SUSE good?
Mandrake 9 with KDE was good, and easy to run. Fell in love with it, not ready for prime time, replacing windows.
SuSe, just installed it, KDE is good, went in pretty smooth.
It's not Mandrake tho, so it's gonna take me a while to figure it all out...
Never did like Rehat anything - but I'm no pro - if you want that, ask Dyyryath
Dyy, this edit window is way too wide, by about an inch, or 11 characters on a 1024x768 screen...
Well, my current plan is to run Red Hat 9.0 for just long enough to build my own distro from source. (Did I mention that I was one of the original people involved with LinuxFromScratch - used to own the domain. Didn't have to time to keep up with it - sold it to Gerard Beekmans for $1.00 Canadian.)
But I'm not averse to using a pre-packaged distro, if only to save myself time, effort, and frustration....
cm,
I've used SuSE, Mandrake and Libranet Debian these last 16 months.
SuSE I prefer for it's "complete" feel and overal polish. It's a great business distro as it doesn't have pretty pictures/icons..oriented towards business users. SuSE always seems to underperform on DF by about 10-15K strucs a day...don't know why.
Mandrake has always given me the most strucs perday on any box. Don't know why. So I use ti on boxes that will run without attention ... what "were" my duals/top production boxes.
Libranet Debian is the most stable Linux I've ever used. Would still have the install if I hadn't erased it by accident in a swap out one dayI loved the apt-get (so superior to .rpm it's not funny), ability to update/upgrade the system, ease of installing window managers. Stability, no broken dependancies... If I was to have another full-time Linux desktop it would be Libranet Debian. Libranet adds enhanced peripheral detection and setup routines to Debian that make it worth the money to purchase. Even their free version rocks.
My favorite distro was SuSE 7.3. Now it's Debian for it's stablity. But when I need a quick linux install I throw Mandrake 8.1 on
Agent Smith was right!: "I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell! If there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it."
Grrrr... Once again, more questions raised than answers...
OK, let's see if I can help out here.
Red Hat: The generic US Linux distro. Supported by just about anyone writing anything for Linux. Most proprietary software that I use at work with Linux support of any kind requires (or at least, highly suggests) Red Hat. This generally equates to a high probability that any given Linux driver/app/tool you need will have been tested on Red Hat. It uses RPM as it's package manager (a given, I guess
Mandrake: Basically a souped up Red Hat. Tends to be a little faster (probably due to compiler options) than most other distros with their default install. If you know your way around Red Hat, Mandrake will seem extremely familiar, though they have lots of their own touches in there, too. They have a good set of GUI tools to do most system administration tasks. Uses RPM for a packaging system. The GUI package installer (rpmdrake) is FAR superior to Red Hat's. Additionally, their console package tool (urpmi) is every bit as good as apt-get. It's the one thing that really sets Mandrake apart, in my opinion. In fact, it's why I've standardized on Mandrake for all servers at work. It's also my desktop OS at work. They use a different auto-update tool (based on urpmi) than Red Hat , but it is also extremely easy and effective. Very nice.
Suse: The Red Hat for Europe. This is the other big one. Just about anything that supports a specific distro will list Red Hat and then probably Suse. They have a great installer, and pretty good GUI tools for most system administration stuff. Also uses RPM for package management. I don't like their GUI package management tool too much, but it gets the job done. The ability to search for certain packages during the install is nice. Performance generally seems better by default than Red Hat, but slightly behind Mandrake. This is just a 'seat of the pants' observation, though. Suse pushes KDE by default, and has spent time making their tools & apps fit in with the look. I'm not a big KDE fan, so this doesn't do much for me. KDE people will probably like this distro, though. One other item of note: They used to have the best Sparc version of Linux out there, hands down. I still use it on my Ultra5s & 10s: Suse 7.3sparc. If anyone has a Sparc and wants to run Linux, this is a no-brainer.
Debian: This a really good distro for people who love to learn and tinker. It's not for the 'I just want it to work' crowd. The installer is difficult at best. It does have, however, one of the best package management systems around (apt-get). Getting to the point where you can use it can be something of a hassle, though.It's stability and developer mindset remind me a little of FreeBSD or Slackware (an old favorite of mine).
Gentoo: My personal favorite, but also not for the faint of heart. Actually, it's easy to install, but it's TIME CONSUMING to do it right. Basically, the premise behind Gentoo is 'build everything from the source'. This is EXTREMELY cool, and allows you to really optimize your OS for your system & needs, but it takes A LONG TIME. It took me about 2 days to install it last time (on an XP2400). You can start with varying levels of precompiled software, but what would be the point?
There are several other distros that I haven't mentioned, but I've used most of them so if you have a specific question about one or the other, feel free to ask. I'll be happy to answer if I can.
CodeMonkey: From what I've gotten from your posts, you want Gentoo. Trust me. Set aside a day or two and install it. You'll find it's just like 'rolling your own', but without all the hassle of tracking down each piece of source yourself.
"So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men." - H.G. Wells
As you are planning to use RedHat..do so
Best of luck
PS Dyyryath - Do yourself a favor and download Libranet Debian. You will re-write your evaluation of Debian. It makes Debian that much better. And Debian has apt-get which is far superior to .rpm's.
Last edited by Chinasaur; 07-28-2003 at 08:36 PM.
Agent Smith was right!: "I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell! If there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it."
Actually, I've used Libranet (I thought Adminmenu was a nice tool & it's printer support was above par). I thought it was pretty good, all in all. Perhaps you misunderstood my position on Debian. I'm actually *quite* fond of it. I just wouldn't recommend it to anyone who didn't want to spend some time 'getting to know it'.
As for apt-get, I agree it *is* much better than plain ole rpm. urpmi, however, is every bit as good.
"So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men." - H.G. Wells
A couple of points about Gentoo: setting up distcc can distribute the compiler load across several boxes which should cut down on compile time (assuming you have several boxes -- but quite a few people around here do). Also one note about the unmerge dependency management: it can uninstall a package for you ... but it cannot track down unused dependencies. This can become a problem if you say install gVim on your server and end up with all the X11 and GTK2 junk on your system and want to get rid of all of it. I believe Debian allows you to do this (I have not used it myself I just remember -- or think I remember -- something like this being said in a thread comparing Gentoo to Debian).Originally posted by Dyyryath
<snip>
Gentoo: My personal favorite, but also not for the faint of heart. Actually, it's easy to install, but it's TIME CONSUMING to do it right. Basically, the premise behind Gentoo is 'build everything from the source'. This is EXTREMELY cool, and allows you to really optimize your OS for your system & needs, but it takes A LONG TIME. It took me about 2 days to install it last time (on an XP2400). You can start with varying levels of precompiled software, but what would be the point?
<snip>
I haven't tried distcc with Gentoo yet, though it's on my list. The --unmerge option can leave things behind, but I'm pretty good about either (a) knowing ahead of time what goes with what, or (b) paying close attention to emerge -p <package> before I actually install, so that I know what else I can ''unmerge" when the time comes. It's certainly not perfect, but it *is* my favorite so far, with apt-get (which is really more of a tool than a package system) running a close second.
"So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men." - H.G. Wells
Hmmmm. Looked over the manuals. Gentoo it is !!!!
FreeDC Mercenary
rsbriggs: I think you'll like it.
Kosh: I'd used distcc (along with ccache) before while doing big compiles at work, but it hadn't occured to me to try it with Gentoo until you mentioned it. Thanks for the reminder! It was even more painless than I remembered, and it's already made a *huge* difference in speed.
Now I need to load the cross-compile stuff on my Ultra's and tinker with using them as well.
"So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men." - H.G. Wells
Actually I really, really like emerge it does have some nice features like how it handles allowing an install of GTK1 and GTK2 to coexist and being able to ensure that 2 MTAs do not get installed at the same time. I just thought I would point this out since I do happen to know someone who still has fragments from an unwanted X installation on his server because he did not to an 'emerge -p' and copied over a 'make.conf' template with USE="X" ... hehOriginally posted by Dyyryath
The --unmerge option can leave things behind, but I'm pretty good about either (a) knowing ahead of time what goes with what, or (b) paying close attention to emerge -p <package> before I actually install, so that I know what else I can ''unmerge" when the time comes.
Don't you just hate that? And it usually happens when you think you're saving time: "I'll just grab my old make.conf so I don't have to waste time editing the default one...".Originally posted by Kosh
I do happen to know someone who still has fragments from an unwanted X installation on his server because he did not to an 'emerge -p' and copied over a 'make.conf' template with USE="X" ... heh
We've all been there...and if you haven't, you will.
"So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men." - H.G. Wells
But why Luke? Exactly....???
cue Star Wars...
"IronBits..you've turned off your SuSE 8.2...what's wrong?"
"It's ok. I'm alright!"
Agent Smith was right!: "I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell! If there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it."
Well, I'm due a 3.2 GHz Intel HT box tomorrow. Going to do the Gentoo thang....
Much as I like Mandrake, it's just too, umm, consumerized for me. Probably the reason I would never buy Lindows....
FreeDC Mercenary
In my limited opinion
Mandrake = Server
SuSe = Workstation - work environment - to much 'stuff'
www.dbestern.net is live again
Good things will be coming...
It's good to have a *nix box back in the house to.
And I haven't had to call Master Dyyryath... yet
Sigh. Gentoo is out. Doesn't have a network driver for the Intel Pro100 NICs on these new Dells...... Looks like I do Red Hat....
FreeDC Mercenary
Check this thread out over on Ars
http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenT...1&m=4220982775
They're all basically going through the same deal that I am. I'm just going to have to get network booting figured out once and for all here.....
Only Red Hat recognizes my NIC card on these new Dell boxen with Intel MOBOs. Knoppix, Gentoo, and Mandrake dont....
FreeDC Mercenary
Linux N00b here too...
Until now I've never seemed to come much further than installing Linux and then make it go foobar somehow
I'll give it another try soon though. I've tried various distros:
- Redhat 5.2, so I don't think I'll comment on that
- Debian: Pretty cool, apt-get is nice. What *really* rocks about Debian though, is thier policy and all the hard work done by the Debian developers. The reason apt-get works so well, is because the developers are doing a freakin' great job making sure each .deb package just plain works. I don't understand why people always focus so much on apt-get since it would be worth nothing if the debian developers didn't do their job as well as they do. Apt-get is cool, but it's not .deb only- it works fine with .rpm too
Even though Debian is cool, I still managed to somehow make my install unusable - most likely a PEBKAC problem
Suse: Very cool distro IMHO. I've read lots and lots of reviews of all kinds of distros and Suse have consistently gotten better reviews than most of the other big distros. Of course, if you don't like KDE, then you should probably choose something else.
Gentoo: This is the latest distro I've tried and the one I'll install again soon. I actually have it installed now, but I tried to un-emerge Gnome and that certainly didn't go well
Besides that, I really like Gentoo - I've learned a lot by installing it (forgotten a lot again too) and besides, my personal Linux guru have used nothing but Gentoo since I told him about it
Gentoo is still very new, so I bet it'll only get better
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/61/32064.html - IBM announces Opteron server. "The system will comprise 1058 dual-processor 1U rack-mounted eServer 325s. Each server is based on a pair of AMD Opteron 200-series CPUs, including the Opteron 246, IBM said."
Anyway, put all these Opterons together and you have a system capable of performing more than 11,000,000,000,000 (11 trillion) calculations per second, enough to propel its straight to number three in the world's most powerful supercomputer chart, according to IBM. It's also a trillion calculations - thereabouts - more than China's Dawning Opteron-based supercomputer will deliver.
The system will run SuSE Linux.
Agent Smith was right!: "I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell! If there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it."
I'm surprised that IBM didn't go with their own Power4 CPU...
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