I'm thinking of seting up a LINUX box.
What are peoples views on a stable Linux dist?

Thanks,

Jim Scott

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I Desire Peace and Justice, Jim Scott (Mod-Ret.)

Dear god the floodgates open... Take your pick, freebsd - stable, Gentoo - stable, Fedora Core 3 - stable, Knoppix - stable, Overclockix - Stable, have used all the above at one time or another to run boinc. It all depends on what you are familure with or how newbie-easy you want the distro to be.

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Dear god the floodgates open... Take your pick, freebsd - stable, Gentoo - stable, Fedora Core 3 - stable, Knoppix - stable, Overclockix - Stable, have used all the above at one time or another to run boinc. It all depends on what you are familure with or how newbie-easy you want the distro to be.

Thanks,
I have heard good things about,Knoppix, Gentoo and Fedora.
I ran SUSE several years ago but I don't think I gave it a fair shake.

Jim Scott

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I Desire Peace and Justice, Jim Scott (Mod-Ret.)

I'm thinking of seting up a LINUX box.
What are peoples views on a stable Linux dist?

Thanks,

Jim Scott

If it's just to crunch BOINC, you will only need a very minimal install and so just about any distro will be stable. Linux=kernel=stable. If you need more than that, it's really a question of choice and what your exact requirements are. The distro that gives most in the way of choice and flexibility is Gentoo - but not everyone will want to put up with compiling everything from source, especially on a slow machine.

I spent many months choosing a distro, trying every one I could get my hands on. It's really rather like buying a car.

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Be lucky

Neil

I'm thinking of seting up a LINUX box.
What are peoples views on a stable Linux dist?

Thanks,

Jim Scott

Sorry... gotta say it.... flamebait! :-)

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________________________________________________
Rob_G

I'm thinking of seting up a LINUX box.
What are peoples views on a stable Linux dist?...

Sorry... gotta say it.... flamebait! :-)

Or is a better translation: 'stable' equals 'mainstream' as opposed to experimental?

Most distros have versions that are under development as opposed to 'release' versions. For example, Mandriva has the 'cooker' development versions.

If you're looking for solid and stable, then look at one version previous to whatever is current and pick up all the updates in one gulp. (Then again, Gentoo development is always 'live'.)

Then again, the current stuff is stable also ;) And then there's BSD Linux that is ultra-stable!

Sorry, sometimes there's too much choice.

BTW: I'm a Mandrake/Mandriva GNU Linux fan :)

Good luck,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Stable=Debian

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Raithmir's SPARC64/UltraSPARC Linux Builds
http://www.kulthea.net/boinc/

What's important to remember here is that all of the distributions are just that... Distributions.

GNU/Linux is GNU/Linux. Period.

Some distributions may have useful proprietary tools, or be easier to set up, or may be more customizable, and some of them take some liberties in where they put certain libraries. But the fact is that they all get the source code that they start with from the same developers. And if changes are made, the GNU license says they have to make the changes available to everyone (read: other distributions).

That being said, in no particular order, here's what I think:

Debian has the best update system. APT rocks.
Redhat/Fedora has some really nice administration tools.
Mandriva is painfully easy to set up.
Gentoo is so customizable it's overwhelming. It also can be built to be very fast, but not built very fast. God help you if you screw up the install. ;)
SuSe is OK, but like Linspire it has a nasty habit of leaving the root vulnerable.

Those are the big players, most of the others are built off one of these (Ubuntu is built off Debian, as is Knoppix). Check local listings.

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7,049 S@H Classic Credits

Oh, then there is BSD which is not Linux at all.

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7,049 S@H Classic Credits

Debian has the best update system. APT rocks.

As you appear to have some experience of Gentoo portage, I'm VERY surprised that you say that. ;)

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Be lucky

Neil

FC3

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WTMI. Now I'm more CONFUZZED than ever.
However, I Guess I,ll figure it out after a couple of days checkin the boards.
Thanks for the input.

Jim Scott (DAZED AND CONFUSED)My Parents did drugs };-).

And I actualy have about another week before my new HD comes in.

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I Desire Peace and Justice, Jim Scott (Mod-Ret.)

OK, I've decided to try Mandrake. Not too easy or too hard from what I gather elsewhere.
Wish me LUCK.

Later,

Jim Scott

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I Desire Peace and Justice, Jim Scott (Mod-Ret.)

I'm thinking of seting up a LINUX box.
What are peoples views on a stable Linux dist?...

Sorry... gotta say it.... flamebait! :-)

Or is a better translation: 'stable' equals 'mainstream' as opposed to experimental?

Most distros have versions that are under development as opposed to 'release' versions. For example, Mandriva has the 'cooker' development versions.

If you're looking for solid and stable, then look at one version previous to whatever is current and pick up all the updates in one gulp. (Then again, Gentoo development is always 'live'.)

Then again, the current stuff is stable also ;) And then there's BSD Linux that is ultra-stable!

Sorry, sometimes there's too much choice.

BTW: I'm a Mandrake/Mandriva GNU Linux fan :)

Good luck,
Martin

OK I've decided to try Mandrake.
Wish Me Luck.

JIM Scott

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I Desire Peace and Justice, Jim Scott (Mod-Ret.)

How about Lindows?

*Ducks for cover*

Notice: I dont use the now-extinct Lindows... I use Gentoo, as any man should do.

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Debian has the best update system. APT rocks.

As you appear to have some experience of Gentoo portage, I'm VERY surprised that you say that. ;)

Debian is up to date ??LOL it´s allways at least 1.5 years behind other distro´s if you relating to the stable version.

As i´ve got some expirience troughout all well known distro´s like Redhat,SuSE, Mandrake,Debian, Gentoo and LFS i could onl recommend FedoraCore for new/novice linux users and Gentoo & LFSfor experts.

everything else is crap mixed & messed up.
That´s my expierience.

regards
Crunch3r

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Join BOINC United now!

I use Xandros Linux on my 4 linux computers including my web server. They have a free download if you use BitTorrent or $10 to download from their site.

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I use Xandros as well. I have tried Redhat, Corel, and Mandrake. Xandros is the easiest distro to use by far and the most stable.

www.xandros.com

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CW started a thread a while back, here, there was alot of input about different distros, I hope this helps you some :-)

CW started a thread a while back, here, there was alot of input about different distros, I hope this helps you some :-)

There's also full copies of Debian 3.1, Fedora Core, and other stuff on this month's Linux Format magazine DVD. Mandriva (Mandrake) also gets a good mention. Should make for an easy introduction.

Good luck,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)