Very Computer

I have installed Mandrake 8.1, but there are different distro's out there,
that much i know, but what are the differences between them? So far, i from
what i've seen on the newsgroups, slackware and redhat seem to be on
opposite sides, and everything else seems to be based on either of them? Am
i right in that assumption?

I'm just curious....thanks for any info you could throw my way.

Hussein

G'day Hussein,

There is really not a lot of difference between a lot of the linux
distros i.e. they will all support the same hardware, come with the same
sort of software ect. there is some difference in the directory
structure i.e. some distro install under /usr other will use /usr and
/opt etc.

The one big difference IMHO is some distro (Mandrake & SuSE spring to
mind) try to provide a similar front to windows (GUI config and admin
apps, little or no relience on the command line ect), so as to make them
accessible to windows users. This is not a criticism, many people use
Mandrake and SuSE and are very happy with.

Another big difference is in the init scripts most distros use what
called a SYSV (prnounced system 5) style scripts where as slackware (and
probably some others) use BSD style scripts

And finally most distros use are binary distros i.e. you download
pre-compilied programs but there are a growing number of source based
distro (Sorcerer (which I use), Gento and LFS spring to mind) which install no
binaries instead you get the source code of the programs and compile
them on your box yourself

Cheers

Joel

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Go ahead try and spam me ...

While what Joel says is correct, I think he may have drastically
understated the difference in user-friendliness between distros, as he
seems to be a highly technical and experienced Linux user, which you
probably aren't.

I'm particularly referring to the installation process ... just try
installing Debian for the first time and you'll see what I mean,
especially coming from Mandrake.

Also, distros vary significantly in the stability/feature-set tradeoff
they make with a lot of packages.  Mandrake uses all bleeding-edge stuff
(so you get fully featured apps that crash a lot) whereas Debian takes the
opposite approach of old tried-and-true apps.

Personally, I go for Red Hat, just because it's very professional (no
major config hiccups and so forth) and because I'm used to it.  Once you
get all nice and comfy with the way a distro organises its /etc tree,
you'll find inertia is indeed a powerful beast.

--
Cheers,
Glen

Ill throw my two cents in or my lack of sense maybe :)  Each distro
adds what they develope as ease of installation and some of their own
tools for administration of your system.. Slackware uses pkgtool,
netconfig and other things to set up your system.  SUSE uses Yast and
Yast2 for either a text based or gui adminstration tool.  It has been
a while since I played with Mandrake, 7,0 crashed my lappie so it
becaue a coaster.  Redhat has their toys to and a lot of distros are
Redhat based.  Bottom line the Linux kernel is the linux kernel=a rose
is a rose is a rose.  Everything else it built on top of that.  For
that matter you could build your own distro.  One thing distros may do
is put thing in different places or use different files for programs.
I find that between SUSE,Slack and Redhat but you get used to it. If
you know what you are looking for you will find it.

Ok I use SUSE mainly and Slackware also on tipple boot systems.  For
some reason I have been able to work with SUSE better than Redhat, and
I have given them all a fair try.  Maybe its the German in me but what
this means is you  need to try some distros, IE: download the ones you
can and borrow or buy the others, to see how you feel and how they fit
with the way you work.  Contrary to the fact on gentleman above said
SUSE leans to the more gui oriented it is also very easy to use in a
console mode.  I have it installed on a P166 with 48 mb ram for a
server firewall and run it in console only.  A great way to really
learn about it for sure.  And any system you should try to get used to
the command line to enhance and augment you gui use. Case in point you
can use Kmail, wait for it to load, wait for it to get your mail after
asking your password and all. Or you can use getmail and pine and get
and read you mail in about 5 seconds. All depends on what you want to
do with your system.

Bottom line to all my rambling is this is all a personal use choice.
Redhat and SUSE are very stable large distros with tons of support.
Slackware, which I also like alot, tends to be oriented to those who
really want to tinker with their pc.  THis isnt bad becuase you can
make a very stable great running system.  SO try some things and then
decide but remember Linux is Linux the rest is just the icing on a
very tasty cake.

Have fun
Paul

This was a bit dated last I checked, but it's one of the better distro
comparisons I've seen:
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/1266/1/

The bottom line is it's just competition.  Several are very similar while
others are more geared toward one type of installation (say server vs
workstation).  Some are very specialized (i.e., firewall applications,
etc.).  Just find one that works for you and is well supported and you'll
be fine.

I've just installed Red Hat 7.0. I'm very new to this and am still
struggling with the command line interface and stuff like mount
commands. I notice my 3Com us robotics isa pnp modem is not recognized
(it is NOT a winmodem), neither is my sound blaster sound card or
parallel port zip drive. I haven't had a chance to research these
issues, but does the 7.0 version support these. Kernel is shown as
2.2.16 - 22. I saw another thread mentioning parallel port zip drive
with some lines to add so maybe I can get that working.
Dave Cohen

use "wvdial" to autodetect your modem (kinternet, I think, is the KDE
front-end)

If it doesn't work, contact the authors.

NB: make sure you are running isapnp to detect the ISA PnP card

I like http://www.linux.org/dist/index.html and http://www.distrowatch.com/

The short of it is, Slackware, Redhat, Debian; for flavours that is.
Slackware types tend to expect that you know what you're doing.  You
upgrade by installing the latest tarballs.  Redhat types tend to do a
whole bunch of added-value stuff to make it easier for just anybody to
do things.  Debian tends to prefer to be correct/stable above all
else, and its .deb package format and apt-get/dpkg support tools are
very robust and powerful.

Within those categories, there's lots of wiggle room.  I like SuSE
(Redhat-ish) for being full featured and easy to use (generally), but
I'm also very tempted by crux (Slackware-ish) for being hands-on
control-able.  Then again, there's Libranet (kinda bleeding edge
Debian wrapped in Redhat-ish/SuSE-ish ease of use stuff).

Quote:> I've just installed Red Hat 7.0. I'm very new to this and am still
> struggling with the command line interface and stuff like mount
> commands.

Try this:

    xman -notopbox -bothshown &

That gives you a point and click interface to the manpages.  Learn to
read manpages.  They're not that hard, and you can learn a lot from
them.

Quote:> I notice my 3Com us robotics isa pnp modem is not recognized
> (it is NOT a winmodem), neither is my sound blaster sound card or
> parallel port zip drive. I haven't had a chance to research these

Aren't zips supposed to be /dev/hda4 for some gawd-awful bizarre
reason?!?

Quote:> issues, but does the 7.0 version support these. Kernel is shown as
> 2.2.16 - 22. I saw another thread mentioning parallel port zip drive
> with some lines to add so maybe I can get that working.

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