desktop dilemma

[smith at missioncriticallinux.com (Jeffry Smith)]

> I don't deserve it, but I just got a (nice) new desktop computer at
> work.  I'm having a hard time deciding whether I want to install RH or
> Debian for my desktop OS.  Or...
> 
> I'm more familiar with RH.  It's what I first started with.  I haven't
> used Debian much at all.  I just installed it on a backup news server,
> though, and plan to get more familiar with it.  I.E. I pretty much know
> what I'm getting with RH, and I'm not so sure with Debian.
> 
> I'm kind of thinking I'd like to try using Debian.  My dilemma (?) is
> that I'd like to take full advantage of my spanking new shiny hardware. 
> Perhaps this is possible with Debian, I just don't know.

Pretty much in the testing branch, most things are there.  Correct procedure 
is to do the base potato install, then change where the system gets update 
from to point to testing, do an update/dist-upgrade, and you have the new 
system.
> 
> One of the alleged advantages of using Debian is that once installed,
> staying up to date is easy.  One of my primary questions is, once you
> start installing things outside of the stable branch, are you
> potentially eliminating that advantage?  If, say, I installed XFree86
> 4.x, KDE 2.0, 2.4 kernel, etc., will I have a difficult time reconciling
> my installation with the stable branch, once it catches up?

Shouldn't bee a problem, as XF864.0 & KDE2.0 are in testing, and the 2.4 
kernel will be (there's some of the pre stuff, but I always custom build my 
kernels these days).  Note that I'm running a custom 2.4.0 kernel here on 
debian, and no problems with apps.
> 
> Suse also piques my interest.  Why would I want/not want to convert from
> RH to Suse?

Depends on what you like.  YAST and where they put things are the major 
differences that I saw (plus SuSE comes with 6 disks of stuff, last I knew).

> 
> I just have one HDD (for now), and I've had to reserve a couple of
> partitions for unmentionable objectives, so "both" is not an option.  I
> do have a secondary desktop currently running RH7.0/2.4, so I guess I'm
> kind of leaning towards Debian, unless someone tells me my progressive
> ways will lead me to ruin.
> 

Since I've not found a better way to find out what works for me than to test, 
I'd say (if you've got the time), dedicate this machine to "testing," and try 
what you want (debian, SuSE, etc), then decide.

Two other options for you to think about: 
1.  Progeny - they're a debian based system that's supposedly easier to 
install (http://www.progeny.com)
2.  Conectiva - they're a brazilian distro that ported apt to RPM, so you can 
keep the RPMs along with using the ease of apt.  (http://www.conectiva.com/)

You could also grab the Storm linux package (http://www.stormix.com).  I 
installed their's once, it's a nice installer.  It's still available, despite 
their bankruptcy (thank goodness for GPL, and I hope they pull out - it's a 
nice piece of work).

jeff

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeffry Smith      Technical Sales Consultant     Mission Critical Linux
smith at missioncriticallinux.com   phone:603.930.9739 fax:978.446.9470
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thought for today:  garply /gar'plee/ n. 

 [Stanford] Another metasyntactic
   variable (see foo); once popular among SAIL hackers.





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