which linux to go for

[Kirk Wood]

Moving from the easy, go with the one your comfortable with, I will
address some things from Tommy's post, and give my views on some things.

First, don't chose a distro based on what apps are installed by
default. The lack of mpg123, or some other app is not a reason to chose
another distro. First, you can install any app on any distro. Second, you
can get rpms for just about any app you find if it is popular in the
slightest bit. The RedHat Package Manager (rpm) is one of the two strong
points for RedHat. The fact is that you can easily install and uninstall a
huge number of apps with this. It will make sure you have the requisite
stuff and also keep you from breaking things when you uninstal stuff.

Moving from there, my favorite is Debian. It has a package manager that I
find more comprehensive then RPM. While the text version of rpm just tells
you that a package can't be installed, and what is missing, debian gives
you a chance to choose to install any needed package right then and
there. It also has good utilities to get updatees on the things you have
installed. Again, you can install just about any app with this
system. There are converters to use slackware install files and redhat
install files.

Then there is slackware. It has its own manager to install programs. It
has utilities to convert from other formats. It will easily let you
install packages whith missing dependencies. This can be good and bad. But
this is missing the real heart of slackware. The real heart (and
departure) is that slackweare uses a bsd style init while most others use
systemV (system 5). What is the difference? hmm, one is bare bones and the
other is script deluxe.

In a systemv systenm, you will find scripts to start, stop and restart all
the services in the /etc/init.d (or /etc/rc.d/init.d) directory. You want
to restart your smb services? type "/etc/init.d/smb restart" and it takes
care of itself. Slackware, you need to know more about the service and do
so manually. Which is better? I prefer systemv. Others prefer bsd. I guess
it is like the ice cream debate on what flavor is best.

Now going back to my original advice. Go with the one your comfortable
with. Thus if you have nothing to go by, ask arround. Use the distro that
your buddy who is willing to answer your question at midnight uses. The
reason is rather simple, he will be able to give you a much more coherant
answer to the system he uses. In fact, use the same version of distro he
uses. When you are ready strike out on your own, go for it.

=======
Kirk Wood
Cpt.Kirk at 1tree.net

"When I take action, I'm not going to fire a $2 million missle at
a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It's going to be decisive."
	- President George Bush