Linux distros (was Re: RH9 disks on the net.)

[Alex Snow]

I did just what you are talking about with slack.  installed the distro,
it configured everything I needed, and installed a suitable kernel from
the cdrom and it's been running fine for months.

--
A message from the system administrator: "I've upped my priority, now up yours!"
On Thu, 10 Apr 2003, Thomas D. Ward wrote:

> Hi, Adam. As I mentioned in another post we are really comparing apples to
> oranges, or two different approaches.
> You must enjoy compiling kernels, editing files, and spending lots of time
> customizing every little detail on your Linux os.
> Sorry, to say but I personally as well as several others around the world
> hate spending unneccessary time recompiling kernels or whatever. I would
> just assume install an os, get everything working, and leave it alone.
> RH/Mandrake have kernels which fit just about every and any situation which
> means I've grown vary use to never compiling kernels. Why should I really
> have to spend three or four hours of time doing that when I can already be
> setup and enjoying my os.
> Mandrake also has some edditions to their kernel source which are vary nice.
> You can put the kernel in secured mode, and the supermount allows you to
> automatically load floppies, cdroms, just by cd into that mount point.
> It is something specific to <Mandrake, and I don't know of another distro
> which has supermount.
> I think many Slack users forget one slight problem. Many average computer
> users would never be able to compile a kernel, and would find the task way
> too complicated. I don't, but I know of people who would not make it through
> make config.
> Thus an all purpose kernel  works fantastically for such users. Thus
> utilities like supermount simplify everyones lives when you never have to
> use mount to mount and unmount drives.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Adam Myrow <amyrow at midsouth.rr.com>
> To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2003 9:44 PM
> Subject: Linux distros (was Re: RH9 disks on the net.)
>
>
> > The idea of a utility confuses me.  How does it deal with floppies?  It's
> > possible that what is actually happening is that it is using automount
> > which is an optional feature of the kernel and was originally designed for
> > NFS.  It apparently has been used with CD ROMs as well, but I've never
> > played with it.
> >
> > That's funny that you say that the Slackware kernel doesn't have enough.
> > I find it too bloated still.  It has support for RAID, PCMCIA, and other
> > things I don't use.  The first thing I do when I get a fresh copy of
> > Slackware installed is to build a custom kernel.  I like how Slackware
> > encourages you to do it, where Redhat has a hands-off approach of
> > automatically loading modules and assuming that you are leaving the kernel
> > alone and will never compile one yourself.  If you compile the drivers for
> > your network card straight into the kernel in Redhat, it will get upset.
> > Even in Slackware, it is possible to load modules for all sorts of
> > drivers, and I can get a Slackware system working fine without a kernel
> > build.  However, I noticed that after building a custom kernel, I was able
> > to shave several seconds off the boot time mainly by eliminating modules
> > for stuff I don't use.  My approach is to build almost everything into the
> > kernel, but make modules out of things I will seldom use.  For example,
> > since I have Roadrunner, I build my network card's drivers in, and I keep
> > PPP as a module in case I have to revert to dial-up.  I also keep support
> > for the Minix filesystem and loopfs as modules since I occasionally need
> > loopfs and run into a Minix disk image here and there.  About the only
> > other modules are Alsa.  The result is that my kernel is under 1MB and my
> > system comes up pretty fast even on this ancient computer.  To me, being
> > able to tweak things to perfection is part of the beauty of Linux.  You
> > can't simply remove support for hardware you don't have in windows like
> > that.  BTW, the new hotplug support didn't detect anything on my computer,
> > but I suspect it may do more on modern computers.  It's probably a good
> > compromise between the sluggish Kudzu of Redhat and no attempt at all to
> > find hardware.
> >
> >
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