Which version of Linux?

[Sean Murphy]

Hi.

only having 32 mb of ram isn't enough to run GNU XWindows.  Using a shell
environment is fine.

It is relaly personal choice which version of Linux you go with.  Majority
of books talk about Red Hat.  Debain is what I am using and this is because
it is a work requirement.  The biggest difference between distribution is
the method they install applications.

Debian will remove, update or install any packages that are dependent on the
package that you are installing.  If you are install package x and this
package depends on package y, z and A.  If package A isn't on the system,
then Debian will automatically go out on to the net and grab them and
install them.  If y isn't required any more, then it will automaticlaly
rmeove it and if Z is an older verison, then it will automatically upgrade
the package.

RPM can do simular functionality, but you have define switches to do the
same.  Debian has a very good application called aptitude that does this all
for you and is a nice text base interface.  Apt-get is the tool that you use
to install and remove application.  apt-cache is used to find applications
and.

The bigest ara that you will need to learn, is how to use linux.  It is very
different from windows and dos.

Finally, Redhat and Debian are good environments.  The choice comes down to
what you already know and willing to know.


Debain will install a very bar bone system.  While RedHat by default
installs a lot of applications that you never use.  It is more difficult to
remove these applications, if you don't know what you are doing.

I am sure other members of this list can assist.

Sean