[TriLUG] Debian any good?

[Peter Long]

Hi all,

Since my harddisk is acting funny I have decided to upgrade the OS on my 
RedHat 8.0 box (and replace the disk at the same time). I have been 
using RedHat and Mandrake for the last 6 years so I think its time to 
try something new. I tried KNOPPIX 3.3 earlier today when on Brian 
Weaver's advice I used badblocks to check the disk (none found Brian). I 
was very impressed with KNOPPIX. It found all my hardware and even had 
the sound working without any tinkering on my part! I understand KNOPPIX 
is based on Debian so I thought I would try it as the OS of my Linux 
machine.

However I thought it might be prudent to ask for advice from current 
Debian users on the list. I mainly use the machine as a NAT gateway and 
firewall as well as my mail-server. I use postfix and University of 
Washington IMAP. I also plan to use shorewall as my firewall. At the 
moment I just use IPtables on its own. I assume the Debian distro will 
contain all these apps.

Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

--
Peter Long