[TriLUG] Linux Newbie Resources

[Tanner Lovelace]

linux r said the following on 9/20/04 2:46 PM:

> 2) other distros such as mandrake (french), white box linux, etc,  are
> based upon redhat.  The package manager, for example, which is what
> you use to install software.  So in the beginning I would rather just
> use one distro and get good with that until I knew a little bit about
> what was going on, and felt comfortable to try other distributions.

And William Sutton later replied:

 > Mandrake (as Tanner no doubt will chime in) is no longer based on Red Hat.
 > In any case, Red Hat now costs $$$ to acquire legally if you want a stable
 > version (I don't consider the FC* series of "user" releases to be stable).

Yes, William, you are correct.  While Mandrake did start out as Red Hat
plus KDE, they have since gone on to create a world class distribution
that is arguably much better than Red Hat in many areas.

What I'd like to question, though, is why the original poster felt
obligated to mention that mandrake was french?  While it is true, what's
the point?  Or are you trying the Fox News strategy of trying to
make people hate the french?  Please enlighten me here.


linux r later said:

> 3)  It is easier sometimes to find more support for things
> redhat-related than some other god-knows-what distro, unless you
> really know what you are doing in terms of searching, compiling
> software, etc.  With redhat, if you can get, say, FC3 on your machine,
> then you can easily find rpm packages to download and install on your
> machine.  That is not always the case with other distro's, although it
> is definitely better these days than in the past.

If you want more package support, then there are probably three distros
you should consider over Red Hat, which, IMHO doesn't have decent 3rd party
package support.  Those three distros are Debian, Gentoo, and Mandrake.
Debian, by far, has the most package support, but be aware that the
distro is quite different if you come from a Red Hat background.  Gentoo,
also, by virtue of compiling from source and the ease of creating ebuilds
has many many packages, but once again, it is very different from just
about any other linux out there.  Mandrake, on the other hand, has a very
vibrant community, much like what the Fedora project seeks to achieve,
that packages up almost everything you could ever want.  I rarely, if ever,
need to go outside mandrake contrib or the Penguin Liberation Front
packages to find something in Mandrake, something I can't say about Red Hat.

> 4) Red Hat (the company) is definitely a leader in the linux space. 
> More name recognition and support= better hardware support= more
> software packages out there= fewer headaches.  Personally I like that.

This is a fallacy based on experience in the Windows Realm.  Linux hardware
support is at the kernel level and is available to whatever distro wants it.
In fact, some of the best hardware support out there resides not in Red
Hat, but in the live-CD based distribution Knoppix.  While Red Hat is
indeed a leader in the linux space, they are not guaranteed that position.
They have many very good competitors and will need to work to maintain
their lead.  This is good for linux users as competition will make things
better quicker.

So, what I would suggest, to the original poster who asked how to learn linux
is to start with a live CD distro like Knoppix.  It's easy to use, has
good hardware support, and you don't need a linux installfest to get up
and running. :-)  Try that out for a bit and then ask whatever questions
come up here on the list.  Good luck, and enjoy. :-)

Cheers,
Tanner Lovelace