[TriLUG] Follow-up: why do you run multiple distros?

[Steve Litt]

On Friday 20 April 2007 09:13, Andrew Perrin wrote:
> All right, so I have a follow-up question. Why do y'all use different
> distributions for different machines? Doesn't it get confusing?

Sure it gets confusing, but what choice do I have?

For the machine on which I work every day, I want Mandriva 2007. Most of the 
software I'll ever need, and reasonably decent configuration tools. Because I 
have dialup, I need a distro you can install from a DVD, not a network.

For quick and dirty installs, I want Knoppix. It detects almost any hardware. 
Installation is a matter of answering maybe 4 questions, telling it to 
install itself, and walking away.

For my firewall machine, I want IPCop. Download the CD (overnight on 
dialup :-), boot the box, answer a few questions, and bang -- a firewall for 
the entire lan.

For my Windows machine, I want Windows 98. Old, crashy, slow, but I OWN it, 
with no forced registration. My 1997 Pentium II300 sits in a corner, ready at 
the drop of a hat to edit a WordPerfect 5.1 or Micrografx Windows Draw file, 
and it also serves to test Troubleshooters.Com pages against Internet 
Exploder.

More and more, I'm standardizing the family on Mandriva 2007 for exactly the 
reason you state -- it's confusing to switch back and forth between Knoppix 
and Mandriva, and Mandriva is a must for my business.

My wife's a diehard Windows fan, but often she sneaks off and uses my 
daughter's Mandriva box when nobody's looking :-)

SteveT

Steve Litt
Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware
http://www.troubleshooters.com/