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

[Steve Litt]

On Friday 20 April 2007 09:40, Tim Jowers wrote:
>   I think all of the major distros are very, very good these days. Don't
> think you can go wrong with any of them.

I disagree. I think a given person could go wrong choosing the wrong distro.

Of course, looking at it broadly, they're all Linux and share a common kernel 
and utilities. But each is optimized for specific purposes -- a specific 
audience. Picking the right distro means greater producitvity and easier 
installation. It means more time, and time is money.

I use Mandriva 2007 because it comes bundled with most everything I need. LyX, 
dia, Kmail, gnumeric, Vim, and all the little libraries needed to compile 
other stuff on the box. It's a desktop power user's dream.

If I ever hosted Troubleshooters.Com out of my living room, would I load that 
server with Mandriva 2007? Brawwww hahahahahahaha! Heck no! Mandriva's more 
stable than Windows, but I wouldn't trust it to run a 5000 visit per day 
site. I'd use Debian or Gentoo or BSD or something.

I'd never use Kubuntu because I HATE KDE (please don't look at the User-Agent 
in my headers :-). A lot of my friends LOVE KDE. Kubuntu would be ideal for 
them.

It's true that given enough time and work, a person could convert a distro to 
any other distro. Therefore one can save a lot time and work by picking the 
optimal distro.

Anyone reading my essay who is considering using Linux -- don't hesitate to 
try Linux because you might get the "wrong" distro. Even the wrongest distro 
is better than the best Microsoft has to offer. Personally, if I were 
advising someone just getting into Linux, I'd advise them to start with 
Knoppix -- it always works, has a lot of good software, and teaches you the 
tricks of the Debian type distros. 

I'd also advise the person coming to Linux to try several distros before 
picking one to be their daily driver. Before picking Mandriva's predecessor 
Mandrake in the summer of 2000, I tried:

* Red Hat
* Caldera
* Debian
* Corel

None of the preceding, as they existed in 1999 and early 2000, seemed good for 
running my business. Mandrake wasn't perfect, but I felt that with some work 
I could convert my business to it, which I did in March 2001.

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