[NTLUG:Discuss] Upgrading Redhat

[Chris Cox]

JR Newsletters wrote:
> MadHat wrote:
> 
>> PS-DISCLAIMER: This is not meant to be FLAME-BAIT. These are my
>>
>> opinions and nothing more.  This has nothing to do with reality the way
>> others see it, this is how my little world is and nothing more.
>>  
>>
> I wasn't trying to start a flame war either, I was just expressing an 
> opinion or asking a question.  I'm sorry it was taken in a bad way here, 
> however, this is what I've come to expect from this list.  I will now 
> take my opinions somewhere else before the Moderator requests me to do so.
> 

I think madhat was simply trying to explain his viewpoints on
distributions based on his own personal experience.  He certainly
put enough disclaimers about that upfront... you even quoted them
here.

Why do you think the moderator would ask you to move the discussion
elsewhere in this case?  Please don't fear the moderator.  You
can usually tell when he's going to move... it's whenever the
discussion goes so far away from linux and NTLUG.. or whenever
the mud-slinging, name-calling, tire-slashing, grenade-throwing...
well... simply put, when a discussion gets out of hand.

Feel free to post freely, just don't tell someone "where to go"
or make fun of their heritage or beliefs.  And.. for the record,
it's not that you can't write mean, hateful or childish things.. just
realize, you'll probably catch the attention of the moderator and
you will need to heed his advice on the matter (even if you think
the moderator acted a bit too quickly on a matter).

Do you really think your post was taken in a bad way?? I don't.
You shared your opinions about the distributions that have worked
well for you and others wrote back with some slightly different
opinions.  Let's face it... for many discussions, if we all had
the same opinion, we wouldn't have need to discuss it!!

With that said:

I like Debian on non x86 architectures... the big dists sometimes
don't handle the other platforms very well.  For example, I
like SuSE on x86 and s390/zSeries, but it didn't do well for
me on Alpha... but Debian did quite well there.  www.ntlug.org
runs on Debian on x86.  Does the job nicely.

I sort of agree with Madhat on gentoo that you do have to
enter that one understanding the amount of computing resources
it takes to build from source (same thing you have to know with
regards to BSD Ports).  I don't think he saw anything wrong
with the idea... as long as you understand that it take
a bit longer to get that well-tuned machine.

RH now compiles with 686.. so those comments about Mandrake vs.
RH don't hold true anymore (I think I'm right about that).  It
is well understood that while Mandrake has gone far away from its
RH roots (especially in administration), that
Mandrake tries its best to maintain FULL compatibility
with RH.. which might be very smart when you consider the
number of high-end software producers that certify with
RH.  My experienes with Mandrake have been mixed.  If it
all installs well on your host YOU'LL love it!!  However,
there are occasions when it just won't go at all... leaving
many frustrated and blaming Linux as a whole, etc, etc.

I'm not a big RH fan (well duh...).  However, it is still
pretty easy to get and so it's a great choice for
people who want a full (reasonably full) dist without spending
a dime.  Things are changing at RH... we'll  have to
see what it does to the popularity of their dist (some
make like the looser restrictions... some may miss the
updates).  I expect a lot from a company worth over $1.5 billion.
I expect A WHOLE LOT. :-)

KNOPPIX... what can you say.  It's a Debian dist on steroids.
IMHO, there is no good reason to choose any other live
"run from the cd" dist.  Very cool way to introduce
people to Linux without risk to them.  I use this now when
I teach instead of the SuSE Live Eval.  Doesn't mean
that I don't like SuSE... just prefer KNOPPIX to
SuSE's Live Eval.

I like Monkey Linux for really, really, really old machines....

Just my current two cents... could change with any new
dist that comes out...
Chris