[NTLUG:Discuss] Need Distro Recommendation, Please

[Terry]

On 5/1/05, Paul Ingendorf <pauldy at wantek.net> wrote:
> Having just been down this road I can tell you the options are limited.
> I've seen the recommendations for debian, mandrake, centos, etc... but what
> you will find is what I found, newer distros will run slower on older
> hardware as they have expectations of certain resources and attempt to use
> them.  It may be time to look for a minimalist system to build upon or
> simply compile your own from scratch as there are several resources that
> will show you how.  I can say from experience you will see a dramatic
> increase in your systems performance.
> 

Depends on how fat the kernel is after install and that's negotiable -
can be fixed afterwards - kernel can be rebuilt -  leaned up to run
faster.
The 2.6 kernels seem to generally run faster than 2.4 on most fairly
modern hardware.

Slackware install will leave you with a fairly lean kernel from the
start, but 2.6 kernel is option, not default, (installed afterward if
you decide you want / need it).


> I have 12 total packages installed on my system including the kernel, a
> simple script automates most of the upgrade process based off freshmeat
> entries for these packages and keeps them up to date.  It took some work to
> get setup but overall I am more comfortable that I am getting the most out
> of the hardware now than I ever was before.
> 
> This option may not be for you but I thought I would put it out there
> because I just got through fighting the same fight and it was the only thing
> that gave me back the system performance I thought was lost.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: discuss-bounces at ntlug.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at ntlug.org]On
> Behalf Of Rick Matthews
> Sent: Friday, April 29, 2005 3:09 PM
> To: NTLug Discuss
> Subject: [NTLUG:Discuss] Need Distro Recommendation, Please
> 
> I have a couple of older PCs running Linux here at the house that
> do a yeoman's job of providing the network with Samba shares,
> caching web proxy, access control features, content filtering,
> fetchmail retrieval of everybody's email, network caller ID, and
> browser access to all stored pictures and mp3 files. Additionally, I
> always have a software project or three that I am working on (playing
> with).
> 
> They are currently running Fedora core 2 and RedHat 8.  I'm not happy
> with the performance of FC2 (on old hardware) and I really need to get
> the other one off of RH8.
> 
> Here's my wish list:
> - Free :)
> - All I've ever worked with is RedHat or a work-alike.  I like to learn
> new things, but I'd rather not start over.
> - No need (or desire) to run X.
> - I don't mind installing (and compiling) packages from tarballs, but
> I like having RPM for the bulk of the applications.
> - Update via yum or apt. (Is there anything else in that category?)
> 
> What distribution(s) would you recommend?  Thanks in advance for
> your help!
> 
> Rick Matthews
> 
> _______________________________________________
> https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> 
> _______________________________________________
> https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>