Subj : Re: Which Linux     Options?
To   : comp.os.linux
From : LJ
Date : Sun Aug 01 2004 05:03 pm

Mike Rappe wrote:

> Sorry if this has been ask many times before. I have had Red Hat 7.1 on an
> old PC. I bought The RH 7.1 Pro
> in a store several years ago. Later I bought the book: Red Hat Linux 8
> Bible which came with 3 CDs which had a whole
> implementation of RH as far as I could see (without the source and Docs).
> I have not been able to use it much in the last 1.5 yrs
> due to work and school but I was looking to maybe upgrade to a newer
> version and spend some time with it. I went to install the
> RH 8 CDs on another machine and found that my CDs were messed up. Somehow
> they were scratched and I cannot install from them.
> When I went to the store now they only sell the desktop version and I want
> to play with the sever aspects of the machine also since I have
> other PCs for for school and work (I have to use Windows 2000 or XP for
> those) desktop use. Red Hat seems to no longer sell a regular
> version and and when I look at there web site it looks like anything that
> I would be interested in is very expensive so I think that I will have
> to choose one of the other sources. The store sells the SUSIE Linux and I
> haven't seen Mandrake in there for a while. I know that
> everyone has different opinnions so I would like to ask for some options
> and why you like one option over the others. I want to use an all
> around system for development of applications and to edxperinent with. I
> have worked in IT for 28 yrs so I am not a newbie but am not an OS guru
> either. I am more of an application developer.
> Thank You for any help.
> 
> Mike Rappe
> NoSpam-mrappe@houston.rr.com
> NoSpam-mike.rappe@hp.com

Redhat has since became Fedora Core (2) Distro, it is still the same old
redhat with a new shiny name =) It is very easy to install and you have
everything you need there. IMO you should buy a new linux book with a
distro included in it (Windows makes you soft). Stick with Fedora (Redhat)
or Mandrake for simplicity. Slackware is rock stable, or has been so far
for me. Slackware is a little harder to get installed but considering your
background it shouldn't be a big problem. I haven't tried any other linux
distro's, they pretty much all include the same stuff, some just have newer
versions of the popular window managers =P If you have an AMD 64 you should
make sure you get a version with the 2.6.X kernel, Slackware comes standard
with 2.4.X (you can install the 2.6.X kernel but it' beyond me right now).
Getting a good book with a few good reviews under it will help you out
tremendously. 
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