[vox-tech] What's in RedHat 8.0

[Peter Jay Salzman]

i'm finding myself disagreeing with rod.  a dangerous pursuit.  :)

if you're new to gnu/linux... if you're kind of new to unix...

i would _definitely_ without a doubt stay away from debian and gentoo.
cut your teeth elsewhere.  install redhat, mandrake or suse.  no doubt
in my mind whatsoever.


as for getting distro, despite what other people say, buying the distro
has some distinct advantages:

1. you're supporting a company.  if nobody bought linux, most of the
distributions would shrivel up and die.  and where would that leave us?
mandrake nearly declared bankruptcy this year, and they're one of the
most popular distros!  these companies have employees to pay, business
expenditures to pay.  no matter how much i make fun of redhat and
mandrake, i would just die if they folded.  lokisoftware going under
cast a dark cloud over me for months when they called quits.

2. you get the installation book.  i've seen the install books for
redhat and suse.   they are very high quality and will have all the
information a new user needs.  the one from suse in particular was
extremely good.  i never quite understood how bootloaders worked and
what the lilo MBR/partition decision really meant until reading the suse
book.  if you're a newcomer, having a copy of the book is invaluable.


here's what i suggest:

1. get redhat, mandrake or suse.  i can't tell you whether professional
or home is better since i don't use these distros.

2. buy the distro, at least the first time.   after you purchase the
distro, got your book, and done your part to keep the company alive, go
ahead and download the thing for free afterwards.

3. every so often, like when a new major number comes out (redhat 9.0,
10.0, etc) evaluate your situation.  if you've got some spare cash, buy
the distro.  if you're not in a good position to spend money, download
it for free.


my 2 shekels

pete

begin Rod Roark <rod@sunsetsystems.com> 
> On Friday 04 October 2002 09:37 am, Marc Hasbrouck wrote:
> > ...
> > So, if you can live without RedHat's support, down
> > load and burn the ISO files. Otherwise, look at
> > RedHat's page to see the differences:
> >
> > http://www.redhat.com/software/linux/
> 
> The above link points to:
> 
> http://www.redhat.com/software/linux/features/rhl_compare.html
> 
> Which shows the differences, sort of.  What surprises me is 
> how difficult it was to find this page.  Very annoying.
> 
> Keep in mind that Red Hat is in business to make money, and
> so will do what's best for them.  This will not necessarily 
> be what's best for you, and is the kind of conflict that led
> to the Free Software movement in the first place.
> 
> If you are more interested in what's best for you, I 
> encourage you to get familiar with some user-supported 
> distributions like Debian and Gentoo.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> -- Rod
>    http://www.sunsetsystems.com/

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