A Guide To Linux Flavours

I use mandrake and redhat on two of my machines.... I am really just getting into the linux area, so it is all new to me, and I am trying to lear about it. but I am really happy with Mandrake 10.0 Community, and Red Hat (somenumber) I can't remeber) I am just too new to get anything done with them...

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I also am downloading a copy of mandrake, in case ubuntu/gnoppix doesn't work out.

Here is to hoping.

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I like gentoo. Mostly for the ability of having an os optimized for your computer. Most operating systems are compiled so they will run on a wide variety of machines while with portage you can get software that will run only on your machine making it work that much better. Sure it takes longer because you have to compile it but I think the results are worth it. Fedora Core 3 or Mandrake 10 are good distrobutions as well they provide easy to use installation interfaces that allow newbies to linux to install and start using it without much hassle similar to windows.

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except both Fedora and Mandrake use RPM based stuff, which puts you in dependency hell. Portage and Apt-get get around this problem.

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half the reason why I prefer Gentoo but I was talking about their usability for newbs.

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well yeah, but when I first tried linux, I tried redhat and the dependency BS just got annoying and I decided that(since I knew how to keep my windows box secure/virus free) it wasn't worth it at the time. Redhat and mandrake have both improved significantly over the last few years, so things may be much better.

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dont get me wrong.. i love gentoo, been using it for years.. but ive recently migrated to the AMD64 platform...

No newb could have done what i had to do to create a fully 64bit OS with my hardware.

the 64bit gentoo boot cd refused to boot because of a buggy IDE-CD driver losing the interupt. however a simple fix for this is to use scsi emulation on the ide device, but that cnanges the hardware address, and the boot cd thinks its own cdrom has vanished of the face of the earch.

you can only compile and run 64bit binary's on a 64bit OS, so i couldnt install entoo from my 32bit Knoppix.

i had to build a 32bit stage3 partiton, rip the kernel and initrd and he drivers from the 64bit install cd, boot the 64bit Kenrnel into a 32bit root partiton with 32bit emulation, then chroot into my desired 64bit stage1, then install from there.

the bad thing about linux.. if it goes wrong, and you dont know what you are doing, you are screwed...

the good thing, if it goes wrong, and your a bit of a computer nerd haXor Zero cool, Cerial Killer (as in fruit loops, but he does know stuff) Acid Burn, Crash Override... then you can rpobably fix it.

and when tempting fate with the latest hardware, and a DIY distro like Gentoo, you are just asking for trouble.

 

 

 

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What I would love to be a part of is an effort to make linux user friendly and not have these issues. Then I could just use linux without ever worrying about the BS. Not only that, but sprucing up linux would make it more attractive to both customers(for use) and corporations(more customers but also in order to make it user friendly it would need a more standardized GUI and human interface guidelines, which would make writing software easier as well).

Sadly, I don't know of anywhere that I could work that would pay me to help with this(the best solution) nor of any online attempt to make it happen that is real(which would still be pretty cool).

Oh yeah, 200th post!!

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