Re: gEDA-user: which linux?

[Randall Nortman <geda-lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Nov 05, 2005 at 11:20:05AM -0500, Hal2000 wrote:
> 
> I plan to move from windows to linux.  Any recommendation on which 
> distribution is best?  I was originally going to use Debian, but came 
> across an article comparing various flavors, and Debian did not rate 
> that well.  The article thought that Redhat was best for servers, while 
> Suse was best overall (although they state it's a tough choice between 
> the two).
> 
> What's your opinion? Not sure what other apps I'll run, but definitely 
> the geda suite.

I personally use Gentoo, but that might not be the best choice for a
new user.  The most relevant distinction between distributions, in my
mind, is in the different approaches for keeping software up to date.
This is the only place you'll notice a difference in everyday usage.
You need a distribution that makes it easy to get security updates in
a timely manner.  You also want recent versions of software but you
still want it to be stable and tested -- these goals are generally in
conflict, and each distribution chooses its own balance between them
(or offers a few different options from which you can pick).

I stopped using Redhat years ago because there was no easy way to keep
it up to date without subscribing (for $$$) to RHN (RedHat Network).
That was pre-Fedora, and I understand that the problem no longer
exists, but I haven't tried it again recently.

Without knowing what article you read, I can't dispute the specific
charges against Debian, but I will say that it's a great distribution,
especially for a new user.  Its biggest shortcoming is that if you run
the stable version, you will generally be running old versions of
software - usually 6-24 months old, depending on when the last stable
release was.  But they provide security fixes for that old software
for a good long while, and it tends to be very stable.  This makes it
great for servers, but for a desktop I think it's the wrong balance
for most users.  Debian gives you the option of running the "testing"
or "unstable" versions as well, which let you get more recent software
at the expense of more hassle and occasional broken stuff.

Ubuntu is the most intriguing distribution to me as this point, as it
seems to strike a more useful balance between being up to date and
being stable for most purposes, both server and desktop.  It is based
on Debian and benefits from the enormous amount of labor that goes
into Debian.  I haven't tried it myself yet, but the next box I
install will likely be Ubuntu.  It is a very new distribution, but has
already had several releases and seems production-ready.

Gentoo is a great system if staying up to date is a primary concern,
but it also gives you a pretty good degree of flexibily in choosing
stability vs. being current.  Gentoo has recently introduced
mechanisms for updating with important security fixes only, which
solves the problem of frequent updates if you want a more stable
system.  (It's still advisable to do a full system update every couple
of months.)  Gentoo is great for control freaks, because it lets you
customize everything.  But Gentoo is definitely not for everybody, and
I'd recommend trying one of the others first.  You can really only
appreciate Gentoo if you've gotten fed up with something else first,
otherwise it just seems like a lot of hassle for no good reason.

Never tried Suse, never wanted to.  Maybe I'm missing out.  Slackware
has come a long way, but, well, it's still Slackware, so you'd be
advised to stay away for now.

One final word -- choosing a distribution is not an irreversible
decision.  Just pick one and start using it.  If you get discouraged,
don't give up on Linux right away, but instead try a different
distribution.  If you have ample hard drive space, reserve some room
to be able to put another distribution on its own partition; this will
allow you to have more than one distribution installed at once, so you
can experiment without wiping out what you've already got.