Linux Distributions

Protocol Droid · #1 10-31-2002, 12:26 AM

10/31
I have been using Mandrake Linux 9.0 since it was in beta. Now faced with the desire to set upo an icecast server on my home pc, I decided I wanted to try a different distribution. After looking at several. I decided that Redhat 8.0 might be best to suit my needs. Questions about which distribution is best for what come up often. I think I'm going to take alot of notes giving a detailed compairason of the two.

11/3
Well, I decided to install Red Hat 8.0 on my home PC, the goal was to set up a dual boot with windows 2000. Not as much luck as I hoped for. The installation was fairly easy, Redhat detected all of my hardware except the mouse and keyboard which one is prompted for. Partitioning was a small problem. I have an extra windows partition, but as it is formated for windows, RedHat was not able to distinguish it as an empty partition, and that made autopartitioning dangerous. (I don't want to lose my windows partition just yet so I didn't want to take any chances). So I stopped the installation and used fdisk to delete the 2nd partition. After this, it was able to autopartition easily. I selected the 'use freespace' option. I remember not having to do this with Mandrake 9.0. It detected the windows partitions, and gave me the option of installing linux to just one of them. The layout was also much easier to understand on Mandrake. Though tempted to install all packeges, package selection on RH8 was very easy, I had more control than I did with Mandrake. The boot program was the real problem. I choose to use lilo and to put it on the master boot sector, but for some reason that didn't work, and the computer would always auto boot into windows anyways. I re-installed (about 30 min) and tried to put lilo on the first linux sector, but that didn't work either. Maybe I'll try GRUB. Until then, if I want to use RH Linux on my home PC, I have to use a floppy to boot. After using the floppy to boot into linux, I had mixed feelings about RH8. It looked great! The GUI (I use KDE) looked alot better than my Mandrake GUI for some reason. But the behavior is less like Mandrake, and more like windows (for example, you ahve to double click to open somthing). That can be changed for sure, but it would take some time.

11/25
Finally after moving, and getting settled in, I upgraded my BIOS in hopes that it would allow for Redhat to detect everything. Running Windows2000, I was unable to do that. The BIOS upgrade offered by Sotec only runs in WindowsME, the preinstalled OS, so I had to install ME, upgrade the BIOS and format everything to start fresh. After Putting Windows 2000 back on, and installing Redhat, dual boot worked well, when GRUB was installed in the Master boot record. No more problems, but Mandrake did work correctly, without any BIOS upgrades or anything. The partitioning in Mandrake was very easy, it showed where windows was on my hard drive and everything, Red Hat's installer showed it, but called it vfat, it didn't tell what OS was there. This would prove complicated for inexperienced users. With Mandrake, Lilo worked the first time.

12/9
After trying and using Redhat 8.0 for a couple weeks at home, I've come to like it so much that I installed it at work too, replacing Mandrake. Not only is it faster, but it looks alot better. Having to mount everything manually is a chore, but well worth it (mount only takes a couple seconds anyways). I didn't have any problems getting the bootloader to work this time, it all happened automatically. Everything really works beautifully in Redhat 8.0. Who could want more?

MaxPower · #2 11-10-2002, 06:50 AM

I agree with you regarding the overall look and feel of Redhat. It just feels more solid to me. I have installed RH8 on a number of ocations using GRUB along with the default settings and have had no problems at all dual booting with win

beeboy · #3 11-12-2002, 01:10 PM

I have both Mandrake 9 and Redhat 8 in a mutiboot environment. I find Mandrake much superior. I have also been running Peanut which is very good. It has small size ( less than 400mb ) and is optimized for the home user. Its probably my fave and a new version is expected soon. The install is a little trickier but worth it.

Protocol Droid · #4 11-12-2002, 09:53 PM

I'm taking a break from this, changing apartments and all. I have never been able to get Lilo or GRUB to workon my computer with RH8. I'm going to try upgrading the bios. Using a floppy every time you want ot boot is no fun. Red hat seems to look alot better and is faster, but things work in Mandrake, and Red hat has been giving me troubles. Mandrake has one big limitation. Its not multibyte characters are not showing up correctly in some places. Such as the command prompt, mandrake update and a few others. They seem to showup everywhere in RH. I don't like having to change the locale, and restart KDE every time I want to use the update utility.

KungFuHamster · #5 11-17-2002, 02:48 PM

Red Hat and Mandrake are good for newbies, but I prefer something that gets your hands a little dirtier, which is why I use Gentoo. I've been using it for four months now, and haven't looked back. The install's a pain, and programs can take a while to install (15+ hours for OpenOffice), but once it's set up, Gentoo is fast, responsive, and total customized and optimized for your system.

Gentoo

Protocol Droid · #6 11-17-2002, 07:59 PM

I've yet to hear anything bad about gentoo, I've considered it. But, unfortunately, Gentoo dosn't support Japanese yet (according to distrowatch.com). I'm going to try and learn the ins and outs of RH and then try to push it on some of my coworkers. Japanese seems to work perfectly in RH.

KungFuHamster · #7 11-17-2002, 08:06 PM

Send a request for japanese support in 1.4.

beeboy · #8 11-18-2002, 10:53 AM

Yes, there are many linux distros and the ones you compile yourself are the most complicated and time consuming - Gentoo - Sorceror - Arch ... LRS linux is an interesting one. It compiles directly from the cd matching the architecture of your machine. Takes about 12 hours. One thing about linux: is how often programs change and evolve. I find it easier to install the " newbie" distros every 6 months that have all the updated programs than try to compile my own. If you have the time - great. Its a learning experience. Info on all the popular linux distros can be found at www.distrowatch.com

KungFuHamster · #9 11-18-2002, 10:56 AM

If you want to save your money, (and if you have a broadband connection) you can always use Libranet. It's Debian-based, so installing and upgrading packages in a breeze.

beeboy · #10 11-18-2002, 02:27 PM

Thanks Kungfu. Have not tried Libranet. Will download it soon and give it a whirl. Dontcha love cable.

KungFuHamster · #11 11-18-2002, 02:30 PM

Just remember to get the Essential version, which includes apt-get.

smiley · #12 11-19-2002, 06:28 PM

That was an inside debate for me - which one to download - Mandrake 9.0 or Redhat 8.0?

I got Mandrake seeing how I'm fairly new to linux but I now want to try Redhat 8.0 just to compare the two.

KungFuHamster · #13 11-21-2002, 11:02 AM

It's got more n00b tools, it comes with more software, and has a much friendlier feel than Red Hat 8.0. And you have to download the MP3 libs for XMMS in RH8 to get them to play.

Use Mandrake until you're comfortable, then move up.