[clue-tech] Distro musings

[Collins Richey]

On 7/29/06, Roy J. Tellason <rtellason at verizon.net> wrote:
> On Saturday 29 July 2006 03:10 pm, Collins Richey wrote:
> > I've drifted in and out of quite a few distros over the past 8 years.
> >
> > Slackware - my first - not enough packages
>
> Eh?  I don't see that here.

I did the last time I used it - 3+ years ago. Volume wise Debian is
#1, Gentoo is #2, and Slackware is way down the list. Quality wise is
another question entirely (see below).

>
> I started running linux back in 1999,  and started with Slackware.  I tried a
> few other distros around that time period,  have a bunch of other CDs that
> I've got here to try some others when I get around to it,  but have pretty
> much stuck with slack ever since then,  having it running currently on three
> different boxes here,  with plans for more in the works.
>

I have no problems with Slack. It's aquality distribution all in all.
You haven't made a bad choice. Slack was the distro I put on a 386
computer, then that died and I was computerless for a while. My next
attempt was on a P-75, and Slack and most other things I tried
wouldn't work (don't remember why). At that time I paid a few bucks
for a Caldera package and it worked. Displeasure with Caldera support
led me to the Caldera Linux users group. After the COL demise, the
group survived as linux-users and became distro neutral.

> <...>
> > What I am always looking for is a middle ground between the bleeding
> > edge new development and the oldy-moldy enterprise distributions.
>
> I'd be happier if some of the folks putting this stuff out there would point
> out where they stand on that spectrum,  when release happens.

I'm not sure I understand this comment? Most of the folks "putting
stuff out there" make it blazingly clear that they are either in the
"you get to keep both halves" camp or in the "this is gold, don't
expect any improvements from us" camp.

>
> <...>
> > Fortunately, Gentoo is very much window manager neutral.
>
> So does slack,  as far as I can tell.  There's one thing to fiddle with when
> you select what you want as your default,  and that's it.  Comes with both
> KDE and Gnome in the distribution,  and probably some other lighter-weight
> stuff that I haven't investigated yet.

Most of my time with Linux, I've been in the XFCE or IceWM camp - who
needs bloat. Lately, my PCs have been capable of taking the bloat in
stride, so I've been using the bloat queens, primarily KDE.


-- 
Collins Richey
     If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries
     of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.