[clue-tech] Distro musings

[Roy J. Tellason]

On Saturday 29 July 2006 05:45 pm, Collins Richey wrote:
> 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).

Are you referring to what all comes with the distribution itself?  I don't see 
that as necessarily being a problem,  if that's what you're getting at.  Much 
of what I've added to my setup here has been stuff that I'll just go out and 
get.  And except for that first copy of Slack 4.0 when I installed 
*everything* to see what the heck I was dealing with (I had NO idea at that 
time :-),  I most often don't install all of what does come with it,  
including some of the "recommended" stuff.  That last hasn't caused me any 
problems for the most part.

> > 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.

My first was a P200 that later became a K6-200.  That box went through a few 
MB changes (though sticking with the same couple of CPUs),  probably because 
it gets so damned HOT in this room (I'm currently running that box without 
the cover on),  and is still serving well as my "server".  I'm accessing it 
now through this "workstation" I'm using,  and also did install to a 386dx40 
for a "firewall/router" until that one lost its HD,  at which point it got 
replaced by a 486dx2/66.  I also had a similar 486 "test fixture" which I 
used to try those other distros out,  and though they ran slowly they did run 
well.  At this point I have a whole bunch of newer and faster machines and 
although I have a number of 486 (and earlier!) boards and such around I 
probably won't be doing much with them,  unless it's for something like a 
print server,  or other similarly-dedicated box with small requirements.

> > <...>
> >
> > > 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.

Maybe it's not so much the distros themselves as some of the software that's 
out there that I don't think of as well-documented.  There are still a great 
many packages where I'll look at the README and whatever other doc files they 
provide with it and still come away puzzled,  with no answer to the question 
of "What's this supposed to _do_?"

I also don't want anything to do with any distro (which I got some hints of 
from your earlier post) that will stomp on some change you might make to a 
config file and put things back the way _it_ thinks they should be.  :-)

<...>
> > > 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.

I'm using KDE primarily here as well,  though not on the server,  and very 
often I'll open a terminal or switch to the other screen and keyboard 
(depends on what I'm doing) and work on the command line as well.

Sometime pretty soon I'm going to "upgrade" this one box here,  an old Compaq 
P60 (or 66?) that's currently running w98.  The new box is going to be a 
whole lot better hardware,  more generic,  and dual-boot,  with linux being 
the default.  I imagine that I'm going to have to make the GUI default as 
well,  we'll see.  That box was my other half's computer but mostly is used 
by the grandkids these days to play games and such.

-- 
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James 
M Dakin