[clue-tech] Re: Next Installfest - Linux study groups

[Jason Ash]

Senthil,

My recommendation when using Linux for the first time is to try an
easy to use and install distro such as Ubuntu or OpenSuse. They
install with a functional GUI with openoffice, firefox, etc. in a
couple of hours. You can also install developer and programming tools
and applications from their software repositories. However, since you
are a programmer, then the learning curve for Linux From Scratch (LFS)
will probably be lower for you. LFS has excellent online documentation
and step-by-step instructions. I have built a base system + the X11
server using LFS but I got stuck installing KDE (probably dependencies
I still need to install). It takes about three days to get the base
system built which then does very little by itself except for give you
a foundation to add additional programs to have a fully functional
system. If you decide to try LFS, my recommendation is to use their
live cd (although it's slightly out of date) because the first time I
tried it using OpenSuse as a build environment, I got a kernel panic
when trying to boot. (I don't know why). In my humble opinion, the
main reasons to try LFS is to 1) learn how GNU/Linux systems work and
come together, 2) Satisfy specific, custom requirements, and/or 3) to
exercise your technical expertise. Although LFS has very little
security updates (which are usually listed in their Errata), if you
want to upgrade a major component of the tool chain (Glibc, GCC, and
others) then you have to rebuild the whole system from scratch. There
might be a package management that you can add on top of LFS, but they
don't use one on their Web site because it defeats the purpose of a
system from scratch. Basically, it comes down to an effort vs. benefit
balance, which you have to find for yourself.

Thanks,
Jason Ash

On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 7:29 AM, Senthil Punniya <pnsnathan at hotmail.com>wrote:

>  Hello All,
>
> My name is Senthil. I am a programmer/developer from windows world.
> Wanted to start Linux from scratch. I would like to start trying ubuntu.
> Did anyone have experience trying "LinuxFromScratch"?
>
> When is the next installfest in DTC area?
> More info about the study group like who should be contacted etc.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Senthil Punniya
> Parker, CO.