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| Thread ID: 51531 | 2004-11-23 08:42:00 | Linux - or OpenBSD or FreeBSD? | JohnD (509) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 295427 | 2004-11-24 01:49:00 | > It's why I'm coming around to the idea that you > should have one rock solid stable distro for your > everyday needs (read windows desktop / productivity > app replacement) Gentoo > and another on a different drive at > least but preferably in it's own box where you can > load all sorts of interesting things without putting > your work in danger. Gentoo Its all source-compiled so you have a greater chance of an application working on Gentoo with no hassle than any other distro which have lots of their own patches etc added to make their own packages. |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 295428 | 2004-11-25 08:50:00 | Thanks everyone for your responses. I think we will install Linux to start with then maybe later dual boot with FreeBSD. John |
JohnD (509) | ||
| 295429 | 2004-11-25 09:13:00 | what about Yoper??? im about to start and get into it:p apparently its designed as a complete desktop replacement as i have been told here :p |
Prescott (11) | ||
| 295430 | 2004-11-25 09:38:00 | I am about to trial SuSE 9.2 Professional. I intend to change from RH9 to this distribution at work next year purely since it is now owned by Novell and our NOS is Novell. So my friend will probably get SuSE9.2. | JohnD (509) | ||
| 295431 | 2004-11-25 17:57:00 | >Its all source-compiled so you have a greater chance of an application >working on Gentoo with no hassle than any other distro which have lots of >their own patches etc added to make their own packages. Ah, ah; The penny is kinda dropping now. I have been perplexed. Just by way of example; when I try to install a Debian package, with apt-get or dpkg, from Libranet (which is touted as as close to Debian as it gets). It mostly won't work. If I upgrade to a newer version, or install a package from synaptic on Libranet (which contains the database of available Libranet packages), generally it will work. So, all Linux distros (with the exception of Gentoo) have to develop their own patches to apply to packages for their own special flavour of Linux? To get a generic type package to work then, requires a lot of tweaking at the command line, or using Vim using cryptic & arcane commands? What's more, one set of rules for one particular package don't seem to apply to another. I mean, how many packages does one need, but you can guarantee, that the one special package that you'd really like to have is the one not included on the distro you picked (or am I like the cow with the grass always greener on the other side). So am I right in assuming that by using Gentoo, one gets around, to a large extent, this little annoyance - if I had the time & ability I'd study to be a guru. But that's no good, in my mind the thing has to be sorted out if Linux is going to go mainstream. |
jcr1 (893) | ||
| 295432 | 2004-11-25 22:27:00 | > >Its all source-compiled so you have a greater chance > of an application >working on Gentoo with no hassle > than any other distro which have lots of >their own > patches etc added to make their own packages. > > Ah, ah; The penny is kinda dropping now. I have been > perplexed. > Just by way of example; when I try to install a > Debian package, with apt-get or dpkg, from Libranet > (which is touted as as close to Debian as it gets). > It mostly won't work. If I upgrade to a newer > version, or install a package from synaptic on > Libranet (which contains the database of available > Libranet packages), generally it will work. Same goes for Knoppix, Xandros..... You're not alone! Just like Ark Linux rpms possibly wont work with Redhat/Fedora! > So, all Linux distros (with the exception of Gentoo) > have to develop their own patches to apply to > packages for their own special flavour of Linux? Gentoo do some of their own patches too, but only bugfix patches that prevent crashes etc AFAIK! > To > get a generic type package to work then, requires a > lot of tweaking at the command line, or using Vim > using cryptic & arcane commands? Vim aint that bad - but Nano is a lot easier! > What's more, one > set of rules for one particular package don't seem to > apply to another. > I mean, how many packages does one need, but you can > guarantee, that the one special package that you'd > really like to have is the one not included on the > distro you picked (or am I like the cow with the > grass always greener on the other side). I FELT THE SAME!!! I was really annoyed when I had so many issues trying to get the latest Gaim to work.... I could compile a few apps on Redhat 9 but only a few basic ones. I could do a LOT more on Slackware and liked it a lot better :-) I still couldnt do everything that I wanted however... > So am I right in assuming that by using Gentoo, one > gets around, to a large extent, this little annoyance Yes! The whole OS is done from source on your PC, by your PC, for your PC... So it _can_ be fast! Because theres not tons of Distro-specific patches, and everything is already in the Portage Tree (Its source code grabbed directly from the creators website) so you have no waiting for rpm's or debs to appear.... Some releases of Gaim are available for install and marked as "stable" before the main page of Gaim has even had a chance to be updated!!! > - if I had the time & ability I'd study to be a guru. > But that's no good, in my mind the thing has to be > sorted out if Linux is going to go mainstream. A guru you need not be. The install-handbook for Gentoo couldnt be clearer about how to do it! ANYBODY could install Gentoo, it just takes a little longer than most distro's. You can have a Stage3 base system up in about 30 mins though. Highly recommended! |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 295433 | 2004-11-25 22:50:00 | NO NO NO . Distributions should make application packages which suit their own installation utility . . . RPM,apt,etc,etc . Users should seldom have to compile any "mature" application . . . Device drivers sometimes need to be compiled, but that's because they work so closely with the kernel . All applications use the system libraries, so they sometimes require upgrades of some of the libraries (the dreaded "dependency"), but this not as bad as the Other OS's DLL problems . |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 295434 | 2004-11-26 01:51:00 | Sure, totally agree - But when (Like me) i wanted the latest version of Gaim because the current one wouldnt work with my protocol, and I couldnt find any rpm's - I had to compile.... In saying that, because all of Gentoo is built from source, it makes it much much much easier to do this :-) |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 295435 | 2004-11-26 02:30:00 | But a "user friendly OS for the desktop" doesn't ask users to compile software. Some have problems finding the power switch. All the *nixes come from a history of multiuser Unix installations which had system administrators who did all software installation. The sources were provided for debugging, and most SAs preferred to compile the executables themselves. This allowed for local configuration. But most big commercial software packages were provided as binaries. They would be supplied for the appropriate Unix... Sun,IBM, DEC, BSD, ... |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 295436 | 2004-11-26 03:36:00 | >ANYBODY could install Gentoo, it just takes a little longer than most distro's. even me? lol :p hehehe :D |
Prescott (11) | ||
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