[ltp] Switching from RH8

[J Paul Richardson]

First let me say that some folks may consider this off-topic but what
the heck.  I need a diversion from reading all the tech stuff.

I seem to be on the other side of this view.  I've been using Linux
since 1997; started with Caldera Open Linux (still have the CD here for
some reason).  Over the years I've tried RH, Caldera, Lycoris, Mandrake,
Storm and a host of others.  However, I find I keep coming back to RH. 
I'm currently running RH 6.2 on my TP760, 7.2 on my desktop and 8.0 on
my server.  The biggest reason I for returning to RH is that it is the
one I am most comfortable with.  I cut my teeth on Solaris (nae, SunOS),
Ultrix and SVR4 some 15 years ago.  I'm used to working with the
non-standard aspects of different *nix flavors.  Because of this and the
fact that RH has a lot of "non-standard" stuff, it always poses a good
challenge which is something I enjoy.  Plus it keeps my troubleshooting
skills sharp.  GUIs are simply an quick avenue for me to check my e-mail
or surf the web; most of my real work is done at the command line.  I
rarely ever use the GUI config tools that are provided.  So having a
unified looks and point-and-click tools are moot to me.  Basically, as
long as the under pinnings work (with tinkering or not), I could care
less one way or the other.

As an aside, I would not classify RH and Mandrake as "newbie" distros. 
I think thay are more intermidiate although Mandrake is probably the
most newbie friendly of the two.  Lycoris and Lindows is what I consider
newbie.  I've had a few peers who couldn't hack RH because it took too
much tinkering to work and switched over to one of the more
Windows-centric distros.

Anyway, that's my two-cents worth.
-- 
-----------------Paul----------------
Visit My Corner of the Online World:
http://john.p.richardson.home.att.net
-------------------------------------

On Sat, 2003-03-15 at 03:26, Brandon Philips wrote:
> I have had a heck of a time with all of these "newbie" distros because the
> lull you into a feeling that you are in Windows where everything is point
> click, where the console doesn't exist and the kernel is frozen in a land of
> zeros and ones.  But in my experience with my Thinkpad 600e and Linux I have
> found that this distros (RH, MDK) are much more frustrating in the end
> because you end up without the knowledge that is still necessary to be a
> productive Linux User.
> 
> The problem is not Linux inherently it is the non-standard, (and sometimes
> down right dumb) scripts that Red Hat (http://redhat.com) and Mandrake
> (http://mandrake.com) put out, and the nazi like control they put over your
> system.  These "easy to use" configuration programs kill almost all avenues
> you have to going against the hardware that was originally tested with the
> distro and using some type of custom configuration.
> 
> That is why I was so pleasently suprised at how much more enjoyable my day
> to day use of my machine was after I switched to Debian Woody
> (http://debian.org).  It has few fancy scripts, no spiffy unified look, but
> what it lacks in those departments it makes up in speed, stability, and the
> way it forces you to sit down and LEARN Linux, the way it should be.  Now I
> wrote this to express my own opinions (and rally a little support for
> Debian) because I have found myself Linux much more worthwhile after I nuked
> Red Hat; so no flame wars.
> 
> Lets start a little discussion about everyones experience with the "hacker"
> and newbie distros, and offer the new guys on the board some insight into
> the true world and community of Linux.
> 
> Its late, I am crashing, and have TONS of code to right for my robot
> (http://bobproject.sf.net).  I hope this made sense... ;)
> 
> -Brandon Philips
> 
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