[ltp] Switching from RH8

[Brandon Philips]

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