[NTLUG:Discuss] Distrib options

[Steve Litt]

On Thu, 11 Jul 2013 23:40:06 -0500
Greg Edwards <greg at edwards-tx.us> wrote:

> OK, no OS wars please :)  I know, wishful thinking :o
> 
> I've been using Mandriva since before 2000.  But they're heading in a 
> direction that I'm not going to follow.  So I'm looking for a new 
> distribution.  I'm thinking Ubantu or Fedora, but I'm open to other 
> options too.
> 
> I adopted Mandrake (name at the time) because they were the only 
> distribution that came out of the box x586 (Pentium and then x686).
> I was more than happy to stop building my own kernels!
> 
> The major reason that I've stuck with Mandriva so long is their 
> packaging.  In a single distrib they include desktop and server 
> installs.  No need to chase down apps or server packages, or get a
> 2nd distrib.  And, IMHO, they had the most straight forward installer
> and package manager front end going.
> 
> I'm looking for a distribution that has both desktop and server on
> the same disk.  I also want 64bit, not a mix of 32 and 64.  Online 
> repository support integrated with the installed package manager.  I 
> would like to find some of the not so well known servers on the 
> distrib, just so I don't have to hunt them down.  For example I run 
> cyrus and sendmail.  Apache, bind, ypserv, Orbit2, shorewall, nfs,
> etc.
> 
> I'm building up a distributed server farm and I don't want to support 
> multiple distributions.
> 
> Thanks,

Hi Greg,

I used Mandrake/Mandriva 2001-2006, before switching to Ubuntu. I was
all set to recommend Ubuntu (with Xfce or LXDE, my momma didn't raise
no fool) until I saw the words "server farm", and then "Debian" just
popped into my mind. They have a network install that comes on one CD,
and I think you can do both 32 and 64 from that disk. It's also stable
and easy on your resources. About a year ago I wedged a Debian/Xfce
installation on an old 500Mhz box with 128MB of RAM. As long as you ran
only 1 or 2 apps at a time, it did reasonably well.

Also, have you thought about one of the BSD's? Those are pretty good
for servers. 

Thanks,

SteveT

Steve Litt                *  http://www.troubleshooters.com/
Troubleshooting Training  *  Human Performance