Distro comparison

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

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On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 15:29:49 -0400
David Kramer <david at thekramers.net> wrote:

> Questions:
> - Can most Red Hat RPM's be loaded onto a Suse box without
> complications?
Not if there is a SuSE RPM available. 
I generally install some software by source. 
The issue is that there may be different dependencies and version
numbers. So, it really depends. Most software has both SuSE and Red Hat
RPMs available. 
> - Is there a mechanism like up2date to keep my box current?
Yes. SuSE Watcher. You can set it to automatic or manual. It sits on the
control panel as a green ball and changes color to orange or red. You
can also set it to full automatic if you want. 

> - If I have a full 8.2 pro, is it worth my while to get 9.0?
>   If so, what makes 9.0 so much better?
Like Red Hat, version numbers are market driven. I have not received my
version of 9.0 yet. For one thing, it appears that the partitioner in
9.0 will resize a Windows XP partition where 8.2 does not. 
9.0 contains KDE 3.1.4, but you can download the SuSE KDE 3.1.4 RPMs and
manually install them (I used ftp, but SuSE also has apt-get ported). 

Most software installation on SuSE is done through YaST, but I also use
the rpm command (for KDE 3.1.4) or KPackage. 

In any case, one of the things I like about SuSE is that you get just
about everything on the CD/DVDs. Part of the installation process is to
go into an upgrade pass after the install, so you can pick up your
patches. 


- -- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9
PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9
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