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Boston Linux and Unix InstallFest XXX1 Saturday November 22, 2008



Bruce Borland wrote:
> What is a good Linux distribution?  In 2003 I purchased Red Hat Linux 9 
> because it was recommended as a version which was easy to load.  My 
> machine was purchased in 2000 (533 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM, 10 GB hard 
> drive).  I hear that Red Hat 9 is obsolete, but I have never been able 
> to do much to modify or update it.  It seems that the easier the 
> distribution is made for the user, the less the user can have control of 
> the system.  (It reminds me of my experiences with Windows.)

I'd argue this point, as it relates to linux.  The typical approach of most 
distros is not to fundamentally change how the system works, but rather to 
put some nice GUIs in front of the same text-based config files.  So making 
things easier for the user doesn't necessarily mean less control (of course, 
you may have to give up your user-friendly GUI tool in order to regain 
'control', but that's a fundamentally different thing than not having 
'control' at all, ie with windows).

> I am also 
> concerned with newer products having more "bells and whistles" which 
> take up RAM and hard drive space and produce visual clutter and rarely 
> offer anything I could use.  I prefer simplicity in my products.

Since RH9, I'd say that most distros have actually gotten better and by 
default include *less* crap that you don't need for typical desktop systems. 
  But it sounds like you're talking more about X environment than extraneous 
servers.  And given your memory constraints, your biggest problem will be 
your X environment.  I'd stay away from Gnome and KDE both.  XFCE is a 
pretty lightweight desktop, and is pretty well supported by most major 
distros.  If you're really into simplicity, just run fluxbox.

> I would like to bring my machine in to the InstallFest, but I have no 
> other Linux distributions.  I also would like to learn more about 
> maintaining and updating a Linux OS.  Any suggestions?

Maintaining and updating is easy nowadays.  'yum' if you're on a 
redhat-based distro, or apt-get on debian-based systems.  They're all in the 
same ballpark of functionality, and all the update utilities have various 
'user-friendly' GUI front-ends if you're into that sort of thing.

Finally, you test all of these distros out using LiveCDs if you want.  Or 
use them in a virtual machine on a windows box.

Have fun,
Matt






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