Which Linux distro

S

swordfish1

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Hi again ...

I am upgrading my hardware over the next few weeks and want to reinstall my linux server, which at the present is a Mandrake 10 (2.6.3 kernel) box.

Any advice what distro to install? Mandrake has been so-so. Most of the GUI config tools don't work properly. Need something fairly stock standard that supports the latest Intel chipsets (like ICH7R, intel matrix storage etc) and having working GUI configuration tools is a bonus.

I am running various servers on the machine so it must be general purpose server-oriented distro, the specialised firewall things won't do it so leave them alone.

thanks
 
Pick your evil ;-)
Kubuntu/Ubuntu work ok (altho is hangs on USB detect on my AMD64 notebook) , SuSE is pretty good if you dont like multimedia (Novell removed all the protential patent violations... such as MP3, MPEG, AVI AC3 etc) but the GUI is good. Slackware if you want to pull hens teeth ;-)

I use Mandriva 2006 and that seems to be better for my purposes, running on AMD32 and 64bit machines.

R
 
Eish don't throw the poor man into the deep end yet.

swordfish1, I would go for something like Debian which I think might be a bit easier to learn.

Gentoo is a source based distro which mean that you have to compile everything you want to use. This takes alot of time but if you like to configure files and do everything yourself Gentoo will work for you.

Also maybe have a look at ubuntu
 
ok, let me clarify some points here ...

I know gentoo, I like the idea, but I will rather not use it for now, prefer something working out of the box (ha ha ha, shouldn't be looking for linux then, I guess)

I am not new to linux, but I am not a guru either! I can fiddle with configs and stuff, write scripts etc, but I am trying to spend my time on more important stuff (like saving the world :D) rather than trying to figure out what options I need to use to make some service happy. So properly working GUI is a plus, so I can setup things like samba, ftp (still can't get proftp permissions to do what I want them to do!), apache without having to read 500 pages of manuals.

thanks for the help

maybe I need a poll :)
 
My picks - and why
Mandriva 2006 - Got my development environment on CD (mono and kdevelop) Multimedia is good

SuSE - Got dev environments, good GUI and support - Crippled

Gentoo - Telkom wont let me download it... I will be rated as an Abuser.
Any Debian release - pukes on my AMD64 so I cannot rate those ones on AMD64 but on 32bit

Kubuntu/Ububtu were lacking kdevelop and gcc in a standard install ... my impression is that this distro is for desktop systems.

Out-of-the-box rating for me goes to SuSE Professional
 
For you?

Suse, Mandriva/Mandrake, Gentoo = No

Debain, Unbuntu (maybe special server edition?) = Yes!

Done. Peace.
 
why comparmise with linux? have a look at freebsd. but if you insist on going with a linux distro, gentoo (if you know linux).

What do you want this box to do? desktop/server? if server what type etc? I have found certain distributions perform better for certain services.

If you are going to go desktop, then definitly gentoo, if its server side... well depends on what type of server.
 
Hmm. Nobody has mentioned Fedora Core 4 - I'm satisfied with it so far - moved away from Mandrake (before it became Mandriva).
 
w1z4rd said:
why comparmise with linux? have a look at freebsd. but if you insist on going with a linux distro, gentoo (if you know linux).

What do you want this box to do? desktop/server? if server what type etc? I have found certain distributions perform better for certain services.

If you are going to go desktop, then definitly gentoo, if its server side... well depends on what type of server.
Click to expand...
read my first post, it explains it all ...
 
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