Which *NIX for home use?

[LauraleeBug]

Anybody got a suggestion which OS I should install for home use; command line system, net normal, yet can write c++ for a living as a consultant?

Windows ain't the answer, that's fer sure - was thinking unix because I used to be systems admin on one once - but don't understand linnux purpose/forte's...

Anybody wanna make a suggestion? Got adsl line and 3 initial (mebbe 1 more) to house network...

... not sure if I even know what I'm doing anymore, but android wants to program - so - might as well jump into the light ....

".... Momma told me not to look into the eyes of the sun; but momma - that's where the fun is!!!!"

btw - old assembler programmer, I and I like ultimate control of my own goddamn machine; fuck microsofts rulz!....

Bill Gates makes me puke, as he ripped off old friends of mine...

Does this sound feasible? At least unix you can add whatever as long as the software/device driver is universal library no?

(sorry, guys - not in biz since 1996 - you get a bit disoriented w/new shit) also - what is the biggest harddrive on the market for that system? Hoping for 1 terra all up btwn 4 machines.... :D why not?

[druid]

I split this in a new thread because it would have messed the sticky thread.

Also, try to be coherent and stick to the point. You'll get more answers that way.

[Asmodeus]

and thus starts yet another grant flamewar about the superiority of each other cock, er I mean distribution of choice.

I'll start in order.

Gentoo - for its excellent package management and updates
Slackware - minimalist in that you can install just what you want and thats it.

as far as command line based, I like those two the best. Of course, first thing you do is get midnight commander installed.

[wolfpac181]

It really depends on how much you want to get into it and what type of functions you wish to apply to it.

If you're outside of the *nix world, or need some refreshing. I'd say a Linux system that takes a little less to initilize at start, but is robust enough to do what ya want. Suse, Mandriva (old mandrake), Fedora style, even a knoppix hd-install just to start with. Hell even FreeBSD would do ya, after a little time to get it up and running. Should be all good thereafter.

After a while, installing Debian, Gentoo, FreeBSD etc. will be a easy. And here's where they get a little tougher for installing, but have a little cleaner peformance. they do though, stuff so many options out that it can get way too in depth.

[LauraleeBug]

thanx - I just wanna touch & control my own system; resources, kernel, busses, stacks, tempfiles, every bloody thing like the old days... in command line because Windows is too damn slow....

I know what I'm doing *inside* but not outside these days.......

Sorry if not coherant enough.... oh well, I want to BUY the fucker so we can be real abn # as well... bought windows once; as far as I'm concerned that's enough - fuck upgrades - I use 98 because fucken xp won't let you touch your own os... that's not right! No code either; me wants libs & code I can modify if I want to....

Does that make any more sense? If not - fergetaboutit...... I have ppl in the states to do that shit for me...

[Rumpole]

Have a read up about Knoppix and also have a look as Xandros...

The only thing is with these pre-configured installs, you don't really get the option to cut them right back to nothing first up. It automatically installs Xwindows and things. It gives you control over some of what you install but not everything.

If you're looking to cut it right down to text-only and only the stuff you need, I'd prolly go for something like Debian which allows you to only install the stuff you need and keeping it up to date and installing new packages is a breeze!

Good luck...! :)

[LauraleeBug]

thanx :)

[Uther Pendragon]

I really like debian as it allows you to install as little or as much as you want. Obviously with that comes a bit of a learning curve so it isn't a fantastic distro to start out on. Another option that I quite like is ubuntu which is debian based however comes with a nice default desktop install that just works. Redhat is garbage, don't bother. I haven't tried fedora but if it is anything like redhat used to be don't bother. Gentoo is great if you want to tweak the shit out of your system and waste a lot of time doing it. Forget the fact that most of the time you don't actually wind up with a much faster system you certainly learn a lot about how linux systems work.

So I guess my advice is, try something simple first, go for something lower level later on. Have fun choosing a distro, I recommend trying a few til you decide what you like.

P.S. I like xfce4 as the display manager, much lighter weight than gnome or kde, also aterm is a good terminal emulator :)

[Asmodeus]

I really like debian as it allows you to install as little or as much as you want. Obviously with that comes a bit of a learning curve so it isn't a fantastic distro to start out on. Another option that I quite like is ubuntu which is debian based however comes with a nice default desktop install that just works. Redhat is garbage, don't bother. I haven't tried fedora but if it is anything like redhat used to be don't bother. Gentoo is great if you want to tweak the shit out of your system and waste a lot of time doing it. Forget the fact that most of the time you don't actually wind up with a much faster system you certainly learn a lot about how linux systems work.

So I guess my advice is, try something simple first, go for something lower level later on. Have fun choosing a distro, I recommend trying a few til you decide what you like.

P.S. I like xfce4 as the display manager, much lighter weight than gnome or kde, also aterm is a good terminal emulator :)


I think she said she was lookig for a command line system.

I'll have to look debian back up at some point. If i remember before, it had a lot of issues when I tried installing it on this machine here. Thats the reason I push gentoo, it is one of those that 'simply works' and seems to work on a broader range of computers. While it encouraces tweaking, installed programs are encouraged to "'work well out of the box".

hmm.. buggy, since you used to unix admin, have you thought about checking out some of the *BSD distros out there? might be closer to your comfort zone.

[wolfpac181]

Yeah....... I totally dig the cleanliness of Gentoo, but it's just a god-aweful setup process. Emerge really is nifty, and it's kinda a fun one to work with. But just really hate the style of initial install of it.

[Asmodeus]

Yeah....... I totally dig the cleanliness of Gentoo, but it's just a god-aweful setup process. Emerge really is nifty, and it's kinda a fun one to work with. But just really hate the style of initial install of it.

take another look at it, they've been working on a liveCD install and automated/menu based install. Not sure if its done yet, but i think there might be some betas out fo rit for most common installations.

[T'aZ]

www.linuxfromscratch.org , the install is boring, installing gnome is even more, you 'll learn a lot, and if something is fscked up, it will probably be your fault, and not the one who 'made' a package with totally crappy dependencies (aka, all binary distro, debian etc, and no it's not a troll , who has _NEVER_ seen a bug when doing that apt-get update/upgrade thing ? (of course, the unstable tree, i want to get something newer than gaim 0.58, sorry) , anyway, it seems hard at the beginning, but after a while , updating something is nearly trivial, and it consumes _less_ time than having to deal with broken binary packages. that's my experiences. ymmv :)

[locust]

Most people seem to recommend Ubuntu for that sort of thing these days.

[stinky]

FreeBSD, is BSD based which means it's UNIX rather than UNIX-like. Has the friendliest install of the three ( Free,Open,Net ) and is stable as a rock. The ports system rocks for installing stuff. if you want to run pre-compiled linux apps you can install linux compatibility which will run linux apps as fast ( and sometimes faster ) as linux.

[pavilion]

mandriva

that is all

[wolfpac181]

Most people seem to recommend Ubuntu for that sort of thing these days.

The Ubuntu dev-team ditched out on the Northwest Linuxfest, 1 day notice.

Dickheads

anyone tried cAos Linux? looks kinda off the wall.

[ewe2]

I'd check out the live cds for a few different linux distros. Check out your hardware carefully and do some compatibility research (ie google for chipsets) before you put a box together. Fave live cd of the moment: kubuntu. Yes, it's got a GUI but I'm a terminal freak anyway.