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Which Linux Distro to go with
<edit>Matthew HSE wrote:
:: Quote :: Thanks for the links and such detailed information. I think I have enough now to at least get started. Which flavor of Linux should I choose? It should be noted that I'm on a "zero budget" for this so need to get as much free as possible. I'm up to installing this stuff, at least I think I am, so I don't mind getting a more "labor intensive" version of Linux if I can only get it free.<reply>===================== First, are you sure you want to move to linux right now? You can very easily run this setup on your new box, that way you have your development platform directly in front of you when you work. That's very valuable, no having to ftp stuff to the server all the time every time you make a tiny page. As to which Linux, that's a big question. The build it yourself distros like gentoo and debian are for extreme purists only, they are not easy to setup or work with, but they are very powerful, but you don't need that. :: Quote :: I'm up to installing this stuff, at least I think I am, so I don't mind getting a more "labor intensive" version of Linux if I can only get it free.Yoper is awesome, but pretty cutting edge, but it's a very fast linux, probably the fastest out of the box there is. It's the only distro I've ever installed that I actually like, I have several installations of this going now. You'll soon learn the meaning of the word 'labor intensive', by the way, no matter which linux you use. SUSE 9.1 is availabe for ftp download. There are two versions, one is a small ftp install boot disk, the other the full 9.1 personal, I've never used that as a webserver, it may not come with apache etc. That is a very slow distro, I have it installed on a 200mghz machine and it runs like s#$t. That's why I went to Yoper, it's optimized for the 686 series of processors, this one is for i386. The newest, for pay SUSE 9.2 is I believe available with the 2.6 kernel, the older distros, and all the reddhat fedora stuff, still come with 2.4, which is not as good for desktop type work. I've read very bad reviews of redhat/fedora, SUSE is ok if you just want something that will run and aren't going to use it much. Yoper requires skill to run even though they say it doesn't, it's got the latest stuff, KDE 3.3, which is much better than earlier kde's, it's got the 2.6 kernel, latest versions, but you need to set up the server stuff and configure it. Yoper uses apt-get and synaptic (from SUSE) to install packages, which is very nice. I haven't set up my server stuff on it yet though, so I can't say how hard it is. However, out of the box configurations need tweaking to get the desktop fully running, though some of those issues may be worked out in the next, coming soon release. Slackware is a small independent thing, kind of cool but not a huge community. Mandrake is sort of a redhat type thing, but I don't think I've read much positive about it, though it's probably at about a redhat level, maybe a little better. Linux is a big jump, learning how to use the command line is not easy, but is rewarding. Back to top |
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techAdmin, reading your posts on Yoper is inspiring me and I hope someday soon to have my own Yoper partition.
I'm very happy with Debian sid at the moment, but I'm sure Yoper will be quicker. For me it'll probably be down to what I'm able to install, if I can get the goodies I need / want, without having to 'make' too much stuff. MatthewHSE, see how this Linux stuff goes, and if you aren't ready for the complete plunge, remember you can also dev on a windows machine, a lot of good php programmers still prefer windows to linux (really couldn't say why though). You can then continue to learn about PHP on your 'main' box and experiment with the *nix box when you have time, probably switching for good someday with just a windows partition to check for ie's little booboos. Back to top |
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What I'm doing: refurbing an old box (needs some RAM - fried a stick here awhile back) and installing SUSE 9.1, setting up a network (with my windows box and the new laptop I get for Christmas), and then working toward migrating wholesale to linux probably over the next year (may take me that long - aging brain cells y'know! - to get sorted out....)
I'm looking forward to it though! Back to top |
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Vkaryl, ram is really important with linux, it uses ram in a significantly different way than windows does, it actually uses it, windows must be design always have a minimum of about 20meg of hard disk swap, I tried it with 0 and it fails.
I have a new test install of SUSE 9.1 and it uses all my ram, 512 mB in this case, I don't know how much it would claim if I had more, but that box is maxed at 512. I'm also running Yoper on that box, it's significantly more efficient, same box, user about 350 mB, with apps open. Minck, Yoper is pretty interesting, it's optimized for the i686 processors, doesn't support the generic i386 like debian for example. That part comes from gentoo. The difference is pretty noticeable, version 2.2 is coming soon, so wait a while, they are officially at 2.1.0.4 I think now. Expect many bugs on the new release, they are in my opinion moving too fast in relation to how many developers and testers they have, but if they want to succeed they will need to figure that part out. 2.2 will also have a new installer. A really great way to start working on both systems is to get a cheap kvm switch, I paid $20 for mine on sale, that way you just hit scroll lock button twice, and it switches, very convenient to keep two boxes running, that way you can be messing up on linux and switch, then search for a solution on your windows box, then switch back, and implement it, that works really well. Back to top |
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Yup - already planning the kvm switch setup. Still going to do a home network though, because I really NEED easy access to all my "stuff", y'know? Absolutely AMAZING how much "stuff" I have in 20 years of computers....
RAM in gb, huh? I can only stuff 512mb in that old box.... of course, I'm going to use your patented 'build your own" posts and do a new machine this next year too (which needless to say I have NOT told my husband about yet!) so I could use this one as a linux box at that point, it will hold 2gb.... Back to top |
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I've got 1 gig here and I rarely get even close to using all of it, but I'm not a public webserver. If it's just for your own use, 1 gig is already really very royal; what's more important is the quality / speed / latency of your memory.
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Couldn't agree more, high quality, namebrand memory, matched sticks when more than one is used, that's very important.
People tend not to think of memory as a critical component, but when you price it, a stick of 512 mB ddr from a reputable company like micron [crucial.com], samsung, kingston, or corsair costs roughly the same as a new 2.5 Athlon XP AMD processor. For good reason. I used to try cheap ram, no more, I wouldn't consider it, especially for fast ddr systems, you could get away with more I think with pc133 sdram than you can with the new DDR ram, speeds are getting so high that errors really can cause serious problems. For Linux I think 512 mB is probably fine, though I'll be testing that a bit more once I get the rest of my systems up and running, SUSE as mentioned seems to be substantially less efficient, though the install I did may have also installed apache/mysql, I didn't check that. Ideally when you run the command: top though your favorite linux command line interface, you should see basically zero swap partition useage, the whole thing should be running in ram that is. Back to top |
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I put a couple of sticks of Twinmos 512mB in this box back when I built it - quite cheap, and in those days, they had been using a lot of Winbond chips and had a great reputation for price/quality - I think I bought my Twinmos around the time when hardly any Twinmos sticks used Winbond any more, and I see that this brand isn't selling so well at our local online component shops like it used to. Oh well! Have no unstability though, things running very nice on Debian sid. The next machine will probably have Kingston or Crucial, but hopefully that won't be for quite a number of years.
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