From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Nov 4 22:47:40 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D604E16A4CE for ; Tue, 4 Nov 2003 22:47:40 -0800 (PST) Received: from out009.verizon.net (out009pub.verizon.net [206.46.170.131]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C5B6F43FF2 for ; Tue, 4 Nov 2003 22:47:39 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from patrician@verizon.net) Received: from [4.3.135.234] by out009.verizon.net (InterMail vM.5.01.05.33 201-253-122-126-133-20030313) with ESMTP id <20031105064739.EWKA1305.out009.verizon.net@[4.3.135.234]> for ; Wed, 5 Nov 2003 00:47:39 -0600 Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 22:47:41 -0800 From: John Smith To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-Id: <20031104224741.133b0a78.patrician@verizon.net> In-Reply-To: <1067975894.825.871.camel@verdammt.falcotronic.net> References: <3FA76164.4040102@whatistruth.net> <1067975894.825.871.camel@verdammt.falcotronic.net> X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 0.9.7 (GTK+ 1.2.10; i386-portbld-freebsd4.9) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Authentication-Info: Submitted using SMTP AUTH at out009.verizon.net from [4.3.135.234] at Wed, 5 Nov 2003 00:47:38 -0600 Subject: Re: which linux? (not flame bait, thank you) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 06:47:41 -0000 On Tue, 04 Nov 2003 11:58:14 -0800 andi payn wrote: > "Supra-Debians" > --------------- > There are a number of Debian-based distros that will install a complete > system ready to go as a workstation, server, etc., but that can be > administered from there just like any other Debian system. > > For example (this is a while back, so it may be out of date), I used > Libranet in teaching linux, because it installs a complete KDE > workstation out-of-the-box, but whenever you want (or need) to play with > something, it's just like a stock Debian box. > > But don't use Xandros--although it's Debian-based, it's heavily modified > in peculiar ways. And there's Knoppix. David, you said you don't have a lot of time. You can tinker with Knoppix a bit without installing anything or you can do a quick HD install to check things out more; it takes maybe 30 minutes, as I recall, but less than an hour, at any rate. Also, there's a live cd for Slackware, but I don't think you can do a HD install with it. > Gentoo > ------ > > And, while it's nice to be able to build everything from source, it's > sometimes nice to not have to. With RPM-based distros, you can build the > SRPM when you want to, or install the binary RPM when you just want to > check something out. (How fast can your box build the kernel, XFree86, > KDE, Mozilla, ghostscript, etc.?) As far as Gentoo goes, I've got to agree with Andi on this one. I haven't done a test to get the numbers, but it seems like it even takes longer for programs to compile on Gentoo than on FreeBSD, or maybe it's just the knowledge that I have no other alternative that makes it seem longer. Also, if I had to install something "in a pinch", I wouldn't grab the Gentoo CD.