Distrobution choices, hardware compatibility lists, and pie
Author
Hey all. I want to switch to UNIX. I am open to any distrobution. A friend of mine said that Debian is an excellent distrobution. The only problem with this whole thing is the fact that I have an odd-ball video card. I have an ATi Xpert 128 16MB PCI (based on Rage 128). Yea, laugh all you want to, but the only distrobution that I have seen so far that supports it is Red Hat. Then again, the only other distrobution I checked was SuSE.
Does anyone know where I can get some compatibility list for the different flavors of Linux? I was checking out Lycoris, and it looks pretty :D. Has anyone tried this? It looks pretty cool, yet useful for a beginner like me.
So what do you think? Yes, I am going to upgrade my graphics card sometime, and I''m thinking of a Gainward Geforce 4 Ti 4200 PowerPack! Golden Sample. However, with the NV40 and R400 coming out soon, I''m sure this will soon change. And yes, I am on a DSL, so I can download distrobutions if I want to.
BTW, how come Lycoris doesn''t have a free download? Does it?
I am by no means an expert it this matter, but I''ve tried a few different distro''s in my time. My personal favorite for the moment is Mandrake (although the last version I''ve tested was 8.1), it''s much less bloated than RedHat, and comes fully equipped with everything I need. If you''re a newbie to linux/unix I would not suggest going with SuSE, as the installers for RedHat and Mandrake are far more userfriendly.
The choice between RedHat and Mandrake for a newbie is pretty much which logo you like better (ok, I''m stretching a bit here).
The hardware support is pretty much the same. The easy-of-installation is pretty even, the packages they come with are pretty much the same, and so on. RedHat is larger, and will require more disk-space (at least 1.2 giggs for the installation if you want decent apps).
I''ve never tried Debian, but I''ve heard good things.
My suggestion is go buy yourself a linux-mag with a distro on it (saves you a lot of time compared to downloading from the net, event with DSL), and try it out. Doesn''t really matter all that much which distro you go for, as long as it''s not a hardcore distro (not many you find on coverdiscs these days are).
If you don''t like the distro you''ve tried you spent a not insurmountable amount of money on a distro you don''t like, but gotten a magazine with (hopefully) some useful articles on it in any case, and probably a ton of apps as well.
BTW: Not to be nitpicky, but UNIX and linux aren''t the same thing. So saying you want to switch to UNIX and then saying the only distro''s you''ve looked at are linux-distros seems kinda odd.
-Neophyte
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geekcode.com
The choice between RedHat and Mandrake for a newbie is pretty much which logo you like better (ok, I''m stretching a bit here).
The hardware support is pretty much the same. The easy-of-installation is pretty even, the packages they come with are pretty much the same, and so on. RedHat is larger, and will require more disk-space (at least 1.2 giggs for the installation if you want decent apps).
I''ve never tried Debian, but I''ve heard good things.
My suggestion is go buy yourself a linux-mag with a distro on it (saves you a lot of time compared to downloading from the net, event with DSL), and try it out. Doesn''t really matter all that much which distro you go for, as long as it''s not a hardcore distro (not many you find on coverdiscs these days are).
If you don''t like the distro you''ve tried you spent a not insurmountable amount of money on a distro you don''t like, but gotten a magazine with (hopefully) some useful articles on it in any case, and probably a ton of apps as well.
BTW: Not to be nitpicky, but UNIX and linux aren''t the same thing. So saying you want to switch to UNIX and then saying the only distro''s you''ve looked at are linux-distros seems kinda odd.
-Neophyte
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GED d- s:+ a- C++$ UL++ P++ L++ E W+ N+ o K? w !O M--(+) V-- PS+
PE Y+ PGP t-- 5++ X+ R(+) rv+(++) b+++ DI+ D(+) G e+>++ h r--> y+
----- END GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
geekcode.com
Author
Sorry, it''s just that there don''t seem to be many free UNIX distrobutions out there, besides BSD and Linux. I''m thinking of trying BSD if I don''t like Linux, or just try both sometime. So you think Mandrake? thanks, I''ll check to see if my oddball graphics card can go there.
Your graphics card should work with just about any linux distro, in the various BSDs you might have to use the generic SVGA XFree server though...
/Mikael
/Mikael
I''d say try either Mandrake 9.0 or Red Hat 8.0. I have RedHat 8.0 on right now, I kinda like it. Nice and pretty icons 
Hasn''t given me problems, and despite the arguements about bluecurve I think its pretty neat.
If you want a review of the diffrent distros go to osnews.com. The lady there did a review of the latest distros.
Hitchhiker90
"There''s one bitch in the world, one bitch with many faces" -- Jay
"What are you people, on dope?" -- Mr. Hand
Hasn''t given me problems, and despite the arguements about bluecurve I think its pretty neat.If you want a review of the diffrent distros go to osnews.com. The lady there did a review of the latest distros.
Hitchhiker90
"There''s one bitch in the world, one bitch with many faces" -- Jay
"What are you people, on dope?" -- Mr. Hand
quote:Original post by elendil67
Hey all. I want to switch to UNIX.
If you talk about debian then you''re talking about Linux, not Unix. And that is just temporary until they get Hurd up and running.
quote:
I am open to any distrobution. A friend of mine said that Debian is an excellent distrobution. The only problem with this whole thing is the fact that I have an odd-ball video card. I have an ATi Xpert 128 16MB PCI (based on Rage 128). Yea, laugh all you want to, but the only distrobution that I have seen so far that supports it is Red Hat. Then again, the only other distrobution I checked was SuSE.
Does anyone know where I can get some compatibility list for the different flavors of Linux? I was checking out Lycoris, and it looks pretty :D. Has anyone tried this? It looks pretty cool, yet useful for a beginner like me.
So what do you think? Yes, I am going to upgrade my graphics card sometime, and I''m thinking of a Gainward Geforce 4 Ti 4200 PowerPack! Golden Sample. However, with the NV40 and R400 coming out soon, I''m sure this will soon change. And yes, I am on a DSL, so I can download distrobutions if I want to.
BTW, how come Lycoris doesn''t have a free download? Does it?
All distros support the Rage128. Especially if it''s a fairly new one. As for which distro, visit: www.distrowatch.com and choose the one you prefer. Choosing distros is a matter of prefs. I prefer Debian, Gentoo and SOL. ( These are the 3 I use on my boxes ) but I''ve also been known to use SuSE, Mandrake, slackware, FreeBSD, RedHat 7.3 at work on my servers. Basicly, I''ve almost tried them all. I''ve also tried the different unix flavors of BSDi, Solaris, SunOS( ancester of Solaris ), SCO Unixware, etc. And out of all those, SOL( because of it''s XML configuration files ) and Debian are my top distros up to now...
Anyhow, choose the one you prefer and that''s that. Don''t know which one you prefer, try them and see...
[Cyberdrek | the last true sorcerer | Spirit Mage - mutedfaith.com]
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