On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 20:43:00 +0000 "Robert E. Raymond" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Myles Green wrote: > > >I belive it was "Robert E. Raymond" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> who wrote: > ><snippage> > > > >>Slackware looks like my best option right now... as I've got the > >>Slackware LiveCD loaded on there right now, and it's really fast and > >>really nice looking (it's actually faster than Redhat was running off > >>the disk). > >> > >>Any reason why I shouldn't use slackware or I should use one of the > >>others I've listed (or ones I've forgotten to list?) Ease of use > >>after installation, lack of show-stopping bugs (i.e. no workarounds > >>just to get on the web to get mail- we had that with Redhat on the > >>laptop), and fast setup are of main importance (oh yeah.. free as > >>well). > >> > > > >It sounds like you've made your choice already. Add SWARET to keep it > >(Slackware) updated and you're all set. Although, if he really is > >"computer illiterate" you'd best make sure *everything* is set up before > >turning him loose with it, otherwise you'll run the risk of turning him > >off of Linux. Slackware can be hard on newbies, or so I'm told (it was > >my first distro and I still use it <shrug>). > > > >Or, as someone else suggested, leave Windows on it ;o) > > > Well.. He does have some Linux experience to the point that he can use > it just like he uses Windows without fear of the thing crashing... > SWARET looks pretty cool... if I could train him to use the command line > (as it is he gets hung up about the domain/login stuff that appears > before the # or $...) He won't be turned off of the OS even though some > people unfortunately should be. > > Do you know if it's possible to use a GUI (actual GUI.. gswaret looks > nice but it's still kinda textish) with SWARET? If you can, then > Slackware is definitely going on there instead of Debian (as Synaptic is > a great little tool). > It all depends on what you can tolerate. If you want "easy as falling off a log," something like Mandrake is an ok choice. I bit the bullet about 3.5 years ago, installed gentoo, spent several days compiling, and haven't looked back except to experiment with the other distros. Upgrades are almost painless except for compile time. Unlike your experiences, I had very good results with RedHat 7.3, although I haven't tried the later for-pay versions. Now that apt2rpm (sp?) is available to automate RPM stuff, you could stay up to date fairly easily. On the other hand, for a relatively knowledgable user (aye, there's the rub), my second choice would be Slackware. Particularly now that SWARET(sp?) is available to automate your maintenance tasks. Lycoris (Debian based) is supposed to be good also, but once again not free. So the choices are free/not-free, good/sloppy, quick/slow. You may not find an optimal answer. Enjoy. -- Collins Richey - Denver Area if you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for. _______________________________________________ Linux-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe/Suspend/Etc -> http://smtp.linux-sxs.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-users
