On Thu, Jun 01, 2006 at 07:54:34AM -0800, Damien Hull wrote:
> Should I stick with CentOS or make the switch to Suse? If there's
> another distribution I should be looking at let me know.
My vote for Desktops:
Debian, or Debian based distros. Having used RPM based distros for
years, apt based distros are just a joy to manage.
Ubuntu's especially good, IMHO, for several reasons:
1) You'll hear some Debian folks pooh-poohing Ubuntu, and how they're
bad for Debian. Personally, all the Ubuntuites I know are staunch
Debian supporters, Mark Shuttleworth being the biggest. I think there's
good things coming out of Ubuntu that are flowing directly into Debian,
and that's a good thing. So ++good on that front.
2) Spit-and-polish. Debian's a "universal operating system", and has to
be all things to all people on all platforms. Debian's a
super-fantastic set of Lego blocks that all fit together really well.
However, when you build a model of the Eiffel Tower out of Lego blocks,
you can tell there's some sharp edges: thats becuase you have the
ability to break those blocks down, and build something else. What
Ubuntu does is take the lego blocks, and grind off all the rough edges.
The pieces can't be re-used quite as readily, as they've been modified
somewhat, but if what you want is a model of the Eiffel Tower, the
Ubuntu one looks more polished. This is a good thing, in my opinion.
Ubuntu's done A LOT to bring a polished-looking Free Software OS to the
masses, and they understand the IMPORTANCE to that polishing. Technical
people may not think it's as important, but to and end user, it is.
Case in point: on my Debian boxes, in Gnome, when you drop down some of
the applications menus, not all the applications have a mini-icon. We
all understand why they're not there: perhaps neither the developer of
the application, or the package maintainer are graphically inclined, and
so the icon gets left out of the process. After all, it's not really a
big deal, right? The very first thing an end user will ask when they
drop down the menu is: "why doesn't everything have an icon?". Because
they actually don't read the text: they memorize the icons: "If I want
firefox, I click on the blue ball". Drop down the Ubuntu menus, and
have a look. I defy you to find a menu item on the default setup that
doesn't have an icon. It's a little thing, I know, but it's important
to the end users.
3) The process. Ubuntu treats the development process very, VERY
seriously. I'm going to shout this for emphasis: ANY FREE SOFTWARE
PROJECT OUT THERE SHOULD PAY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION TO HOW UBUNTU DOES
THINGS!!! My first Ubuntu conference I attended, I figured it would be
people actually writing code, and hacking. No such thing: not one line
of code gets written. Instead, you spec out what needs to be done:
what's possible, whats probable, and what *has* to get done. Details
are filled in about what needs to be done, by whom. There's an entire
approval process, once your spec's been written. We've tried, within
LTSP, to emulate some of what we've seen. You can see a bit of it at
the LTSPFS page: complete protocol spec, use cases, etc. All done
BEFORE any code got written. We have the much-improved local device
support today becuase we went through that exercise. It works. Period.
4) Mark Shuttleworth's an astronaut. I've spoken with him personally on
several occasions, and had dinner with him a couple of times. This is,
quite frankly, as close as I'll ever get to space travel. Plus, the
guy's a helluva philanthropist. He's doing a TON of good things for
disadvantaged kids in Africa. There's Debianistas and Ubuntuites who
hang out in #ltsp all the time (vagrant, ogra, mdz, etc).
Those who've talked to me know I'm always on about "the community".
During the years I've spent actively involved with writing Free
Software, I've:
1) Been to New Yawk, San Fran, Bawston, Sydney, Montreal, Toronto, Porto
Alegre Brazil, etc.
2) Closed down a restaurant at 2 AM in Brazil; had beer and pizza with geeks
we met at an outdoor cafe; had my picture taken with a Koala
bear, and petted a kangaroo; listened to techno music and ate peanuts in
a microbrewery in a 300 year old building; Watched Pink Floyd's "The
Wall", and drank Line Aquavit and ate Pizza in a Hotel Conference room;
watched "Hitchhikers Guide" on opening day; had a home-made 2 lobster
meal from lobsters caught that morning; eaten enough steak to make my
own cow; seen a broadway play; had my hotel room filled with Roy Orbison
and SF street signs; ate salmon chanted omlette, etc etc etc
3) All the while I was doing these fun things, I was in the company of
REALLY GREAT PEOPLE, who write the software I use day-to-day. I've made
so many friends, I can't even count them all, and the journey's only
beginning. There's LOTS more good stuff to come, and friends, old and
new, to have fun with.
Wonder how many MCSE's can boast that?
So, to summarize:
Great software + awesome packaging system + worthwhile cause + great
people = Debian == The Awesome!
Debian + excellent business process + spit-and-polish + rocket-man +
philanthropy = Ubuntu == The Awsome++
(Debian || Ubuntu) * (great people) + (fun fun fun) = Awesome ^ Awesome
Scott
--
Scott L. Balneaves | "Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
Systems Department | To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side..."
Legal Aid Manitoba | -- Pink Floyd "High Hopes"
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