Linux on HP consumer laptop

2016-04-03 Thread Yasha Karant
The Ubuntu LTS ("stable" "server" "hardened" "enterprise" distro) 
bootable DVD actually works in the consumer HP laptop my wife

may have to use.

The kernel Ubuntu LTS uses is:

4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1

whereas SL 7 is using a 3.x Linux kernel.  All of the HP supplied 
hardware seems to work under Ubuntu LTS current production,
including the graphics/video card/display, sound card, LAN, pointing 
device, DVD driver/burner, and USB (including "automounting").  Is the 
issue with SL 7 on this platform the
use of a 3.x kernel rather than a 4.x kernel?   I would prefer to stay 
with yum over apt-get, but if the hardware is not supported, one faces

a quandary.

In this regard, is anyone using Ubuntu LTS in a production environment?  
Is it fact both stable and (reasonably) hardened (e.g., not a 
consume/enthusiast product such as

MS Win or RH Fedora)?

Yasha Karant


Re: Linux on HP consumer laptop

2016-04-03 Thread Brandon Vincent
On Sun, Apr 3, 2016 at 9:44 PM, Yasha Karant  wrote:
> In this regard, is anyone using Ubuntu LTS in a production environment?  Is
> it fact both stable and (reasonably) hardened (e.g., not a
> consume/enthusiast product such as
> MS Win or RH Fedora)?

Ubuntu LTS is used in a lot of production environments that tend to
require newer libraries and packages. Most major distributions are
reasonably secure out of the box, I'd argue that the primary
difference is EL tends to have very thoroughly vetted package updates.
I've seen some LTS packages with bugs and most other distributions
don't test packages thoroughly enough for production. Debian however
is very stable for servers (I'd probably use Debian over Ubuntu for
production).

Brandon Vincent


Re: Linux on HP consumer laptop

2016-04-04 Thread Tom H
On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 6:44 AM, Yasha Karant  wrote:


> The Ubuntu LTS ("stable" "server" "hardened" "enterprise" distro)
> bootable DVD actually works in the consumer HP laptop my wife may have
> to use.
>
> The kernel Ubuntu LTS uses is:
>
> 4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1

That's because you installed 14.04.4.

Had you installed 14.04.3, you'd have 3.19.

Had you installed 14.04.2, you'd have 3.16.

Had you installed 14.04.1 or 14.04.0, you'd have 3.13.

And you could've stayed at whatever version that you'd want to use.

Basically three or four months after the release of a non-LTS version,
its kernel's made available within the latest LTS version; more or
less.


> In this regard, is anyone using Ubuntu LTS in a production
> environment? Is it fact both stable and (reasonably) hardened (e.g.,
> not a consume/enthusiast product such as MS Win or RH Fedora)?

Yes.

On the desktop, there are far more Windows systems deployed than Linux ones...


Re: Linux on HP consumer laptop

2016-04-04 Thread Tom H
On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 7:12 AM, Brandon Vincent  wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 3, 2016 at 9:44 PM, Yasha Karant  wrote:
>>
>> In this regard, is anyone using Ubuntu LTS in a production environment? Is
>> it fact both stable and (reasonably) hardened (e.g., not a
>> consume/enthusiast product such as
>> MS Win or RH Fedora)?
>
> Ubuntu LTS is used in a lot of production environments that tend to
> require newer libraries and packages. Most major distributions are
> reasonably secure out of the box, I'd argue that the primary
> difference is EL tends to have very thoroughly vetted package updates.
> I've seen some LTS packages with bugs and most other distributions
> don't test packages thoroughly enough for production. Debian however
> is very stable for servers (I'd probably use Debian over Ubuntu for
> production).

The idea that RHEL's superior to Debian, SUSE, or Ubuntu as an
enterprise distro is laughable, except perhaps that it's support life
cycle's longer.

And the idea that RHEL supplies bug-free, well-vetted packages is
proven to be wrong by the brain-dead, clearly untested bind-chroot
package that was discussed recently.

Red Hat's huge and has a good PR and marketing department; but that's it.


Re: Linux on HP consumer laptop

2016-04-04 Thread Yasha Karant

On 04/04/2016 07:02 AM, Tom H wrote:

On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 6:44 AM, Yasha Karant  wrote:



The Ubuntu LTS ("stable" "server" "hardened" "enterprise" distro)
bootable DVD actually works in the consumer HP laptop my wife may have
to use.

The kernel Ubuntu LTS uses is:

4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1

That's because you installed 14.04.4.

Had you installed 14.04.3, you'd have 3.19.

Had you installed 14.04.2, you'd have 3.16.

Had you installed 14.04.1 or 14.04.0, you'd have 3.13.

And you could've stayed at whatever version that you'd want to use.

Basically three or four months after the release of a non-LTS version,
its kernel's made available within the latest LTS version; more or
less.



In this regard, is anyone using Ubuntu LTS in a production
environment? Is it fact both stable and (reasonably) hardened (e.g.,
not a consume/enthusiast product such as MS Win or RH Fedora)?

Yes.

On the desktop, there are far more Windows systems deployed than Linux ones...
I understand that my following comment on your last statement may be 
regarded as "off subject for this SL list".  First, in many parts of
the world other than the USA, MS Windows is not that well deployed even 
on the desktop except that many machines come with
MS Windows pre-installed.  (Aside:  I do not like the name "Windows" for 
MS Windows.  I routinely correct my students not to use
Windows, but Microsoft Windows or MS Windows.  Open systems also have 
Windows -- X windows.  All of the current "windows" GUI
systems evolved from the Xeror Star system -- officially. Xerox 8010 
Information System -- that were based upon previous "non-commercial"
research and implementation.  Evolved does not mean necessarily sharing 
the same source code, but the same "style" of basic GUI system.


The reason for the proliferation of MS Windows on the desktop has 
nothing to do with stability, hardening, or functionality.  It has to do 
with for-profit
business practices -- Microsoft is a monopoly that really should be at 
least four independent companies:  an OS environment company (MS Windows),
a software applications company (MS Office, etc.), an ISP and services 
vendor (e.g., "cloud" services and vendor rented provisioning), and an 
integrated
full systems vendor (supplying a complete hardware, environment, and 
applications software solution, similar to what Apple does with Mac 
machines).
Because of the monopoly, not quality, Microsoft has gotten the market 
share it does in the USA.  Microsoft attempted to make massive 
intrusions into high
performance locally distributed-coupled MIMD architectured machines 
(e.g., machines such as those listed in 
http://www.top500.org/list/2015/11/) , and did
not succeed because of the intrinsic limitations of the MS Windows 
model.  Architecturally, in terms of "classical" computing (not quantum 
computing, etc.),
the BSD Mach type kernel model is "better" than the Linux monolithic 
kernel; however, due to practical deployment development, as well as 
licensing issues
at the early stages of "Free"BSD, Linux has  by far won the open systems 
base.  Most of the Top 500 listed machines have some Linux base.


Re: Linux on HP consumer laptop

2016-04-06 Thread Tom H
On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 5:25 PM, Yasha Karant  wrote:
> On 04/04/2016 07:02 AM, Tom H wrote:
>> On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 6:44 AM, Yasha Karant  wrote:
>>>
>>> In this regard, is anyone using Ubuntu LTS in a production
>>> environment? Is it fact both stable and (reasonably) hardened (e.g.,
>>> not a consume/enthusiast product such as MS Win or RH Fedora)?
>>
>> On the desktop, there are far more Windows systems deployed than Linux
>> ones...
>
> First, in many parts of the world other than the USA, MS Windows is
> not that well deployed even on the desktop except that many machines
> come with MS Windows pre-installed.

In the corporate world, Windows dominates the desktop (it also
dominates the desktop in the consumer/home world). So Windows is a
"production" OS.


Re: Linux on HP consumer laptop

2016-05-05 Thread davefile

Try looking at the ARCH distro

https://www.archlinux.org

Best Regards, Dave


On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 5:25 PM, Yasha Karant  wrote:

On 04/04/2016 07:02 AM, Tom H wrote:

On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 6:44 AM, Yasha Karant  wrote:


In this regard, is anyone using Ubuntu LTS in a production...