Reply-To: Hi Well after using Debian for the last three months I am going back to Redhat, queue flame war ...
Well actually this is only going to temporary as I want to track the latest Gnome stuff and this is much easier on RedHat unless you have time to complile all the assoiciated libraries etc every other day. I just wanted to say thanks to all who helped me move to Debian in the first place and offer some thoughts after running both systems. I have run Redhat exclusively for the three yesr (4.0 - 5.1) then Debian for the last three months (Hamm upgraded to Slink). I just installed RedHat 5.2 this week. I use it every day for my work so I guess I get a good feel for how a distribution feels. Well RedHat is slick, very slick. It installs easily in 15 minutes and autodetects everything including a plug and play sound card. It also let me configure a printer to the company Novell network through its GUI config tool. Graphics card support is very good including latest Matrox products (G200). However once installed it leaves a feeling of lack of depth. The number of applications available in the distribution is limited compared to Debian. Sure you can get them from the contrib directory at Redhats ftp site but they aren't tested by anyone you just have to trust who ever decided to post them. I would rather compile my own stuff than do that. Also the documentation for RedHat is no where near as good as Debian. If you buy official RedHat then you get a very nice thick installation manual but the documentation in /usr/doc doesen't seem as good as Debians. Linuxconf wil let you config most of the basic system stuff (user accounts host files, etc) and it seems to work pretty well now (unlike in 5.1). However you wont learn how stuff actually works by using it. In conclusion RedHat is a good solid very proffesional distribution taht is easy to install. Its perfect for the market they seem to be aiming at these days (ie corporate server). However you will learn more with Debian and it has many more WELL TESTED and integrated packages. So to all those Newbies struggling along with Debian keep it up its worth it. Don't go to RedHat you may get it up and running the basics faster but after that its not as good. Debian looks like it will soon catch in this field though what with APT and so on. I will be junking RedHat as soon as possible and coming back to Debian as soon as possible. Probably once Gnome 1.0 is out and Potatoe moves to freeze. Again thanks to all those who have helped me out during the last few months and see you all again soon. Pat -- ________________________________________________________________________ Patrick Colbeck email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Senior Analyst tel: you dont seriously expect me to Azlan Ltd give that out on the internet do you ? ________________________________________________________________________