which version of linux????????

decdoc

I'm building a new pc and i want to put linux on it but i don't which version to get. I'm new to linux so which is better

RED HAT 7.0
Mandrake-Linux 7.2
SuSE Linux 7.0

i'll need it for a fair amount of programing as i'm doing a computer engineering degree

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decdoc {|;-)

Lenny

well if you'll be surfing the net and stuff
I wouldn't recamend rh or mandrake
they too insecure
you could be r00ted
suse would be recameneded
or else get slackware
or freeBSD is quite good
but you will most likely need a book for whatever os you install as you are more likely going to run into problems

logic1

FreeBSD? I believe the man said Linux f00.

Anyway I use SuSe 6.4 and I've used SuSe with ages. It's an excellant distro, and one I'd highly recommend.
As for RedHat it's a distro I never really liked (no real reason why).
Mandrake sux and all the Winuxs' suck. Again just my uneducated blatantly unresearched opinion.

.logic.

Cake Fiend

From what I've heard and my little personal experience, Mandrake = ease of use, RH = power and versatility, Suse = a bit of both, Slackware = secure.

Clearly the best distro is Smartey Linux 7.1 (TM)

tHE vAGGABOND

RH is the most 'popular'

Suse tend to release stuff more often, and therefore is more up to date (most of the time)

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">they too insecure</font>

is just crap IMHO, all OS's are not secure out of the box, christ Win95/98 being good examples. If your using it in college to work and stuff it does not matter one bit, and if you are using it a bit you will find out about ipchains and/or tcp wrappers, let alone firewalls.

If it were my choice - go with RH7 (like my 2 linux box's!), and keep it up to date with the patches off the RH site and your fine!

Lenny

well rh and mandrake are probberly most user friendly

flamegrill

U should use slackware, i find 7.0 or 7.1 one are the best. it is very easy to use out of the box, and if ur a 3dfx owner slack 7.1 has full support and u can play quake3 no probs at 50fps. so go with a slack distro. the security is better than rh 7 and mandrake 7.2 .but as usual its very easy to setup the security on all the above platforms. shutting down the service is better than blockin the prot. just so u know

choose slak 7.1, it rocks

WhiteWashMan

win2k.
bah, linux loosers

WhiteWashMan

hmm, ive installed win2k and had nothing but good things to say about it.
although that may change tonight as i try to set up a home lan

Lenny

hehe nice pic there regi

Loomer

I'm a linux newbie using SuSE 6.4. A dream for someone who has only had experience with Microcack OS's. Can't wait to install SuSE 7.0

decdoc

right so,its between rh, suse & Slackware, so which one has the best support and software included if i buy it form a retailer instead of getting a free copy

regi

I hear suse and redhat are pretty nice for beginners... anyway, I'd use freebsd over shagging a penguin anyday

logic1

Speaking of Win2k since I've installed it it continually crashes my pc or sets my v-syn and h-sync so out of range that my monitor swictehs off and refuses to come back on. I heard it may be something to dow ith the VIA chipset so i downloaded the via patch and haven't had a chance to test it yet but I don't doubt that it will continue to crash constantly. Blah.
Nearly forced me to go back to 98 or ME.
Not even Linux caused me this much grief with my 3dcard (a Radeon 64meg ddr) and chipset.

.logic.

sam

slackware is the best in my opinion,
freebsd sucks if you are actually going to run anything (non-server) on the system, and unlike what the websites say, freebsd is not "faster" than linux, or more secure, if you think it is, youre just not using the right distribution of linux (slackware is the only "right" distribution of linux, although suse is pretty good too)

my advice:
get slackware, and install the latest version of whatever you actually need on it yourself.

Gavin

alright declan ya bolochs !

I'd stick with redhat, though used suse a bit during the summer and it is fairly handy.

As regards support, have a look at
www.netsoc.ucd.ie/LDP
plenty on information there and ya can always email ur friendly naas local
and there's www.linux.ie of course, have a look at the email list there if ur not already on it.

Gav

ps we should prob have a chat about the school.

regi

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">
and unlike what the websites say, freebsd is not "faster" than linux, or more secure, if you think it is, youre just not using the right distribution of linux (slackware is the only "right" distribution of linux, although suse is pretty good too)</font>

Not really Sam... the FreeBSD TCP/IP stack is still superior to that of Linux (any distro!), and the sheer amount of exploits for any of the major linux distros is nearly as high as that of NT.

However, if its purely gonna be a desktop system, then you're probably better off going with Linux. My linux friends rave about Debian being the best right now.

sam

yeah i was talking about a desktop system, not a server

its all to do with the distribution, i dont think there were many exploits for slackware, linux is pretty much the same as freebsd for exploits if you get slackware..
its just that the DEFAULT permissions in freebsd tend to go toward "secure" instead of "functional", the same options are usually available in linux

koriordan

If yr building a new pc, it might be a good idea too make sure yr fancy hardware is supported _before_ you buy it ... (oh - check yr modem specifically)

I've used Suse & Redhat, and have recently switched to Debian. I'd recommend RedHat, cos it's quickest and easiest to set up out-of-the-box.

If yr programming, all of them have libs/compilers/interpreters for most common languages, C/C++ (obviously), perl, python, lisp, etc. You can always download specific things anyways.

Security ? You're only surfing the net, right ? Has anyone here been attacked while surfing from a dialup connection ? Really ? Even if you are, any *nix is better than win9x.