[Glastonbury] Linux's latest...

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Tue, Apr 27, 2004 at 11:23:22AM +0100, Damon Chaplin wrote:
> On Tue, 2004-04-27 at 00:23, tim hall wrote:
> 
> > Please note how I don't bother to slag off oher distros.
> 
> I was only moaning about it as I really want it to be the best distro.
> It wasn't a 'my distro is better than yours' rant.
> 
Thanks for this :)
> One reason I wanted to install it was that I was thinking of helping out
> with the GUI installer. (Though I've subscribed to the debian-boot
> mailing list and there's just too much traffic to keep up with, partly
> due to all the different architectures they need to support.)
> 
Debian-boot is fairly low traffic - I get about 500 mails a day from
various lists :)

If you want to help, the latest beta of the installer (beta4) looks
about to come out.  Find a scratch machine and try it out.  It _is_
significantly better than the installer it replaces - but is not
foolproof :(

<sound of zip on asbestos suit>

Red Hat - OK distro, moderate installer which virtually mandates working
X, pig to update even with RH Network.  Now $$$ - don't use this.

Fedora - all of the above less $$$.  May never be update-able but just
able to upgrade to latest and greatest :(

Slackware - love it or loathe it, some swear by it [Most swear at
it/give up in disgust at the install routine] :)

Mandrake - easy install, French, only just out of being virtually bankrupt :(

Debian - for those who want seamless updates and something that just
works :) [Once you get past the negative publicity and the initial
install :( ] One of my colleagues boasts that the last time he installed
Linux on his machine - which hosts a full Debian archive mirror - was
1996. Definitely not to everyone's taste - but then neither are durian
fruit :) [Tastes wonderful, initially smells like a sewer - if you can
get past the initial smell, you're in for a treat]

</asbestos suit>

Andy