Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 13 of 48

Thread: Cacarulo: Which is the best Linux distro and why?

  1. #1
    Cacarulo
    Guest

    Cacarulo: Which is the best Linux distro and why?

    Personally I'm used to RedHat/Fedora distros but I know there should be better choices in terms of speed, use of limited RAM, etc. Let's assume that disk space is not an issue.
    I've also tried Knoppix which I find very nice and yet I haven't got time to check Gentoo. But what about Mandrake, Cobalt, SuSe, and others?

    Comments are very welcome.

    Regards,
    Cacarulo

  2. #2
    Parker
    Guest

    Parker: Wow, what a question!

    > Personally I'm used to RedHat/Fedora distros
    > but I know there should be better choices in
    > terms of speed, use of limited RAM, etc.
    > Let's assume that disk space is not an
    > issue.
    > I've also tried Knoppix which I find very
    > nice and yet I haven't got time to check
    > Gentoo. But what about Mandrake, Cobalt,
    > SuSe, and others?

    This question makes "What's the best counting system?" seem like a no-brainer. :-)

    Linux Weekly News (www.lwn.net) lists 355 different active Linux distributions and Distrowatch (www.distrowatch.org) tracks nearly 300. Of course, many of these are highly specialized (servers, routers, firewalls, embedded systems, etc.), and others are in early stages of development, but still, the sheer number is mind-boggling. There are at least a dozen or so that can be considered major distributions.

    Distrowatch, BTW, is an excellent place to research out the different distributions, with descriptions and links to reviews.

    Personally, I ran Redhat on my main home system and primary laptop until a couple of years ago when I switched to SuSE. I'm presently running the latest version, 9.1 Professional, and find it suits my needs well. The installation is a piece of cake, hardware detection is excellent (most configuration is automatic), and the update system is better than any others I have used. I liked the fact that the package included an installation DVD (in addition to a set of CDROMS). Since both my home system and my laptop have DVD players, this made upgrading painless - pop in the DVD, get it started, and go do something else for an hour.

    For someone new to Linux, the SuSE 9.1 Personal Edition would be a good start. This includes a "live CD" similar to Knoppix, that allows you to check hardware compatibilities before actually installing to your system. Just boot the CD, and see if everything works. Remove the CD, and nothing has changed. Pop in the other included CD for a user-friendly hard drive installation.

    Other "newbie-friendly" distros are Xandros and Linspire (formerly Lindows). I've installed both of these and found the routine to be as simple as installing a device driver. Pop in the CD, answer a couple of questions, and you shortly have a working Linux system. They will also install alongside of Windows, giving you a "dual-boot" system, for those not ready to give up Windows cold turkey.

    Debian and more recently, Gentoo, are the darlings of the pocket-protector set. Personally, I have found the installations of both of these to be baffling, and Gentoo also takes forever, since the preferred installation method is to compile everything from source.

    For Debian, at least, there is an alternative. Acting on a tip from someone in this forum, I recently downloaded and installed LibraNet (www.libranet.com), a Debian-based distribution, and found the text-based installation routine to be intuitive and user-friendly. I now have a solid, reliable Debian system.

    Most of the current versions of the major distros require at least a P-III or AMD equivalent CPU and 256 MB RAM to run efficiently. They will run on less RAM, but will be using the swap partition a lot, which slows things way down.

    This can be minimized by a careful installation, regardless of which distro is being used. For example, I have an older Toshiba laptop (Pentium I 266, 96 MB RAM) that I use for a "backup laptop." I was able to get SuSE 9.1 to run quite well on it by using a lightweight desktop manager (Fluxbox) instead of the default KDE, and turning off some of the processes that usually run in the background.

    There are also distributions that are specifically designed for older systems with slower CPU's, less RAM and smaller hard drives.

    The popularity of Knoppix has spawned a host of other "live-CD" distros based on Knoppix (which is itself based on Debian). Here are a few of my favorites:

    Damn Small Linux (www.damnsmalllinux.org) - This live CD fits on one of those business card-sized mini-CDs. As the developer says, "Why? Because having a working Linux desktop distro on a 50 mb bootable business card CD is just too cool not to do." You can carry this in your shirt pocket or wallet, pop it into any computer and have Linux in a couple of minutes. It also has a script for a permanent installation on a hard drive, where it requires very little in the way of resources. I have an old P-133 w/32 MB RAM that runs this quite nicely.

    INSERT (www.inside-security.de/insert_en.html) - Inside Security Rescue Toolkit. This is another business card-sized mini-CD that boots up and privides the user with Clam anti-virus and a set of FAT/Windows filesystem tools. I've used this to rescue several friends' virus-infected systems who had been told by supposedly knowledgeable people that their only hope was a complete reformat/reinstall.

    PHLAK (www.phlak.org) - This one boots up and provides the knowledgeable user with a comprehensive set of, ahem, security tools. Definitely not for newbies.

    I could go on and on. The nice thing is that anyone with a fast Internet connection and a CDROM burner can download the ISO, burn a CD, and try out any of these distros. For those lacking broadband, CD's can be ordered for next to nothing from www.linuxcd.org.

    Aren't you glad you asked? :-)

  3. #3
    bfbagain
    Guest

    bfbagain: An absolutely excellent post! Kudos to Parker! *NM*


  4. #4
    Viktor Nacht
    Guest

    Viktor Nacht: Re: Which is the best Linux distro and why?

    Parker's Excellent Evaluation says it all, but I'll throw in a couple cents worth of biased reply.

    Unless you're looking for a distro that will run off a floppy within 64K of memory, I would personally choose between either Fedora/Red Hat and Gentoo.

    If easy installation and management are your priorities, stick to Fedora. Despite the separate branding, it's still got the full force of Redhat AND an active development community behind it, and you can get RPMs for any package you could ever want to install.

    On the other hand, it optimum performance for CPU intensive computations is your thing, then Gentoo, the fastest growing distro, is for you. The core OS along with every little package you install is compiled and optimized to your needs. The downside is that it is a real bitch to install, but it's getting easier every release.

    YMMV.

    Good Kernels,

    V

  5. #5
    Phil
    Guest

    Phil: Re: Which is the best Linux distro and why?

    Has anybody got statistical blackjack analyser running under a WINE. i tried but was having trouble, may have been because of the way you need your source tables in the directory that is current.(know this problem?)

    i am using suse 9.1 right now. BTW i use it coz they have a decent business model and hence will be around for a while, meanwhile i get my CD's from ebay.co.uk for ?5!

  6. #6
    paranoid android
    Guest

    paranoid android: Re: Which is the best Linux distro and why?

    > Personally I'm used to RedHat/Fedora distros
    > but I know there should be better choices in
    > terms of speed, use of limited RAM, etc.
    > Let's assume that disk space is not an
    > issue.

    I think you'll find little difference in the main stream distributions in terms of speed (with the possible exception of Gentoo which you can force to compile every piece of software on your system with compiler settings optimal for your CPU) or ability to optimally use limited RAM. They're all running the same software. The main differences in the distributions are ease of installation, ease of upgradability, security, compliance to standards, and version release schedules.

    I use Debian which is ideal in all the above categories except for ease of initial installation (although it's not as bad as its reputation IMO). Fortunately, since it's so easy to upgrade, installation only needs to be done once in a lifetime. Running "apt-get update; apt-get upgrade" is all that's needed to keep your system in sync with the latest versions of all software packages.

    Personally though, if you're happy with the distribution you're using now, I think you have little to gain by trying another distribution unless it's for the fun factor.

  7. #7
    Cacarulo
    Guest

    Cacarulo: Re: Wow, what an excellent answer Parker!

    I've printed this post for further study. I think I know have a better idea of what I am needing.
    Thank you very much for the answer!

    Sincerely,
    Cac

    > This question makes "What's the best
    > counting system?" seem like a
    > no-brainer. :-)

    > Linux Weekly News (www.lwn.net) lists 355
    > different active Linux distributions and
    > Distrowatch (www.distrowatch.org) tracks
    > nearly 300. Of course, many of these are
    > highly specialized (servers, routers,
    > firewalls, embedded systems, etc.), and
    > others are in early stages of development,
    > but still, the sheer number is
    > mind-boggling. There are at least a dozen or
    > so that can be considered major
    > distributions.

    > Distrowatch, BTW, is an excellent place to
    > research out the different distributions,
    > with descriptions and links to reviews.

    > Personally, I ran Redhat on my main home
    > system and primary laptop until a couple of
    > years ago when I switched to SuSE. I'm
    > presently running the latest version, 9.1
    > Professional, and find it suits my needs
    > well. The installation is a piece of cake,
    > hardware detection is excellent (most
    > configuration is automatic), and the update
    > system is better than any others I have
    > used. I liked the fact that the package
    > included an installation DVD (in addition to
    > a set of CDROMS). Since both my home system
    > and my laptop have DVD players, this made
    > upgrading painless - pop in the DVD, get it
    > started, and go do something else for an
    > hour.

    > For someone new to Linux, the SuSE 9.1
    > Personal Edition would be a good start. This
    > includes a "live CD" similar to
    > Knoppix, that allows you to check hardware
    > compatibilities before actually installing
    > to your system. Just boot the CD, and see if
    > everything works. Remove the CD, and nothing
    > has changed. Pop in the other included CD
    > for a user-friendly hard drive installation.

    > Other "newbie-friendly" distros
    > are Xandros and Linspire (formerly Lindows).
    > I've installed both of these and found the
    > routine to be as simple as installing a
    > device driver. Pop in the CD, answer a
    > couple of questions, and you shortly have a
    > working Linux system. They will also install
    > alongside of Windows, giving you a
    > "dual-boot" system, for those not
    > ready to give up Windows cold turkey.

    > Debian and more recently, Gentoo, are the
    > darlings of the pocket-protector set.
    > Personally, I have found the installations
    > of both of these to be baffling, and Gentoo
    > also takes forever, since the preferred
    > installation method is to compile everything
    > from source.

    > For Debian, at least, there is an
    > alternative. Acting on a tip from someone in
    > this forum, I recently downloaded and
    > installed LibraNet (www.libranet.com), a
    > Debian-based distribution, and found the
    > text-based installation routine to be
    > intuitive and user-friendly. I now have a
    > solid, reliable Debian system.

    > Most of the current versions of the major
    > distros require at least a P-III or AMD
    > equivalent CPU and 256 MB RAM to run
    > efficiently. They will run on less RAM, but
    > will be using the swap partition a lot,
    > which slows things way down.

    > This can be minimized by a careful
    > installation, regardless of which distro is
    > being used. For example, I have an older
    > Toshiba laptop (Pentium I 266, 96 MB RAM)
    > that I use for a "backup laptop."
    > I was able to get SuSE 9.1 to run quite well
    > on it by using a lightweight desktop manager
    > (Fluxbox) instead of the default KDE, and
    > turning off some of the processes that
    > usually run in the background.

    > There are also distributions that are
    > specifically designed for older systems with
    > slower CPU's, less RAM and smaller hard
    > drives.

    > The popularity of Knoppix has spawned a host
    > of other "live-CD" distros based
    > on Knoppix (which is itself based on
    > Debian). Here are a few of my favorites:

    > Damn Small Linux (www.damnsmalllinux.org) -
    > This live CD fits on one of those business
    > card-sized mini-CDs. As the developer says,
    > "Why? Because having a working Linux
    > desktop distro on a 50 mb bootable business
    > card CD is just too cool not to do."
    > You can carry this in your shirt pocket or
    > wallet, pop it into any computer and have
    > Linux in a couple of minutes. It also has a
    > script for a permanent installation on a
    > hard drive, where it requires very little in
    > the way of resources. I have an old P-133
    > w/32 MB RAM that runs this quite nicely.

    > INSERT
    > (www.inside-security.de/insert_en.html) -
    > Inside Security Rescue Toolkit. This is
    > another business card-sized mini-CD that
    > boots up and privides the user with Clam
    > anti-virus and a set of FAT/Windows
    > filesystem tools. I've used this to rescue
    > several friends' virus-infected systems who
    > had been told by supposedly knowledgeable
    > people that their only hope was a complete
    > reformat/reinstall.

    > PHLAK (www.phlak.org) - This one boots up
    > and provides the knowledgeable user with a
    > comprehensive set of, ahem, security tools.
    > Definitely not for newbies.

    > I could go on and on. The nice thing is that
    > anyone with a fast Internet connection and a
    > CDROM burner can download the ISO, burn a
    > CD, and try out any of these distros. For
    > those lacking broadband, CD's can be ordered
    > for next to nothing from www.linuxcd.org.

    > Aren't you glad you asked? :-)

  8. #8
    Cacarulo
    Guest

    Cacarulo: Re: Which is the best Linux distro and why?

    > Parker's Excellent Evaluation says it all,

    Agree.

    > but I'll throw in a couple cents worth of
    > biased reply.

    > Unless you're looking for a distro that will
    > run off a floppy within 64K of memory, I
    > would personally choose between either
    > Fedora/Red Hat and Gentoo.

    > If easy installation and management are your
    > priorities, stick to Fedora. Despite the
    > separate branding, it's still got the full
    > force of Redhat AND an active development
    > community behind it, and you can get RPMs
    > for any package you could ever want to
    > install.

    > On the other hand, it optimum performance
    > for CPU intensive computations is your
    > thing, then Gentoo, the fastest growing
    > distro, is for you. The core OS along with
    > every little package you install is compiled
    > and optimized to your needs. The downside is
    > that it is a real bitch to install, but it's
    > getting easier every release.

    Yes Viktor, this is what I'm looking for! I've a Pentium III 1000 Mhz w/128 Mb of RAM. Fedora or RedHat are really very slow on these type of PCs and that's why I need a change.
    BTW, I've noticed in Gentoo that there are different packages that apply to different types of processors (i386, i686, Pentium3, Pentium4, alpha, etc.).
    If I wanted to know what type of processor I have I simply type "uname -p" and get "i686". But my processor is a Pentium III so I really don't know what to use, i686 or P3? What's the difference between i686 and P3?

    Thanks in advance.

    Sincerely,
    Cac

  9. #9
    Cacarulo
    Guest

    Cacarulo: Re: Which is the best Linux distro and why?

    > I think you'll find little difference in the
    > main stream distributions in terms of speed
    > (with the possible exception of Gentoo which
    > you can force to compile every piece of
    > software on your system with compiler
    > settings optimal for your CPU) or ability to
    > optimally use limited RAM. They're all
    > running the same software. The main
    > differences in the distributions are ease of
    > installation, ease of upgradability,
    > security, compliance to standards, and
    > version release schedules.

    And specially compliance to standards.

    > I use Debian which is ideal in all the above
    > categories except for ease of initial
    > installation (although it's not as bad as
    > its reputation IMO). Fortunately, since it's
    > so easy to upgrade, installation only needs
    > to be done once in a lifetime. Running
    > "apt-get update; apt-get upgrade"
    > is all that's needed to keep your system in
    > sync with the latest versions of all
    > software packages.

    For what I have read, Gentoo is also very easy to update and the installation needs to be done only once.

    > Personally though, if you're happy with the
    > distribution you're using now, I think you
    > have little to gain by trying another
    > distribution unless it's for the fun factor.

    The problem is that I'm not happy with my actual distro so I think a will go with Gentoo.
    Anyway, I appreciate your answer, thank you!

    Sincerely,
    Cac

  10. #10
    paranoid android
    Guest

    paranoid android: Re: Which is the best Linux distro and why?

    > I've a Pentium III 1000 Mhz w/128 Mb of RAM.
    > Fedora or RedHat are really very slow on
    > these type of PCs and that's why I need a
    > change.

    There's really no reason that this should be true and switching distributions (even to Gentoo optimized for your CPU) will probably not result in a noticable improvement in speed. I'm guessing your main problem is too little RAM for the applications you're running. What things appear to be runninig slowly? You may notice a nice improvement if you upgrade to 512M or RAM. You may also want to investigate whether you're using the best video driver for your video card. Also make sure you're not running any server programs you don't need (Apache web server, email server, databases, etc). Although these processes should be swapped out of RAM if they aren't being used and shouldn't be using up your much of your RAM (you do have a swap partition, don't you?).

    > What's the difference
    > between i686 and P3?

    I don't know for sure, but P3 may have more optimizations for your specific CPU as i686 covers P2's as well. Don't trust my answer though.

  11. #11
    Parker
    Guest

    Parker: Re: Which is the best Linux distro and why?

    > I've a Pentium III 1000 Mhz w/128 Mb of RAM.
    > Fedora or RedHat are really very slow on
    > these type of PCs and that's why I need a
    > change.

    Your problem is the lack of RAM. You need at least 256 MB, and 512 or a gig is even better. I'll bet your hard drive is going almost constantly. Switching to Gentoo will not help this problem. If you're running the KDE or Gnome destop, switching to a lightweight desktop such as Fluxbox or XFce would help.

    Just open a terminal window and type "free" (without the quotes) and you will see how much memory you have available. I'm betting little or none.

    > BTW, I've noticed in Gentoo that there are
    > different packages that apply to different
    > types of processors (i386, i686, Pentium3,
    > Pentium4, alpha, etc.).
    > If I wanted to know what type of processor I
    > have I simply type "uname -p" and
    > get "i686". But my processor is a
    > Pentium III so I really don't know what to
    > use, i686 or P3? What's the difference
    > between i686 and P3?

    None, really. Intel got annoyed when they were making the 486 processor and other companies (AMD, etc) were also making CPU's and calling them 486's. It seems that you cannot trademark a number. So, when they came out with the 586 class CPU, they called it a Pentium, which they could trademark. Pentium II and above are 686 class CPU's.

    Go ahead and take a shot at installing Gentoo (I can tell you're really, really itching to try it :-)) but don't expect any noticeable improvement in performance until you get some more RAM.

  12. #12
    Parker
    Guest

    Parker: More distro dialog

    > Parker's Excellent Evaluation says it all,
    > but I'll throw in a couple cents worth of
    > biased reply.

    > Unless you're looking for a distro that will
    > run off a floppy within 64K of memory, I
    > would personally choose between either
    > Fedora/Red Hat and Gentoo.

    > If easy installation and management are your
    > priorities, stick to Fedora. Despite the
    > separate branding, it's still got the full
    > force of Redhat AND an active development
    > community behind it, and you can get RPMs
    > for any package you could ever want to
    > install.

    SuSE and Mandrake are also RPM based - I have successfully installed many Redhat RPM's on my SuSE systems. Also, Debian has more applications then anybody (over 2500), along with an excellent package management system.

    I haven't tried Fedora Core II yet, but Core I's update system was seriously screwed up. Considering it's Redhat heritage, I found Fedora Core I to be surprisingly rough around the edges.

    All of the major distros (Fedora, Redhat, SuSE, Mandrake, Debian, Slackware, Xandros, Lindows and probably a couple more that I'm forgetting) have active development communities behind them - that's how they got to be major!.

    > On the other hand, it optimum performance
    > for CPU intensive computations is your
    > thing, then Gentoo, the fastest growing
    > distro, is for you. The core OS along with
    > every little package you install is compiled
    > and optimized to your needs. The downside is
    > that it is a real bitch to install, but it's
    > getting easier every release.

    I think switching to Gentoo is sort of like becoming a full time professional card counter. When you're ready for it, you won't be asking if you should do it on an open message board. :-)

  13. #13
    Parker
    Guest

    Parker: WINE time

    > Has anybody got statistical blackjack
    > analyser running under a WINE. i tried but
    > was having trouble, may have been because of
    > the way you need your source tables in the
    > directory that is current.(know this
    > problem?)

    I don't have SBA, so I haven't tried that. I managed to get Casino Verite to install, but it crashes when I try to run it. BJRM 2000 will start, but it doesn't render properly and quickly crashes. I did manage to get Stanford Wong's little BJEdge houst advantage calculator program to run under WINE, and it works perfectly.

    WINE is under active development and frequently updated, so I keep downloading the latest version and trying. If I could get Casino Verite and CVCX to run under WINE, I could happily live in a totally non-Windows environment.

    > i am using suse 9.1 right now. BTW i use it
    > coz they have a decent business model and
    > hence will be around for a while, meanwhile
    > i get my CD's from ebay.co.uk for ?5!

    Agreed. I don't think Novell (SuSE's new owner) is going to go belly up any time soon.

Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

About Blackjack: The Forum

BJTF is an advantage player site based on the principles of comity. That is, civil and considerate behavior for the mutual benefit of all involved. The goal of advantage play is the legal extraction of funds from gaming establishments by gaining a mathematic advantage and developing the skills required to use that advantage. To maximize our success, it is important to understand that we are all on the same side. Personal conflicts simply get in the way of our goals.