[Ham-Computers] Re: [Ham-Linux] Which distrabution (was Running Linux)

[Ken Sprouse]

Colburn wrote:

> I have already been through the cycle of learning two distros that were
> equally promising and then went bankrupt.  Mandrake has beem in 
> financial trouble for a while.
>
> I am also concerned about the politics of the legal threats to Linux 
> and GPL in the EU upsetting Mandrake's already tenuous financial health.
>
> It is my observation that SuSE 9 Pro has matched all that the current 
> version of Mandrake offers, is equally stable operationally, plus they 
> lack the financial instability.
>
> That said I know a bunch of guys who love Mandrake and the notebook 
> company from which I acquired mine www.powernotebooks.com has recently 
> announced that they are providing Mandrake with their "linux notebooks".
>
> IMHO, YMMV ... 73, doc kd4e
>
This has be an area of some concern for me as well.  It is one of the 
things that make Red Hat and Fedora Core1 so appealing.  It currently 
looks like Red Hat is in this for the long haul and Fedora will probably 
be dragged along on the coattails.  The other thing that has got my 
attention is FreeBSD.  There is a ham here in town, W2XO, that makes 
extensive use of FreeBSD and just loves it.  I had dinner with him last 
night and he told me that FreeBSD has advanced quite a bit in the 
install department and is pretty much on par with Red Hat Linux.  I will 
more than likely give it a test drive also.  Anyone else out there using 
FreeBSD?  Which desktop environment are you using?  Gnome or KDE?  Jim 
tells me that there is more ham radio related software written for Linux 
but that it can be worked up to run on FreeBSD without much effort.  I 
would really like to be free from the Windows "upgrade" cycle and worry 
less about virus writers exploiting my email client. There are other 
reasons as well but that is a discussion for another time.

-- 
Ken Sprouse / WA3FKG  Oakmont, PA
Member of the American Radio Relay League
Pittsburgh Area Scanner net on Sunday evenings 9:00PM on 147.090 mHz.
Glock - The ultimate point and click user interface.  (c)
Ask me how you can have any picture on your mouse pad.