[Ham-Linux] Which Distro/Apps/Apps development software to use?

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

On Wed, 2009-02-11 at 18:08 -0700, Bill Anderson wrote:
> With your configuration, you have plenty of memory and plenty of disk.
> I agree with a previous comment that openSuse is an excellent choice.
> The Debian-based distros also have a good size collection of ham
> software. Fedora has finally decided to package a lot of ham software.
> It looks like Fedora 11 is going to have one huge collection of ham
> software. Debian is slow changing and Fedora is on steroids, openSuse
> offers a good balance having a large collection of software and a
> longer life cycle.

On of the problems with the latest big distros is that they follow the
Mudsoft line demanding the latest hardware and removing support for
vintage hardware. While puppy and ubuntu may not support the latest hardware,
but they make a point to work with older hardware and sometimes that's an
advantage.
> 
> Drivers are packed with the kernel, so newer hardware, especially
> SATA, requires newer releases. Puppy Linux and DSL tend to run a bit
> behind on the kernel curve, which can create issues with hardware.

Only if you have the latest in hardware. Its just the opposite if your
hardware is experienced.
> 
> Bill Anderson
> WW7BA
> 
73, Jerry, K0CQ