[Tfug] Thinking linux

Mon Feb 5 00:19:09 MST 2007

Wow, lots of help. Thanks. I kind of figured it would go this way, and am
glad it did. Options are good. As far as the headless thing goes, when I did
it in freebsd, it worked, but I ran into some probs. Some of the things like
backspace, insert, etc, didn't work, they gave weird characters. It was over
a null modem cable (is that the same as a crossover serial cable?). So I
would want to connect some other way. I guess telnet, or ssh would be an
option. I guess it would be nice to become proficient enough to have the
linux machine act as a gateway or file server, and have the fbsd machine be
something else. I'm sure you don't want one machine
acting as a file server and router. I can't imagine that being a safe setup.

I looked into Gentoo a little, and it seems alright. So maybe I'll go that
way. By established distro, I mean one of the *major* ones. I know that's
relative, but there always seem to be new ones popping up, and since I
decided to leave windows a while back, there have been certain ones that
seem to have been consistent: debian, slack,
suse, mandrake, redhat, etc., with ubuntu seeming
to be the new comer with strength, but again, it's based on debian any way,
right?

On 2/4/07, Stephen Hooper <stephen.hooper at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Slackware is a binary distibution... at least about 8 years ago.  The
> packages are tarballs, and everything just kind of expands in place.
>
> LFS, and Gentoo are similar except that LFS doesn't have the tools
> that Gentoo does to manage source.  That is not necessarily a bad
> thing depending on what you want to do with the machine. I
>
> Gentoo has tools that help you resolve dependencies, etc.  It is kind
> of like the BSD ports system,   but it does emphasize the compilation
> of packages.
>
> On any distribution you can run deb packages, or RPM packages.  I can
> do both on my Gentoo system.  But I  seldom do have need to unless I
> am being really lazy.
>
> I don't know what you mean by "established distribution."  Gentoo does
> not by default follow one of the two popular packaging formats, and it
> does some things differently in regards to the configuration of the
> machine.
>
> If you are asking, it is not based on any other distribution.  Neither
> is LFS.  LFS is really the closest you can come to not using a
> distribution.
>
> The headless thing is easy, unless you want to get at the BIOS over a
> serial line... that's the same problem with FreeBSD though.  It is
> still easy if you have hardware that supports it.
>
> On 2/4/07, christopher floess <skeptikos at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Interesting. Yeah, I was thinking LFS too. It could teach me a lot of
> > things. If slackware is "source(ish)", what's with all the discs
> involved w/
> > the distro? FreeBSD only uses one disc for the install, and you only
> need
> > the second if you what to install any binary packages. Sources and stuff
> are
> > on the install disc. Is gentoo based on an established distro like
> ubuntu is
> > based on debian? Is anyone familiar with LFS?
> >
> > On 2/4/07, Jeremy D Rogers <jdrogers at northwestern.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > I may be wrong, but from the point of view of someone very familiar
> > > with another free unix, I would say the main difference in distro's
> > > will just come down to package management. Since you are the type who
> > > will be comfortable under the hood, the variation in fluff won't
> > > matter much, so you can pretty much just choose between:
> > > *.rpm based (ughh!!.. trust me, just stay away.)
> > > *.deb based (debian, ubuntu, etc, etc.)
> > > source(ish) based (slack, gentoo, linux from scratch)
> > >
> > > You would probably learn the most from LFS, but getting started might
> > > take a while. Gentoo has pretty stellar documentation. The network
> > > installers for debian or ubuntu are great (dowload 20-50MB iso, burn,
> > > boot, and install everything you need from the net). I'm guessing
> > > gentoo has something similar.
> > >
> > > On 2/4/07, christopher floess <skeptikos at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > Ok, I have an extra computer at home, and would like to run linux on
> it.
> > > I
> > > > know this could turn into a long thread, so let me narrow the scope
> of
> > > > discourse by giving you some background. Noob-friendly isn't really
> an
> > > issue
> > > > for me b/c I've been on FreeBSD for four years now. I basically want
> the
> > > > best for getting to know the ins and outs of the linux environment.
> That
> > > > having been said, I would think that the Ubuntu variants might not
> be
> > > the
> > > > best way to go because I don't want to spend a bunch of time trying
> to
> > > > dismantle the user friendly veneer, just to get at the guts. I don't
> > > know
> > > > the distro that well, so maybe it's not such a big deal. Let me
> know. I
> > > had
> > > > a friend who was fond of slackware, but that was some years ago, and
> > > > considering how many cd's it takes for the install, I think that the
> > > > slackware of old might have had a different intended audience.
> Again,
> > > this
> > > > is simply speculation, so chime in. Is it worth it to pay for the
> > > slackware
> > > > dvd set? I've pretty much avoided the freebsd package system, and
> prefer
> > > > something that has a good porting system. Doesn't debian fall into
> this
> > > > category? Any way, the only reason I'm even looking is b/c I've
> enjoyed
> > > my
> > > > time w/ freebsd, and would like to expand my  horizons. That's it.
> fire
> > > away
> > > > with your opinions, everyone.... oh, one more thing. I would like
> the
> > > two
> > > > systems  to be networked, and after the install, the linux box will
> > > probably
> > > > have to funtion as a headless system.
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > I worry about viruses like I worry about terrorists
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > I worry about viruses like I worry about terrorists
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>
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-- 
I worry about viruses like I worry about terrorists