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Re: What linux distro is recommended
From: |
Dirk Eddelbuettel |
Subject: |
Re: What linux distro is recommended |
Date: |
Sat, 25 Oct 2003 18:01:51 -0500 |
User-agent: |
Mutt/1.3.28i |
On Sat, Oct 25, 2003 at 04:12:47PM -0500, A. Danial wrote:
> On Saturday 25 October 2003 12:21 pm, Niels L. Ellegaard wrote:
> > Quentin Spencer <address@hidden> writes:
> > > Obed Sands wrote:
> > > I believe there
> > > are several users on this list who would recommend Debian. The
> > > advantage of Debian is you can use apt-get to install the latest
> > > version without compiling anything yourself.
> >
> > I don't think it is right to advice a Linux novice to start out using
> > Debian. I did this myself, and I learned a lot, but it also took a lot
> > of because Debian does not work out of the box for novice users.
>
> I disagree. By far the easiest Linux install I've ever witnessed
> is Debian-based. This distribution I'm referring to is Knoppix,
> http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-old-en.html
>
> Download the .iso, burn a cdrom (has to be the larger 80 minute size),
> then boot your computer off this cdrom. As Knoppix runs right off
> the cdrom you can try it out without any modifications to your computer.
> If you don't like it, reboot, take the cdrom out, and you are back
> to your untouched Windows/Linux/FreeBSD/whatever-was-there-before
> system. If you do like it (and I haven't met anyone who hasn't),
> you can install to the hard drive with a single command,
> http://www.freenet.org.nz/misc/knoppix-install.html
>
> After the install finishes you have a Debian system running KDE.
> Unless you have unusual hardware, sound, graphics, and networking
> will all be autodetected and autoconfigured.
And if you use my Quantian variant of Knoppix, you even get openMosix
clustering and a ton of quant. software, include a number of Octave
packages, thrown in for good measure.
> > Novices should start out with one of the following: Mandrake, Redhat
> > or SUSE.
>
> Knoppix has a big advantage over Mandrake, RedHat, and SUSE: there
> is no risk with Knoppix. If you don't like what you see running
> off the cdrom then you can just reboot and have your original
> computer system back. With the other three, your options
> are much more limited: commit to a hard drive install, or see it
> running on someone else's machine.
>
> Debian, via Knoppix as the installation vehicle, is the way to go
> for novices (and everyone else too really). -- Al
Yep. And if you start from Quantian, you don't even have to worry about how
to add Octave.
Dirk
--
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
-- Groucho Marx
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