On Sunday 17 November 2002 00:39, Tahir Hashmi wrote:
On Sat, 16 Nov 2002 23:13:44 -0500
Bhargav Bhatt wrote:
Regarding distributions, i think Redhat would win my vote. The main reasons would be
- Extensive Hardware Support
Goes for about any distribution.
Not quite true. I had been using Slackware for a year till i got my new desktop, only to find out that Slackware was unable to detect my network card. After much searching/googling/irc'ing(if there is such a word ;)), i found that Slakcware was not supporting my network card. So then i looked to Intel for the driver they were offering. But alas! The mobo was relatively new and Intel had not yet come out with Linux drivers for it. Next i looked to Gigabyte, the mobo vendor, but they too had windows only drivers. Lastly, i turned to Redhat. And then it all changed. My network card was detected during install and so were all the other components of the mobo. This example is not an exception. Actually, such cases are quite common. The point is that large companies like Redhat or large projects like Debain do have much more built in, "out of the box", support for non-standard hardware. This makes them better for use for the general public as u cannot expect your average Joe user to go scourging the net for the drivers and then compile them. (Slackware is still my favorite and i run it on my old lappy :) )
- RPM (It was built on RH) - Numerous applications available
for install via RPM
Goes for about any distribution - RPMs are now part of LSB and the full-form is now RPM Package Manager.
Point taken.
- Up2date
RedCarpet, APT (yes, it does RPMs too), Portage.
Yes, many distros have it. I use apt myself on RH 8. up2date just seems to be one of the more popular ones around.
- More online help forums for RH than any other distro. (also
a very helpful IRC channel). 5) Very easy to work with, especially after bluecurve (I am not supportive of their idea of degrading KDE in the process of Unifying it with GNOME. However, the result is indeed quite beautiful) 6) Automatic Installation of New Kernel via up2date
Point 5 is agreeable.
[snip]
hindrance. But from the newbie point of view, features like Auto-Kernel update are very very helpful.
Newbie, maybe. But if the newbie is a home user, s/he would typically not bother about kernel upgrades and can also do well without it, till the next version comes.
IMHO, most of us like to keep abreast with the latest versions of products as they come but a typical home user would not like to bother about weekly updates, even with the options of easy updating programs. Most of the home users also sign an AMC with the vendor and it will be enough for the vendor to procure the latest distro and update the clients' PCs once in 6 months.
But what if there is a kernel advisory or a security fix anounced? In times like that it really helps to upgrade the kernel. And the kernel upgrades are *MUCH* easier using up2date. The AMC is actually an excellent idea. But, IMO, most hardware vendors in India arent skilled enough to be troubleshooting Linux problems. As mails@munshi.dyndns.org said, many of them need to taught linux. But once the necessary skill levels are achieved, this can definitely become a reality.