[plug] ComputerBank meeting Tues 24th 7:45pm

[Peter Wright]

On Thu, Aug 19, 1999 at 04:05:14PM +0900, bob at contact.omen.com.au wrote:
> 
> In <Pine.LNX.4.10.9908191312500.20928-100000 at linux.spice.net.au>, on
> 19/Aug/99 
>    at 01:29 PM,((WST) GMT)
> Gary Allpike <spice at spice.net.au> said:
> >To install slackware would be complete insanity in my opinion.  It would
> >have to be the hardest to install, and the most difficult to maintain by
> >a very long way - on top of which, even the latest version is still very
> >much libc5 based - which is certainly going to cause problems with almost
> >everything now being compiled against glibc2.
> 
> Even on a 386 with 4Mb ram? It was my understanding that Slackware was the
> distro of choice in this situation. Is Debian capable of being pared down
> to that ?

I think it is, from a quick look at the Debian install document - you have
to use a special bootdisk for low-memory machines, though.

I suspect I'd find myself installing Slackware in preference to Debian on
low-memory 386s though... my laptop (a 486DX2-50/8meg RAM that I picked up
from RioTinto's chuckout pile for $100 :-) runs Slackware for several
reasons - mainly that I found Debian too much of a pain to install (I also
tried FreeBSD). Slackware installed fine from floppies - got the base
system working okay then installed the rest via PLIP.

In fact, that last qualification is an interesting one - I believe
Slackware is the only remaining distro that you can still install from
floppies - which is sometimes the only real option if you're dealing with
an old machine.

> >The other issue of course is support.  Come into #linuxaus on
> >irc.linux.org.au and ask for assistance on RedHat - you're likely to draw
> >a stoney silence, whereas a debian related question is going to get you
> >numerous answers.

Erm - how about a "linux"-related question? :)

Seriously, paying too much attention to particular distros is risky. I'd be
worried if anyone promoting themself as an experienced Linux user couldn't
solve problems/perform general admin tasks on several different
distributions. For god's sake, they're not _that_ different... 

> >At the time of writing this email, the #debian channel
> >has 98 people in it, #redhat has 11 .....  Then there is also support
> >from savvy people such as myself, Christain and Matt.  I stand by my
> >previous statement (right, wrong or otherwise) that I wont get involved
> >with  installing RedHat or Slackware - yet I feel very sure that I could
> >make a very valuable contribution.

You think you could make a valuable contribution only if it wasn't
RH/Slack? Or, more precisely, you could make a valuable contribution only
if it was Debian? :)

Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate your attitude - to a point. But I
think you might be overdoing it a bit. As I mentioned earlier, I use Debian
at home and Redhat at work. I'd _prefer_ to use Debian at work (and my
employer certainly wouldn't be too concerned if I did), but the other Linux
machines floating around here are Redhat, so I felt it was more appropriate
to stick to the same distro.

> >regards
> 
> >Gary Allpike
> 
> Thanks for the spirited discussion :).
> 
> -- 
> /-- Bob Ogden  bob at contact.omen.com.au --------------/
> /  -... --- -...   --- --. -.. . -.       Finger  for PGP key -----/
> 
> Does your system break in 134 days?

Hopefully not :)


Pete.
-- 
http://cygnus.uwa.edu.au/~pete/

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