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Linux Distro Evaluations

by Hawke — last modified 2007-10-04 07:50

I haven't done a number of Linux distribution evaluations for quite some time, so since I reached a point where I could take a lttle smidgeon of time to do so, I have begun trying out a few distros.

Linux Distro Evaluations

I first started using Linux back around 1994ish with Slackware and the 0.9x kernel. Back then it was a total PITA just to get the hard drives detected (especially if they weren't SCSI). you booted with two 3.5" floppy disks (boot and root) and it was very primitive and command line only, to slowly add more and get things working... Not for the feint of heart and certainly not for the average user!
Things have changes dramatically in the 13+ years since (wow, has it really been so long already?). Now Linux oft times can be EASIER to install, setup, and use than Windows. Every year or two, I stop and try out the latest more robustly developed distros to see where they are at in preparation for "regular" end user adoption.

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Retract
 Hawke
2007-08-28 22:09
No comments.
Publish
 Hawke
2006-11-15 09:35
No comments.

 I went for the most recent versions I could find this weekend. I tried mostly "mainstream" "most popular" distros, plus a few others off the beaten path.

I have been running the following distros for quite some time on a daily basis:

  • Suse 10.2 retail DVD (on my HP dv9000 custom laptop)
  • Gentoo 2007 (server)
  • Redhat Enterprise linux 3 (server)
  • OpenBSD 4 (server)

The distributions I am currently evaluating are:

Some others that I did not test yet, but will eval from within a virtual install will possibly be:

  • Slackware
  • Freespire
  • PCLinuxOS
  • Sabayon
  • MEPIS (will try on older system(s))

The evals are being performed mostly on my main laptop. The specs and issues are detailed in other articles at:


The rules of the game were along the following lines:

  • Using my laptop, The installation must be completed without having to use the Ethernet port (wifi only).
  • I should not have to look up any patches or driver fixes manually.
  • All settings should be handled via the GUI, no command line configuration.
  • Video, Audio, Wireless networking, RAID1 access, CD/DVD reading must all work "out of the box".
  • The currently installed Windows Vista Home Premium (blech) must remain unscathed.


I will be listing my experience with each in separate articles coming up.

Ciao for now.




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