341 lines
8.2 KiB
HTML
341 lines
8.2 KiB
HTML
<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>Choosing a Linux Distribution</TITLE
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><META
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NAME="GENERATOR"
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CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.63
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"><LINK
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REL="HOME"
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TITLE="Linux Administration Made Easy"
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HREF="index.html"><LINK
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REL="UP"
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TITLE="Introduction"
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HREF="introduction.html"><LINK
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REL="PREVIOUS"
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TITLE="Scope"
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HREF="scope.html"><LINK
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REL="NEXT"
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TITLE="Linux Overview"
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HREF="linux-overview.html"></HEAD
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><TH
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COLSPAN="3"
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>Linux Administration Made Easy</TH
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="scope.html"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="80%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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>Chapter 2. Introduction</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="linux-overview.html"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><H1
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><A
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NAME="CHOOSING-LINUX"
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>2.2. Choosing a Linux Distribution</A
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></H1
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><P
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>There is quite a variety of Linux distributions from which to choose
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from. Each distribution offers the same base Linux kernel and system
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tools, but differ on installation method and bundled applications. Each
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distribution has its own advantages as well as disadvantages, so it is
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wise to spend a bit of time researching which features are available in a
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given distribution before deciding on one.</P
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><P
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>The following is a list of a few web sites you can visit, which will
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describe a given Linux distribution as well as provide information on how
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you can download or purchase it:</P
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><P
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></P
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><DIV
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CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
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><DL
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><DT
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><A
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HREF="http://www.redhat.com/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.redhat.com/</A
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></DT
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><DD
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><P
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>The Red Hat distribution, by commercial vendor Red Hat
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Software, Inc. is one of the most popular distributions. With a choice of
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GUI- and text-based installation procedures, Red Hat 6.1 is possibly the
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easiest Linux distribution to install. It offers easy upgrade and
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package management via the ``<TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>RPM</TT
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>'' utility, and
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includes both the GNU Network Object Model Environment
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(<EM
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>GNOME</EM
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>) and the ``K Desktop Environment''
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(<EM
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>KDE</EM
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>), both popular GUI window managers for the X
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Window System. This distribution is available for the Intel, Alpha, and
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Sparc platforms.</P
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></DD
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><DT
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><A
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HREF="http://www.debian.org/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.debian.org/</A
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></DT
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><DD
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><P
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>The Debian distribution, by non-profit organization known
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as <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"The Debian Project"</SPAN
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> is the darling of the Open Source
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community. It also offers easy upgrade and package management via the
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``<TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>dpkg</TT
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>'' utility. This distribution is available for
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the Intel, Alpha, Sparc, and Motorola (Macintosh, Amiga, Atari)
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platforms.</P
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></DD
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><DT
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><A
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HREF="http://www.suse.com/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.suse.com/</A
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></DT
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><DD
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><P
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>The S.u.S.E. distribution, by commercial vendor S.u.S.E.,
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is another popular distribution, and is the leading distribution in
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Europe. It includes the ``K Desktop Environment''
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(<EM
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>KDE</EM
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>), and also offers easy upgrade and package
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management via the ``<TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>YaST</TT
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>'' utility. This distribution is
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available for both Intel and Alpha platforms.</P
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></DD
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><DT
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><A
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HREF="http://www.caldera.com/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.caldera.com/</A
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></DT
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><DD
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><P
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>The OpenLinux distribution, by commercial vendor Caldera,
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is aimed towards corporate users. With the new OpenLinux 2.2 release,
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Caldera has raised the bar with what appears to be the easiest to install
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distribution of Linux available today. In addition, it comes standard
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with the ``K Desktop Environment'' (<EM
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>KDE</EM
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>). This
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distribution is available for the Intel platform only.</P
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></DD
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><DT
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><A
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HREF="http://www.linux-mandrake.com/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.linux-mandrake.com/</A
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></DT
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><DD
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><P
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>The Mandrake distribution, by commercial vendor
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MandrakeSoft S.A., integrates the Red Hat or Debian distributions (your
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choice) with additional value-add software packages than those included
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with the original distributions.</P
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></DD
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><DT
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><A
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HREF="http://www.slackware.com/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.slackware.com/</A
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></DT
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><DD
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><P
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>The Slackware distribution, by Patrick Volkerding of
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Walnut Creek Software, is the grandfather of modern distributions of
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Linux. Offers a fairly simple installation procedure, but poor upgrade
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and package management. Still based on the libc libraries but the next
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version will probably migrate to the newer glibc. Recommended for users
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who are more technical and familiar with Linux. This distribution is
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available for the Intel platform only.</P
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></DD
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></DL
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></DIV
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><P
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>Listing all the available distributions is beyond the scope of this
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document, so I've listed only the most popular. However, further
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information on the available distributions can be found in the
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``<EM
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>Distribution-HOWTO</EM
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>'' guide, available at <A
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HREF="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Distribution-HOWTO.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Distribution-HOWTO.html</A
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></P
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><DIV
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CLASS="TIP"
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><BLOCKQUOTE
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CLASS="TIP"
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><P
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><B
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>Tip: </B
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>Tip: If you decide to buy your distribution on CD-ROM, you might be
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able to find better pricing at other resellers (for example, I've been
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quite satisfied on several dealings with Internet-based software vendor
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<A
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HREF="http://www.cheapbytes.com/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.cheapbytes.com/</A
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>).
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On the other hand, you may wish to pay the higher price to the
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distribution vendors to ensure that their offerings continue to
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improve.</P
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></BLOCKQUOTE
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></DIV
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><P
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>My distribution of choice is Red Hat Linux (it also happens to be,
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unarguably, the most popular distribution among Linux users). For almost
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three years, I was a die-hard Slackware fanatic (before that I had messed
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around a bit with a small distribution from tsx-11 way back in the kernel
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0.90a days), and although I've tried Red Hat in the past, I never could
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bring myself to say anything good about their distributions. Then, I
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tried Red Hat 5.1, and found myself quickly converted! In my opinion,
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with 5.1, Red Hat finally <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"got it right"</SPAN
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>.</P
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><P
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>Some of the reasons I have become a fan of the Red Hat distribution
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include the ease of installation, multi-platform support (until recently,
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Red Hat was the only distribution vendor to provide its distribution for
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Intel, Alpha, and Solaris platforms), and, above all, the RPM package
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manager. In addition, they put updates to included RPM's on their FTP
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site (at <A
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HREF="ftp://ftp.redhat.com/redhat/updates/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>ftp://ftp.redhat.com/redhat/updates/</A
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>)
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as they become available, which is a good way of keeping one's system up
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to date and free of any bugs or security problems that are discovered from
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time to time.</P
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><P
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>Since first loading Red Hat 5.1 on an otherwise unused computer at work
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for testing purposes, I have converted two of our main Internet/File &
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Print servers over from Slackware to Red Hat and haven't regretted it.
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I've also loaded it on my system and home, and installed it on three other
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systems as light servers as well. In addition, I have had the opportunity
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to not only play with the Intel-based versions but with Alpha- and
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Sparc-based versions as well. Recently, I've moved all the Linux systems
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I am responsible for over to Red Hat 6.1.</P
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><P
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>Therefore, this document has a definite Red Hat <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"feel"</SPAN
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>
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to it, and is most relevant for the Intel-based 6.1 version. However,
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hopefully most or at least some of the information contained in this
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document will be useful to users of other distributions.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
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WIDTH="100%"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="scope.html"
|
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="index.html"
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>Home</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="linux-overview.html"
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>Next</A
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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>Scope</TD
|
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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><A
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HREF="introduction.html"
|
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>Up</A
|
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
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>Linux Overview</TD
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