TCLUG Archive
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

RE: [TCLUG:2845] linux web server



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mathias Taylor [mailto:mataylor@uswest.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 1998 2:41 PM
> To: TCLUG
> Subject: [TCLUG:2845] linux web server
>
>
> Greetings-
> I've recently moved to the Twin Cities area and now I'm now looking for
> any suggestions on different flavors of Linux for my endeavour into
> setting up a Linux web server with Apache.  For the time being, I will
> have a dedicated P133/64 machine and ample HDD space.  I've come to a
> halt on deciding between OpenLinux and Slackware, would anyone be able
> to detail some of the benefits/negatives between those (or even others
> if necessary).  I searched through the linux.org web site but found only
> vague details on what the different companies had to offer.  Any insight
> would be wonderful, thanks!
> --
> Mathias A. Taylor
> mataylor@uswest.net


	It all depends.  What follows is my opinion of the distros I've used:

	RedHat Linux -
	PRO: RPMs make upgrading and new installs a breeze.  Ready-to-run out of
the box, with very little tweaking required.  Very user-friendly management
tools.
	CON: Huge, drive-choking distribution, with a few too many bells and
whistles installed by default for some peoples' taste.  Can require a great
deal of effort to scale *down*.

	Caldera OpenLinux -
	PRO: Very sharp distribution, and a business-ready server out of the box.
Fairly lightweight  Close ties with Novell make NDS/Netware interaction a
lot easier.	 Great management tools.
	CON: Not as workstation-friendly as RedHat.  RPM support is only
half-there -- upgrading via rpms can SEVERELY mess things up if you're not
careful.

	SuSE Linux -
	PRO: Actually, I only have a little experience with this one, but I know
they lead the market as far as XWindows technology.  "Quality German
Engineering" seems to sum up their image pretty nicely.
	CON: Vaguely threatening Teutonic overtones.   Dunno, maybe that's a pro...

	Slackware -
	PRO: Serious geek credentials.  Entitles you to scoff at RedHat users.  The
Erector Set of Linux distros -- it's not a working server, it's a great big
box of parts.
	CON: Not for beginners, the easily intimidated, or those who turn pale at
the sound of the words "re-compile the kernel."

	FreeBSD -
	PRO: Entitles you to scoff at Slackware users.  Small, powerful, and
spartan.  Arguably the ideal free OS for dedicated servers.  You'll feel
that pioneer spirit folks running Linux in 1993 felt.
	CON: Not linux, and not glibc.  If you need software for this platform,
you'd better be prepared to write it yourself.  (Although it does run
Quake...)


	I've listed these in an order of sorts...  Ease of use decreases as you go
down the list, but versatility and control increase.  Of course, any
distribution is totally configurable since you have the source, and any
distribution can be made easier to use if you download a good set of tools,
utilities, window managers, etc.  I left out Debian because I don't know
anything about it.
	I'd advise you to consider RedHat or Caldera if you're new to Linux/UNIX,
if only to give you the option of using RPM.  I started using Linux back in
1994, and the one thing that tripped me up the most on my first Linux box
was having to download and compile source code every time I wanted to
upgrade something.  For one thing, I couldn't keep track of library
dependencies myself, especially when I was only beginning to figure out what
all the stuff I'd loaded was *for*.  For another, as a newbie, I didn't want
to have to answer "make config" questions over how my c compiler handled
code optimization, or whether my OS was big-endian or little-endian.  Plus,
as I said, either of those distros will work out-of-the-box, with very
little effort on your part, and both have excellent tech support.
	Otherwise, if you're feeling up to a challenge, there really is no right or
wrong distribution.  Any distro can be tailored or beaten into shape with a
little time, effort and know-how.  If you can spare the time and effort,
this list (and other resources) should be able to deliver the know-how.