Re: just curious about Debian vs Redhat
i choose debian because..
- it seems to have the largest number of developers
- it has BY FAR the most binary packages (2000+ in slink 4000+ in potato)
- it is well respected as being a stable and secure linux
i have not, do not, and will not choose redhat because ..
- many software products are designed for it and don't support other
distributions, not just software(applications) but drivers too. examples
would be drivers for DPT raid controllers and 3com network adapters(the
ones from 3com) come in binary form and depend on you using the kernel
that comes with redhat. while this is not(probably) redhat's direct fault
i can't help but feel some negative stuff towards them. while at other
times software companies may refuse to work with you on support issues if
your not using redhat, doesn't matter if the distribution your running is
101% compadible, if its not what they said you should run you're screwed.
- they jump too quickly into adopting new software. i was kinda pissed
when they adopted glibc before most everyone else, most people started
developing stuff for glibc (and the early glibcs had MAJOR problems i saw
people talking about adding hundreds of megs of updates to get redhat's
glibc stuff working right) and would not run(binaries at least) and
sometimes wouldn't compile on libc5 (at the time i was using
slackware). they've done the same with glibc2.1 now. i think they were
the first to adopt glibc2.1 on the x86 platform ?? so..chances are if u
d/l a binary for redhat 6 ..you can't run it on glibc2.0 ..i also have
read that when they first adopted GNOME it was still quite buggy and
crashed often.
i hear mandrake is good though, some have said mandrake is 'redhat done
right' ..(somewhere along those lines) i think redhat is doing good
things for the communitity, and although there are some side effects to
their efforts to commercialize linux, they do good things, they want
what's best..what's best isnt always possible for them(i.e. they gotta
support intel more now that intel's invested in them, same for VA Linux
systems, you see them selling AMD servers? or PowerPC? or Alpha?), which
is what is great about linux, you HAVE a choice :)
just my opinion.
nate
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On Tue, 26 Oct 1999 clread@mindspring.com wrote:
> I've used both Debian (at home) and Redhat (at work).
> Both have reasonable tools for managing software (dpkg for Debian, rpm for Redhat).
>
> I've also done upgrades for both Debian and Redhat.
> The upgrade I did for Debian took several nights and a few e-mails.
> The upgrade for Redhat took about 20 minutes (no joke).
>
> What is Debian's thrust? Why is it better than Redhat?
> [I'm just curious and not taking sides.]
>
> Charlie
>
>
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