Distro choice

[Tyr-7BE]

Hrmmm...in the spirit of Linuxgrrl's post on Caldera, who can offer me a good distro that isn't bloated (ie, not Mandrake). As much as I'm loving Mandrake, I have a small hd and no money in my pocket. I have to split my drive between MS and Linux, so Linux only gets 2.5 gigs. With a general Drake installation taking 1.7 gigs (+ several hundred megs if you want to compile from source :(), it leaves me very little space for my other stuff (a guy needs an office program!). Who can recommend a good distro? I'm looking for something which is a good mix of features and size. I hear Caldera is 200 megs, but that's a little TOO minimalistic...a happy median, anyone?

[mstich]

When installing mandrake you don't have to install everything, customize your install so you only have what you need.

[Tyr-7BE]

I know...but I'm still looking for a new linux...it's about time to change distros, and me running out of space is as good a reason as any.

[linuxgrrl]

I'm looking for a different distro, too. I've been running Mandrake and am ready to make a switch. I'll be watching your thread and others, hoping to get some useful information.


:)

[pin]

Slackware is good. I've used that since 7.0 and I'm on 7.1 now. The Slackware web site (http://www.slackware.com) forums have really good help and I'm pretty sure the full installation takes less than 1 GB.

[lkue]

I would recommend Debian. I have used Debian for almost a year now, and it works great! Instead of worrying about crazy dependencies when upgrading packages with RPM, you can use APT, which automatically fetches new packages for you from one of their servers, then installs it and any other packages it depends on. There are thousands of packages to choose from. Also, it is non-commercial, meaning they aren't making money off of cd's or tech-support. It is all run by volunteers!

[lkue]

I would recommend Debian. I have used Debian for almost a year now, and it works great! Instead of worrying about crazy dependencies when upgrading packages with RPM, you can use APT, which automatically fetches new packages for you from one of their servers, then installs it and any other packages it depends on. There are thousands of packages to choose from. Also, it is non-commercial, meaning they aren't making money off of cd's or tech-support. It is all run by volunteers!

[lkue]

I would recommend Debian. I have used Debian for almost a year now, and it works great! Instead of worrying about crazy dependencies when upgrading packages with RPM, you can use APT, which automatically fetches new packages for you from one of their servers, then installs it and any other packages it depends on. There are thousands of packages to choose from. Also, it is non-commercial, meaning they aren't making money off of cd's or tech-support. It is all run by volunteers!

[Ryeker]

Oh, please not another distro war.

To put it simply, all distros are pretty much the same. They each have their own peaks and perks. The best suggestion is to learn the Linux first with whatever distro you have, then start experimenting with others. Since you already have Mandrake, use it. It can be just as secure as my Slackware box.

I agree with mstich, just don't install everything. Once you learn a lot about Linux, check out Slackware.

[ph34r]

If you are really tight on space, try Peanut linux - sub-200mb base install, takes Slackware packages to add things, has X, KDE, etc. all ready to go.

Or, reinstall 'drake and don't pick the "install everything off these 3 cd's" option - be a little picky, and you should be able to get a good working system into less than a gig.

[Tyr-7BE]

Thanks a lot people...It's a toss-up between Slack and Debian. Either that, or a complete re-vamp of Drake.

[GNU/br0wni3]

Use Debian.

Slackware is for more *advanced* users.

I'm using RedHat 7. customized installation took 1 gyg... if you wanna try it, go ahead!

br0wni3 :cool:

[Devrdander]

Depends on your exp with linux, Debian is better for people still starting out where slack if you know what you want is very cut and dry. I personally use slack and have been for quite a while... but Deb is a nice distro also...

[bdg1983]

Caldera's eDesktop 2.4 ranges from a 2-300 meg install to the full install of 1.3GB. You have a choice (as other distros do) of installing a minimal configuration all the way to a full install.

[digital_spawn]

get the gpl'ed one cd-rom version of any distribution.... *mandrake*,*redhat*,*slackware* is fine,
you will save your money,
cardela e-desktop one cdr version is good in matter of size , but it sucks in other ways.

[ 12 February 2001: Message edited by: digital_spawn ]