Selection criteria

[Jason Shein]

Phillip Mills wrote:

> I hope this doesn't generate any kind of "my distribution can beat up 
> your distribution" argument, but I'm interested in knowing what 
> selection criteria people used when deciding to put Linux on a 
> system.  In part I wonder whether there's any agreement that 
> requirement X leads to solution Y, and in part I'd like to examine 
> whether a new Linux user should be steered one way or another 
> depending on what they need to get out of it.
>
> (If you've had reasons to put different distributions on different 
> systems, that's really interesting!)
>
> For example, a couple of years ago when I decided to add a Linux 
> system to my home collection it went this way:
> 1) Since the only net access the system would have would be for me to 
> dial out with one of my Macs and then use that as a gateway, I was 
> willing to pay for a comprehensive set of CDs.
> 2) Among the ones that were on the shelves in stores I knew, I 
> selected the one with the most up-to-date kernel and developer tools.
> On that day, the winner was SuSE 8.1 Pro.
>
> (OTOH, about 8 years ago, my approach where I worked was to download 
> whatever minimal system I could find, because the only requirement was 
> to match the zero dollars in the software budget.)
>
> I suspect others have used more analysis and broader requirements.  (?)
>
> ........................
> Phillip Mills
> Multi-platform software development
> (416) 224-0714
>
> -- 
> The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
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I have found that the varius distros have advantages & disadvantages in 
varius situations. My selections vary as follows:

Debian - server, desktop, ultra-lean install
Suse 9.1 - server, desktop, new user
Mandrake 10 - new user
WBEL3 - server
Fedora core 1 - server
Fedora core 2 - Use the cd's as coasters. ;)
Astaro - Firewall
Smoothwall -Firewall
Knoppix 3.6/3.7 HD Install - used for system testing or odd hardware 
combinations due to the excellent hardware detection

Just my humble opinion.
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