> Last Friday 06 August 2004 03:01, Russell Hanaghan was like: > > I need to stretch my wings a little and try something outside of > > Mandrake 10.0... > > > > Can I get some basic pros and cons of the different distro's you're > > using? And especially from previous Mandrake users. I gave up with Mandrake at 8.0. It was OK(ish), but I have a nasty habit of breaking _anything_ based on RPM. Tried Planet, but based on RH meant endless RPM database woes for me :( Ended up on Gentoo, but I can't really recommend it for general use by others; cons 1. easy to select configurations (via USE flags) that break your system 2. easy to select (via USE flags) configurations that _nearly_ work :( 3. takes ages to compile things from source, with little real benefit 4. fills your HD with source code (minor niggle really) pros 1. i've not managed to break portage yet. this is numero-uno for me because i killed MDK and RH several times - requiring a reinstall [note: yes i do know about rpm dB locks and dB repair tools, but they failed to fix my dB] 2. you choose how much cruft you want to install 3. 'portage' and dependency managment :) 4. package list is up-to-date 5. 'feels' more amenable to source installation of 'other' things - probably because it hasn't been 'customised' to suit the whims of a particular distro. I daresay distros may have standardised a little more now. I'm currently considering a change of distro too - I spend too long on admin issues, and not enough time hacking/recording. Debian looks interesting, but i need to find out how robust the underlying dB is first... good luck R
