On Wed, 2003-10-01 at 07:54, rogerwphx wrote: > I'm just a user following the thread. I did some checking - playing what > if. The cheapest Suse distribution is $99.00, but won't install without > a maintenance pack for $499.00. > > Red Hat WS can be downloaded for $179.00, but doesn't include > documentation, support or most of the server packages I want. You can > download Red Hat ES for $349.00 to get the server packages without > documentation or support - it's $799.00 with documentation and support. > > I have used support email twice and don't feel I need it. I don't need a > package that does more than one cpu or 64-bit. What I do need is > something better than a desktop (emachine plus office) at an affordable > price. I'm disabled and affordable for me falls well below the quotes I > found. I haven't checked Fedora, but am feeling a bit down after > reviewing my choices. RH9 may be the last package I can afford if this > goes worst-case. > > The quotes were just a quick info gathering, not at all thorough. Actually, I think Fedora might still be an affordable answer. The difference is that you would get an RHN subscription for Fedora updates. That should not cost more than about $90 to $100 per year, worst case. You also would then have access to all of the Fedora 3rd party repositories. Since you don't need support, you should be able to get most all of what you need from the community. The only additional "cost" of Fedora is that you will be upgrading your system roughly twice per year. If you keep a plan together for backup and restoration of your data, this is a fairly simple operation. Upgrading from one version of Fedora to the next should be pretty straight forward and is planned to be supported within Fedora itself. I'm running Fedora Core Test 2 now. Upgrading from the last version took me about an hour. That upgrade was a backup, clean install, restore operation which included adding support for my NVidia graphics card. I expect to invest roughly the same amount of time to upgrade to test 3 and then again to the final release. You might want to give Fedora a closer look for the kind of use you are talking about. I also think, if you do the math, you will find the alternatives from companies like Microsoft are *much* more expensive. A Windows XP full license is over $200, Windows Server 2003 can set you back $3,000 and then you still need Office at another $400. Then add the other apps, anti-virus software, etc... Cheers, Chris -- ==================================== "If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' someone else's dog around." --Cowboy Wisdom -- Shrike-list mailing list Shrike-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/shrike-list
