I'm almost fucking there!

[Leech]

I have been a Microsoft Systems Engineer for around 7 years now, but must admit this LINUX is one exciting O/S.

I am currently converting my home network to Linux, just because it kicks so much ass.

I am almost fucking there, just need to do some tweaking and i'll be complete, my first LINUX box, FUCK I'M SO PROUD.

Anyhow, I have installed a LINUX box on our corporate network, which runs Firewall, it is a web server (FUCK MS PROXY), a mail server(FUCK EXCHANGE) AS WELL AS MANY OTHER THINGS, THE PROBLEM IS, IT IS SO FUCKING STABLE I NEVER GET TO PLAY AROUND WITH IT, IT JUST SITS AND WORKS IT's little ass off. Now our Windows Servers, humffffffffffff, need I say more.

Just want to know from you LINUX junkies, which LINUX is the most preferred, I have SuSE, which is pretty cool, but I wanna try some others.

WHICH ONES PLEASE... ALL VOTE NOW.

BITCHIN!

[fuckoffmicrosoft]

umm ok depends on what your lookin for theres hundreds if not thousands of distros out there  :rolleyes:

[LorKorub]

Go with Debian...since it seems you like to fuck around and tinker with things. That'll keep you busy for quite sometime.

Personally, I liked FreeBSD.  That will give you the opportunity to dick around, as well.

[Leech]

Well, exactly what I mean. I said to myself, okie, lets get LINUX. Search the web, *tap tap* humpfhhfhf, over a hundred varients. So I got the one that offered a case sticker, lame I know, but wtf. To my disbelief, the case sticker was torn off by my baby daughter. So that pissed on my parade.

Any how, tell me what you prefer.

Leeeeeeech!

[Leech]

Has my missus been talking to you?

Okie m8, thanks for the advice, Debian, or FreeBSD .. sounds interesting, checking them out..............now!

Leeeeeech!

[Calum]

i heard slackware might be good for playing around too. Somebody said it was more similar to AT&T UNIX than linux usually is, and generally people seem to say it is more nuts & bolts than most distros.

Might i suggest though, that for a really good linux tinkering experience you use one of the following distros:

Linux From Scratch

BYO Linux

[Leech]

Very interesting, thanks, I will certainly take a look into all the distros mentioned.

Have you guys had any experience with Linux, using a USB ADSL Modem?

LeeeeeeeeeeeecH!

[Crunchy(Cracked)Butter]

Gentoo linux as well if you feel up to it.

[Leech]

Just keep 'em coming............

Getting details of all so far.

LeeeeeeeeeeecH!

[Calum]

re your USB modem, not sure if this is what you are after, as i don't have time to check, however i found this page very helpful in making some modem decisions recently. hope it helps.

[KernelPanic]

Try this for you speedtouch USB:

Linux Speedtouch Homepage

With luck you shouldn't need to follow that advice because I think most new distros will prolly support it out of the Box.

Mandrake 9.0 reportedly supports it, also Alcatel and Mandrake are both french so it is most likely they will have support for it soonest.
If you're are going for a bare bones distro though and wanna get hands on anyway, you might enjoy fiddling and recompiling your kernel etc to get it to work....

ps I remember Alcatel having something about Linux and the Speedtouch USB somewhere on their(UK) website not so long ago. I can't find it right now, so that's something for you to do  

[ October 01, 2002: Message edited by: Tux ]

[Master of Reality]

Get slackware and then use it to build your Linux from Scratch. Thats the way to tinker with things. Try OpenBSD too it is really god for bein able to have really secure stuff.
I use redhat for my server, but i do it because it is easy (and the only onei could get to install on my old server)

[ October 01, 2002: Message edited by: The Master of Reality / Bob ]

[voidmain]

1 - RedHat
2 - Debian
3 - FreeBSD (not Linux, just next favorite open OS)

I've also been an M$ Systems engineer for about the same amount of time. But I've been primarily a UNIX systems engineer for around 12 years now (AIX, Solaris, HPUX, SCO, Linux). Been using Linux from shortly after it's inception. Initially just as a cool toy because in the early days it wasn't very useful for anything other than that. But when SLS, Slackware, and RedHat made their debut it started getting serious.

I used to flip flop between Slackware and RedHat up to about RedHat 3 and I've stuck with it ever since as my primary distro of choice. The first time I used it productionally was around 1994-95 in our programming department on about 30 PCs. Had them set up to dual boot between Win 3.1 and RedHat (or maybe it was Slackware, now I don't remember, lots happened since then).

They made great cheap Xterminals for accessing our big IBM RS/6000 boxes running AIX UNIX. It worked better than Xceed (Xwindows connectivity software for Windows) and it saved us 300-600 bucks for the cost of the Xceed software. The programmers loved it because they could also use Linux for prototyping their apps right on their PCs before moving them to the big machines.

Of course Linux has matured *significantly* since those days. I have been using Linux more and more in my corporate jobs ever since. And we use Linux exclusively in my side business.

If you are like me, I thought M$ was kinda cool at first. But for me it got boring quickly, I just couldn't quench my thirst for knowlege using Microsoft. You are bound by defined lines that can not be passed once you reach them. Linux does not have such lines which is the trait I love the most.

Good luck and I think you will find the more you learn the more fun you will have.  And you will find that you may be able to come up with solutions to problems that you just never dreamed were possible in the Microsoft world.

[ October 01, 2002: Message edited by: void main ]

[Leech]

Well, guys, this has got to be the friendliest forum I have ever been on. There doesn't seem to be the "I am god, you are crap" attitude that exists on so many MS forums. Brilliant!

Excuse me if I can't reply to all of the above messages, it is overwhelming.

I have got this far with my Linux installation.

Trying to load a kernal for my SCSI card. I bought a Compaq server, which will be my Linux box, a Prosignia 200, which is enough. It came with some dodgy SCSI card, a Symbios Logic. and trying to find the Drivers has proved difficult. And until I do I can't carry on.

I settled to re-install my SuSE 6.1 because I couldn't download any of the ISO images on any Linux site. I don't want to pay for it again either.

(Void Main) I admit that I feel the same way about MS. It is sooooooooo fucking boring, its got more boring over the years. Now it is like working with a fucking corpse. and Small Business Server really fucks me off, with all it's limitations.

(TUX) The Alcatel site that you posted is brilliant information, thanks, I haven't had a good look yet, but will as soon as I can get these damn SCSI drivers.

(everyone) All the Distros of Linux posted, well, what can I say, you guys rule. I tried download so many of them last night but had endless problems.

Once I put on SuSE, I am going to go through BYO LINUX (Calum).

Massive shout out to the following Linux Junkies (in no poarticular order):
 

fuckoffmicrosoft, LorKorub / BOB, Calum, Crunchy(Cracked)Butter, Tux,  Ex Eleven / b0b, The Master of Reality / Bob,  void main.

You guys rip.

LeeeeeeeeeeeeeeecH!

[voidmain]

Believe it or not, the server I have with the current longest uptime is an old Compaq with hardware RAID.  It's got 600+ days of uptime with only one reboot due to an extended power outage. I am running RedHat 7.0 on this particular server and it was a little tricky getting the RAID going but Compaq actually has decent Linux support. The server is not a Prosignia 200 and to tell you the truth I don't recall now what it is as it's in a friends server room hooked up to a T1 300 miles away. It's a square heavy ass server with 6 SCSI drives in it. Haven't actually seen it since I installed it 600 days ago.

At any rate, if I remember right the key was to get the SCSI module loaded at boot time. On my server I have two relevant kernel modules loaded. "ncr53c8xx" which I believe is the one you would need and I also have the "cpqarray" module loaded which monitors health of disks, etc.  I believe the key is to pass the appropriate command line to LILO (or GRUB) to get the ncr53c8xx module loaded. I do believe you can find the answer by searching around Compaq's web site. In fact, this looks like a good start:

http://www.compaq.com/products/servers/linux/compaq-howto-1-jan.html

[ October 02, 2002: Message edited by: void main ]