Okay help me choose a distro... please.

[bill_ford]

Okay, Im not going to bother with switching my desktop to Linux yet. However I do want to switch my Windows 2003 Router/DNS to Linux. I can use my little linksys box until thats finished.

I dont want it done quick, I want it done so I learn howto do it, how to reconfigure it, and other things.

I need a DNS Server, Decent Security, Routeing.

First I will start with asking what distro should I get. Actually dont tell me what you think I should get if you can. Rather, educate me on the pros and cons of each distro.

I use a little UNIX command prompt at work sometimes, have no idea how UNIX/Linux works, and maybe some pointers of where I can start would be nice.

Thanks for any help you give guys.

[hm_murdock]

Redhat or Mandrake. Those seem to be the easiest to get going that would work.

Gentoo is very nice, I use the live CD version of it to run my hard drive-less iBook. I think Gentoo is much more angled toward the desktop though.

[WMD]

Well for servers, Redhat(9) or Slackware.  Redhat is easier to get going, but Slackware is good if you really want to learn how the stuff works.  Don't say I didn't warn you.  

BIND is Linux DNS server, routing...I can't remember how that works exactly; and the IPTables firewall is built into Linux (just needs configuration).

Webmin is good configuration software for all this...if you go with Slackware this is especially important.  I got it from RPMfind.net and converted it to a Slackware package.  Redhat, Mandrake, and all those come with good software for this.  Also I wouldn't reccommend Mandrake for a server very much...it's known to be a little buggy, and turning off the GUI and being full-console (typical server operation) isn't something Mandrake has an easy switch for...I think.

Hope this helps  

[Refalm]

*Sigh*. Red Hat 9 is OLD! The next version of Red Hat 9 is called Fedora.

You can download it here (download the i386 ones, NOT the SRPM ones!).

[WMD]

quote:Originally posted by Refalm:
*Sigh*. Red Hat 9 is OLD! The next version of Red Hat 9 is called Fedora.

You can download it here (download the i386 ones, NOT the SRPM ones!).

Do you have that post saved in a file that you just copy out to here?  Because I swear I've seen it.  

Fedora seems more like a desktop distro to me, and for casual servers RH9 still works good.

[restin256]

I think fedora would make a good server distro, but not based on experience. Either that or BSD.

[Refalm]

quote:WMD: Because I swear I've seen it.  

You're correct.

[preacher]

quote:Originally posted by WMD:
Also I wouldn't reccommend Mandrake for a server very much...it's known to be a little buggy, and turning off the GUI and being full-console (typical server operation) isn't something Mandrake has an easy switch for...I think.

I fully disagree, I have run Mandrake as a server ever since I started using it (5 years ago) the recent versions are their best yet, with very few bugs and awesome stability. Uptime on my old Mandrake 9.0 pushed 250 days as a dns, http, ftp, ssh server. Also my current 9.1 Mandrake server has had uptimes over 100 days although currently its at only 8 days due to long power outtages that my UPS couldn't handle. Also turning off the gui is simple. There are options so you don't need to install a gui, and you can boot directly to a command prompt.

Have you used Mandrake lately? It doesn't sound like it since you are telling someone things that aren't true about it.

[WMD]

quote:Originally posted by ThePreacher:
Uptime on my old Mandrake 9.0 pushed 250 days as a dns, http, ftp, ssh server. Also my current 9.1 Mandrake server has had uptimes over 100 days although currently its at only 8 days due to long power outtages that my UPS couldn't handle. Also turning off the gui is simple. There are options so you don't need to install a gui, and you can boot directly to a command prompt.

No shit?  Well I had heard that 9.0 and 9.1 specifically were quite buggy.  And turning off the GUI...well any Linux should have that available via telinit 3, though many newbies would be frightned by the command line.  

[insomnia]

quote:Originally posted by Bill Ford:
Okay, Im not going to bother with switching my desktop to Linux yet. However I do want to switch my Windows 2003 Router/DNS to Linux. I can use my little linksys box until thats finished.

I dont want it done quick, I want it done so I learn howto do it, how to reconfigure it, and other things.

I need a DNS Server, Decent Security, Routeing.

First I will start with asking what distro should I get. Actually dont tell me what you think I should get if you can. Rather, educate me on the pros and cons of each distro.

All distros can do this.
For a server, I like these:

SuSE: Even without X11, Yast2(The 'all-in-one' SuSE configuration tool)works very good from the command line. Very good security, but not all free.
 
Fedora: Best RH yet.
Easy, stable, all free.

Slackware:
The most Unix-like.
Most stable distro ever.
Less easy for beginners.

 

quote:Originally posted by Bill Ford:
I use a little UNIX command prompt at work sometimes, have no idea how UNIX/Linux works, and maybe some pointers of where I can start would be nice.

If you know a little UNIX, Linux will be easy...
Start here for documentation:

http://www.tldp.org/