Rev for Linux (was Re: iPadding around?)

[Larry Snider]

A conniption is a display of bad temper.  If you have a conniption fit
you are throwing a tantrum.

On Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 2:47 PM, Richmond Mathewson
<richmondmathewson at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 02/02/2010 21:21, Peter Alcibiades wrote:
>>
>> There's a nice Slackware based educational distribution from Zenwalk.
>>  Very
>> worth a look.  The Slack base makes it stable and fast.  It is Xfce based
>> rather than Gnome.
>>
>> The other one to consider is Skolelinux, aka Debian-EDU.  This is Debian
>> Stable based.  People don't realize that the main benefit of Debian is
>> that
>> its a rolling distro, and so super easy to keep up to date.
>
> I'm going to have a conniption fit (hey, do any Americans out there actually
> know what 'conniption'
> means? I don't) because my PC hasn't been updated since this morning.
>
>>  The way it
>> works is, the distribution starts out in Experimental, then moves on a two
>> year or so cycle through Unstable, Testing to Stable.  At which point it
>> really is Stable.
>>
>> You can find links and reviews on Distrowatch.
>>
>
> http://distrowatch.com/
>
>> What you are getting from Ubuntu is a 6 month release cycle of a
>> collection
>> of bits out of Debian Experimental.  This largely negates the benefits of
>> being an apt distribution in terms of upgrade ease, and it also negates
>> the
>> potential benefits for stability of being Debian based.  As the cries of
>> grief and rage, which are heard regularly every six months from the
>> upgraders, go to show!
>>
>
> Only if you are obsessed with continual upgrades . . .  :)
>
> My current machines in my school have been running on Ubuntu 5.10 since . .
> . err
> October 2005 (!!!!!) without any internet connexion, upgrade or hitch doing
> what
> I want them to do.
>
> Actually, having played around with more Linux distros than I can count on
> my fingers and toes
> together my conclusions are fairly crude for people in my position:
>
> Stick to Debian derivatives and after that it really is nothing more than a
> matter of taste.
> I like GNU and XFCE; KDE is too Windowzy for my liking; however I do run
> some KDE apps
> via Gnome - doesn't really seem problematic. RunRev 4 and Metacard 4 both
> run superbly
> on all 3 window managers; and, I would suppose, on Fluxbox, Enlightenment
> and so on.
>
> I chose Ubuntu because it was the first Debian derivative I came upon that
> seemed well
> documented and easy to install; but, hey, I'm the chap who when he arrived
> in the USA in
> 1993 had to buy a computer and, having only previous experience of
> main-frames, BBCs
> and Archimedes, picked a Macintosh over a Windows because his maternal
> grandfather's
> name was McIntosh (well, not a bad choice, in the end), so don't expect
> complete logic
> from me.
>
>> You want six month release cycles (but why would you?) go to Mandriva.
>
> Why bother with release cycles or upgrades?  Find a system you like and be
> done with it.
>
> The only reason for eternal upgared is if you are developing for an
> eternally upgrading market.
>
>>  You
>> will sacrifice stability, but you do get something, ease of use combined
>> with being bang up to date.  You want boring practical useful and stable,
>> and never having to think about upgrades again, go to Debian Stable.
>>
>> I wouldn't put Ubuntu on any machine I was going to have to support.
>>
>
> Funny that, as I support and maintain Ubuntu on a fair number of lawyers'
> and architects' machines round and about in Plovdiv - a monthly visit; a cup
> of
> coffee, an hour's "fiddle" with the machine;
>
> sudo apt-get update
>
> set any updates running and tell them to leave the machine alone until
> 'tomorrow'
>
> Bob's your uncle!
>
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