On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 07:14:25 -0400, thunder
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 17:42:10 -0400, HarryKrause wrote:


I'm putting together a new desktop system over the next week or so. I
decided I needed
a real server, so I'm going to clean up my current desktop machine,
reformat the hard drives to zero them out, and - hold your hat - I hope to
install Red Hat Linux or something similar. It should be interesting,
because I know very little about Linux.

Red Hat is one of the more commercial distributions. That isn't a bad
thing, but there are many other distributions that may more closely fit
your needs. Check some of them out at:

http://distrowatch.com/

I've been using Linux for close to ten years now, and I've never looked
back. When forced to use Windows, I break out in hives. ;-)
Distributions can be a quite personal decision, but I have found Debian to
be about perfect for my needs. Apt is the easiest way to keep a OS
current, bar none.

http://www.debian.org/distrib/

If you need any help/advice, drop me a line. If I don't have the answer,
I should be able to find it. Be careful, Harry, your Windows days may be
numbered.

I tried Linux for a while and I liked it, but it quickly became a
chore to keep up with all the open source improvements - there doesn't
seem to be a central authority to say what is an improvement or
coder's wet dream.

I know with Thunderbird, which for my money is the best email program
going, getting something changed is like pulling teeth. I'm not much
for being a do-it-yourself software type having burned out on coding
and such back in the quantum theory days. :)