[NBLUG/talk] Which distro is best for a newbie?

[Dean A. Roman]

  I've seen this problem quite a bit...the most difficult item is your X
  windows and desktop setup.  This never seems to transfer between two
  different sytems cleanly when you boot between the two.  Debian uses a
  different setup than RedHat and so does Suse.  This is probably caused
  by version differences, but that doesn't help the situation and keeping
  the two desktop X setups in sync is problematic.  If you can help it, I
  would keep the home directories seperate if your going to use X.  It can
  be done, but not for the faint of heart.
  The easiest way I've found, if you want to transfer files, etc. between
  the dual boot systems is to just create a seperate data partition and
  mount it in both systems.
  Dual booting is easy..just load Debian on a different partition, then
  tell grub about the other install by adding a line to the grub.conf
  file.  One thing to remember is that you can use the same swap partion
  for both systems as you'll never have both systems running at the same
  time...this saves a little disk space if that's an issue.  Also, try to
  keep the /boot partitions set as the first primary partitions taking up
  no more than about 200MB(some hardware may have issues finding it on
  boot otherwise).
  Hope that helped...

Thanks,
   ---Dean.






> Bill Kendrick
> On Thu, Jun 23, 2005 at 09:39:45AM -0700, E Frank Ball wrote:
>> On Thu, Jun 23, 2005 at 09:03:51AM -0700, Edward wrote:
>> }
>> } Later I can switch. But do I have to erase an old distro from the
>> harddrive  } if I switch to Debian?
>>
>> Yes an installation of Debian will wipe out the previous SuSE
>> installation, but if you partition your hard drive right you can
>> retain your personal files.
>
> Well, he could always dual boot, just like one might do if they had
> Windows already, and wanted to add Linux to the mix.
>
>
>> Create a /home partition, this is where your
>> account will be and all your personal files and configuration
>> settings. When you switch or upgrade do not reformat /home, just tell
>> the new installation to use it.
>
> One thing to keep in mind is version compatibility between the two
> distros. If Distro1 has version 1.2.3 of an app, and Distro2 has
> version 1.3.9, and they're very different in terms of the "~/.XYZrc"
> file in your home directory, you might have troubles.  (Esp. when going
> back to the distro with the older version of the app.)
>
> Not that I have first hand experience with that, but it comes to mind.
>
> -bill!
>
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-- 
Dean A. Roman
Roman Computer Systems
Office: 707-237-6798
Fax   : 707-237-2649
E-mail: droman at romansys.com
Web   : http://www.romansys.com