Which Linux?

[pitz]

Been using Slackware Linux since 1996 (kernel version 1.2.16), and my most recent machine, that does all my home office 'server' stuff runs Slackware 10, upgraded to a recent 2.4.x kernel. However, quite frankly, it seems that this particular distribution has waned in popularity, and I would like to move forward with new things such as VMware, a modern X11 environment, etc.

2.6.x kernel is a *must*, right out of the box.

So basically, my question: what's the best Linux distribution to use nowadays? I'm not a 'flavour of the month' guy, I've never been a fan of 'packages' or package tools, and, if history is any guide, the distribution I choose now will be in service, without modification, for the next 6-7 years.

Also, I would like to build iSCSI target bridge (ie: bridge physical SCSI block devices to iSCSI targets) functionality to the machine to bridge some legacy SCSI devices (ie: high-end SCSI scanners and SCSI tape backup) to my WindowsXP and Windows Vista machines through iSCSI (SCSI over tcp/ip) so I can finally ditch the SCSI cards in those machines (and/or virtualize them). If anyone has any advice on going about this, with something like iscsitarget, please let me know.

[pitz]

Oh yeah, 8gb RAM support and quad core support (Intel), straight out of the box is also required, not that this should be an issue. And I'd like the installer to facilitate the configuration of software RAID-1 on the boot disks if possible... (I'd be in heaven if I could boot from a software RAID-5....).

[B0000rt]

There was this website that would rank them in popularity, I know this isn't one of your metrics, but it's a start.

http://distrowatch.com/

[malquin]

I personally like opensuse but with your profile and what you said, you might want to take a look at gentoo.

You install it once and you keep your server running forever. You can run vmware on gentoo and it supports iscsi.

http://www.gentoo.org/

[kleptodathief]

wats the linux distro thats most windows friendly? i wanna try dual boot and use that aircrack prog :cheesygri

[darius_m5]

Gentoo is a lot of work to get up and working, since you have to pretty much build the OS from scratch.
I would suggest OpenSUSE. Or if you don't want a desktop manager, then Centos is very good.

wats the linux distro thats most windows friendly? i wanna try dual boot and use that aircrack prog :cheesygri

Use Backtrack 3 Live CD

[pitz]

I personally like opensuse but with your profile and what you said, you might want to take a look at gentoo.


Okay... Just looking through some of those materials, it looks like pretty much all of them will do the trick (as the underlying OS is linux, and all my custom written apps that support my business will run just fine..).

I've been mostly a command-line guy on the *nix side of things since the early 90s, so going to all the graphics is kind of intimidating with all of the options in terms of window managers, tools, etc. I like to get in there and edit the /etc/*.conf files directly to make it do what I want..

[darius_m5]

Try Centos, there's no desktop and the package manager should make your life easier. It's also much better supported than Slackware and other Linux OS's, since its based off of Red Hat.

[matkun]

CentOS does have a desktop.. not sure what your talking about darius_m5?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/CentOS_5.gif/250px-CentOS_5.gif

But yeah, CentOS is a good free solid and very very stable server linux distro. We used it at one of my previous work places and it was great to work with.

A review here:
http://www.linux.com/articles/61498

Fits your 6-7 year cycle:
The CentOS project expects to supply maintenance updates for Centos 3 until 2010 and for CentOS 4 until 2012. Projecting this forward, maintenance for CentOS 5 should be active until at least 2014.

[darius_m5]

If I can remember correctly, I think in the Centos setup, you have the option to have a desktop or have it headless. It might have been another OS if I'm wrong.

[darius_m5]

Here is the option in the setup:

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t235/darius_m5/14.jpg

[matkun]

I've been mostly a command-line guy on the *nix side of things since the early 90s, so going to all the graphics is kind of intimidating with all of the options in terms of window managers, tools, etc. I like to get in there and edit the /etc/*.conf files directly to make it do what I want..

Nothing stops you from doing that. You can just set it to boot into multi-user command line mode or if you ever do feel like using the GNOME or KDE Desktop, just open up a console and do whatever you want on the command line.

[matkun]

If I can remember correctly, I think in the Centos setup, you have the option to have a desktop or have it headless. It might have been another OS if I'm wrong.

Yeah, you can of course choose not to install the Desktop managers if you don't want them during the setup. I just took your post as saying it doesn't have one at all. By default it does.

[gordholio]

I have tried different Linux versions and the one that impressed me the most was Sabayon Linux.

http://www.sabayonlinux.org/

[siriuskao]

I'll put in my vote for centos (5) as well. If you pick and choose you packages via kickstart, you can trim the install size down quite a bit, remove all the unnecessary stuff. Support life cycle fits your requirement as well. Red Hat backports security patches and bug fixes so it does not have the latest and greatest software, which is good for a server install.

[gman]

Nothing stops you from doing that. You can just set it to boot into multi-user command line mode or if you ever do feel like using the GNOME or KDE Desktop, just open up a console and do whatever you want on the command line.

Or,

Usually, you just need to do <CTRL><ALT><F1> (or <F2> or <F3> ...) to switch to pure command line console without any graphic.
<CTRL><ALT><F7> to switch back to graphic mode.