debian nic drivers

[Karl Schmidt]

Jonathan Hutchins wrote:

> Any particular reason you're determined to stick with debian?  This is what 
> it's like.  It's for people who want to tinker and try fixing stuff and 
> writing their own drivers.
> 
> If you're more interested in RUNNING linux than in working on it, you might 
> try one of the more "advanced" distributions, like SuSE, Fedora, or Mandrake.

I don't think the above is accurate - Installing debian can be a pain 
-but if you can't wait for the installers to get better (the anaconda 
port is in alpha testing) just use libranet.

BUT, once installed debian is the better choice. Having installed and 
tested all of the above mentioned distributions in the last 6 months, 
Debian is THE choice. We wanted to run the same distro for both desktops 
  AND servers. SuSE had problems with NFS and defaulted to Reiser (I'm 
not anti Reiser - it just isn't as stable as ext3 and we didn't see any 
real performance difference.) It takes a lot of "tinkering" to switch 
file systems.

I liked Mandrake for a desktop system, but it was too bleeding edge for 
server apps. Fedora is OK for desktops, but harder to update than Debian.

Debian Stable is quite usable for servers and Debian Testing is more 
stable than Suse/Fedora or Mandrake which would be comparable to 
unstable. There is also experimental for tinkerers.

Also - it is possible to run stable with a few packages from testing or 
even unstable if that is what is needed.

Our servers are running fine as are the Desktops are running Testing 
with a few things borrowed from unstable. We haven't had to write any 
drivers and upgrading systems takes only a "wajig dailyupgrade" from a 
command line.

The most important point:  Debian isn't viral in cost; there isn't any 
plans for an IPO that depends on increasing user fees and introducing 
proprietary apps to keep you married to the Distro.

This weekend I will be doing a somewhat difficult install for any of the 
Distros - I will be installing on a SATA drive system running a RAID. I 
had REDhat on this system - took compiling a special kernel and a bunch 
of hand tweaking of grub. Using a Libranet install disk I expect it to 
be easier than the redhat ordeal.

-- 
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Karl Schmidt EMail    Karl at xtronics.com
Transtronics, Inc.    WEB http://xtronics.com
3209 West 9th Street  Ph(785) 841-3089
Lawrence, KS 66049    FAX(785) 841-0434

Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don't have film.
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