[cai-sa] Re: [Cbsupport] Which Distro?

[Kylie Davies]

Hi all Romana, Roland and co...

At CBV...we are developing a knoppix based distro... so far so 
good! And it is fast...once you remove all the *crap* that seems 
to take CPU/Mem in the process table.

I am going to send the knoppix hd install guide I've written 
next...and then I will send some additional notes.

While the guides i am going to send...involve apt-get removing 
and apt-get installing lotsa packages... we have made (thanks 
Ed!) scripts that automate all of this! Yay...

We have the knoppix install to around 1.8g...but we can get it 
down to around 1.6g (maybe 1.5)... if we are lucky (purge 
locales, remove gcc and some other stuff). :)

Using our own experience (we've shipped more than 1000 systems 
and trained more than 600+ non-linux users!) as a guide....the 
new distro comes with everything users need and want......as such 
it includes J2Re (which comes with knoppix), flashplugin-nonfree 
and we also include the realplayer binary (installer) in /usr/local

We've put some additional packages in (see guide) and taken heaps 
  out. (See the guide for the lowdown)

We love the config tools in Knoppix - soundcardconfig (redhat 
utility), netcardconfig and kxconfig (X config).

So far we are very happy with it.

The next step is tarring it up ...adding the kernel/drivers 
layer....and wallah! We have people working on this. We will also 
be able to produce an installable CD (one disk) if all goes to plan.

Oh...and one more thing...person who is our new distro builder is 
MOI! ... while I am linux savvy... i don't know that much...but 
still managed to build a debian system...and document the process 
as well.

Anyway.... that's my 2c worth....guides next...and try it for 
yourself....it's too easy.

Cheers,

Kylie



Roland Bernett wrote:
> Hi Everyone
> 
> Its good to see some have no problems with Debian and hardware.
> 
> I can sharpen my comments to say that the situation is highly variable
> and if you have trouble you can have trouble in a big way.
> 
> I recently tried to install Debian (latest stable release) on a desktop
> with AMD 2600+, 512 MB RAM and 40 gb HDD. Peripherals included 3 network
> interfaces (2 on board and a gigabit card), an ATI video card, onboard
> sound and a USB mouse. None of this hardware is very new, all has been
> around for over 18 months (except the gigbit NIC).
> 
> Debian did not recognise any of the peripherals listed except the
> onboard 3COM network interface (fortunately). I had to get the Linux
> version of the ATI drivers from the ATI site. The mouse had to be
> swapped to a PS/2 one. Finally got a GUI (with the help of a friend who
> knows RPM better than I) but the mouse is still flakey. No sound as yet.
> 
> Have stopped working on the install for the moment because of other
> commitments.
> 
> It has been quite a journey, one which I suspect many would not choose
> to take as newbies to Linux.
> 
> Debian is NOT for newbies or those with PDS (patience deficiency
> syndrome).
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Roland
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cai-sa-bounces at cbnsw.org.au [mailto:cai-sa-bounces at cbnsw.org.au]
> On Behalf Of Romana Branden
> Sent: Friday, 2 July 2004 7:00 AM
> To: cbsupport at lists.linux.org.au
> Cc: CAISA; Peter Gossner
> Subject: [cai-sa] Re: [Cbsupport] Which Distro?
> 
> On Mon, Jun 21, 2004 at 10:42:43PM +1000, David Robb imparted:
> 
>>On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 02:26 pm, Roland Bernett wrote:
>>I think you underestimate the hardware support in Debian. Based on my 
>>experiences, it's mainly new hardware you have to worry about. I know
> 
> I've 
> 
>>never owned a computer that has hardware Debian can't deal with.
> 
> 
> having just set up my shiny brand new athlon 2600 acer laptop, let me
> assure you that debian has NO issues with new hardware that i've
> noticed.
> 
> i havent had debian let me down with the older hardware we get here, or
> newer stuff ive had a chance to play with.
> 
> we use fedora here currently. tried mandrake. easy to install, sure, but
> 
> the bloat of both, given the small amount of hdd space (the std install
> takes up AT LEAST 2gb) we have to play with often is migrating us
> back to debian - the flexibility, the ease of configuration, the ability
> to create a neat customised install is everything. pete gossner is
> working on it here.
> 
> 
>>Due to the non-free status of Lindows, as well as various other issues
> 
> 
>>including security, I'd personally recommend against that.
> 
> 
> users are auto root. *shudder*. the support horror of it all....
> 
> 
>>Another option that Computerbank Victoria has been toying with lately
> 
> is 
> 
>>Knoppix. It's a very user friendly Debian-based distro with excellent 
>>hardware support designed to run completely from a CD without any need
> 
> for a 
> 
>>hard drive, but it can be installed to hard drive if you like. It does
> 
> have 
> 
>>its downside; the hard drive install requires a hard disk partition
> 
> larger 
> 
>>than 2GB, and the entire system is copied from the CD, including quite
> 
> a lot 
> 
>>of packages that aren't really necessary for a computer being sent out
> 
> by 
> 
>>Computerbank. Once you go through and remove all the unnecessary
> 
> stuff, it's 
> 
>>quite well-suited for Computerbank use.
> 
> 
> 
> ive installed it on two machines now. the same machines were then
> migrating to straight debian, with same packages. the speed
> difference!!! knoppix is bloaty and a bit too slow for my taste.
> but hey, its a quick type of debian. 
> what was that about debian hw support again?;)  )
> 
> 
> hth, r:)

-- 
Kylie Davies
Victorian Branch Coordinator
Computerbank Australia Inc
www.computerbank.org.au