[Lias] Linux quick start

[Paul Gear]

Alex Delaforce wrote:
> ...
> By the way, do you know of any quick-start type linux workshops in the
> area? I want to start running some of this stuff at home, have tried but
> only ever get 80% through setting it up correctly. Eg mail server,
> samba, apache in a LAMP setup etc.

I can't recommend anything in particular, but occasionally HUMBUG run
Linux install-fests, where they help people get up & running.  That
might be of benefit to you.

> I don't find the graphic tools very
> a)Reliable b)functional c)understandable.

I agree - however, i've never let it concern me because i nearly
always prefer the command line.

Probably the best graphical admin tool i've seen so far is webmin,
since its plugin architecture allows nearly anything to be set up, and
it's web-based, so anyone with a standard Windows box can work it,
whereas most of the other ones i've seen (e.g. SuSE YAST, Red Hat
config tools) require X.

> The distributions I have tried
> so far are SUSE 8.1 Pro and Mandrake 10 (full version).

I don't think you're going to get much admin tool joy out of the
mainstream distributions.  If you've got a specific task in mind
(especially when it comes to "appliance" tasks like firewalls), then a
specifically targetted distribution like SME, Censornet, or similar
might do the job.  If you're looking for a generalist distribution,
waiting for Novell to polish up SLES a bit more might be the best bet.

Sorry not to be much help.  :-)  Can anyone on LIAS shed some more light?

-- 
Paul Gear, Manager IT Operations, Redlands College
38 Anson Road, Wellington Point 4160, Australia
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