Re: LUG: Linux on Mac, SAS on Linux - Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:26:24 -0500

Subject : Re: LUG: Linux on Mac, SAS on Linux

From : Jonathan Smith <smithj@gentoo.[redacted]>

Date : Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:26:24 -0500

Josh Hunholz wrote:
> If you're really interested in learning linux, you may consider giving
> Gentoo a try. It probably has the best documentation out there, and a
> great forum of users to turn to for help (or just to search to the
> answer to your problem). As you use it, you will learn what really
> makes linux work and you will figure out what you do like or don't like.
>
> If you're looking for something where you don't have to work, then
> Gentoo is NOT for you. But what's the fun in that? :) Once you get
> Gentoo going, it's really not much harder than any other linux distro to
> catch on to...just be willing to ask for help when you need it.
>
> www.gentoo.org <http://www.gentoo.org>
> forums.gentoo.org <http://forums.gentoo.org>

They guy said he wanted to run SAS... Gentoo is a bad idea here. Gentoo
teaches you how to do stuff in linux land because it breaks so often you
have to figure out how to fix it. Yes, the docs are pretty good, but for
any real application, its not a good idea. That being said, what gentoo
*is* good for is extreme customization for those who already know what
to do when their machine won't boot because something hosed their
initrd. You presumably don't want hardcore customization because you
want because you want it to be compatible with red hat.

Anyway, my previous email got rejected b/c I sent it from the wrong
address... here it is:

It is possible to get things compiled for one distro to work on another,
but getting them to run on PPC is probably not worth your time
(emulation would be slow). If you want a quick, free, RHEL-compatible
distro, look into centos.

In my opinion, Ubuntu is a distro for desktops, not serious work. SAS is
serious work. Don't spend too much time trying to get it to work
somewhere else just for bling. If you're looking for desktop bling,
Ubuntu is a decent choice, as is Foresight Linux. And if you're looking
for customization, Gentoo.

-smithj