Linux * 3

Well, I did it. I installed Linux on 3 computers fairly easily with minimal hassle, and it worked.

Two years ago when I went to Best Buy and purchased Suse Linux 9.0 (or was it 9.2?) for $90 (since I couldn’t get a straight answer from anyone on where do download Linux, and had never even heard the term “distro” and had no clue whatsoever) it took me THREE DAYS to try and get it up an running (and I never actually did get it up and running fully. Always had sound card/printer issues).

Linux has come a long way in these two little years.

The distros I used:

Ubuntu 6.06
SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 (evaluation kit)
A non-specific “Fedora Core” that came with my “Linux for Non-Geeks” book, circa 2004

The Fedora Core one is sorely out of date, but the only other version I have is on DVD, and that computer doesn’t have DVD. I’ll check the website and see if there is a CD option I can download so I can try the latest version.

So far ubuntu is still my favorite.

During the install Ubuntu hung the first time and I had to restart. SUSE went through the entire install twice, each time I got to the VERY LAST STEP (configuring hardware, why oh why is that the last step) it froze when I clicked “test”. I determined it was because I had three video cards installed, so I took the two extra ones out and reinstalled a third time. Worked like a charm. Fedora Core worked correctly the first time with no errors. Fedora wins the install challenge.

Next I checked my e-mail and my blog on all three. Ubuntu I had to install flash player, SUSE already had flash player, Fedora didn’t even have an easy option for installing it (assuming because it’s 3 years old). SUSE won that round.

That’s all I’ve done so far. I still like Ubuntu best, simply because it came on CD, and I had no frustrating problems with it so far. I’ll use all of them over the coming months and see what I think. I’m amazed though that I actually got all of them up and running with no real problems, and they all work fine so far.

Threw in a picture of my poor forlorne empty server rack (just for fun). Note the Ubuntu sticker…