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Got a shiny new 300GB drive here, it will be used in my home fileserver
upgrade.

What distributions are best for this? The easier it is to set up, the
better, but I also want long term support - updates etc.

Just needs to offer basic fileserving functions, but will also run
Slimserver, a media player, webmin, etc. Web, mail, ftp, nfs, etc.

I've used Suse, Mandrake, SMEServer in the past but wondering what else
I should consider currently. I could chuck on Debian, Slackware, etc but
wondering if it is worth checking out a distribution aimed specifically
at servers.

Something as easy to install as SME Server but more configurable and
standard would be good.

For example, is CentOS (rpm) worth a look (top of my list)? tinysofa
(deb) (last release over a year ago)? What else?

Too darn many Linuxes, ain't it great!

-=rjh=- wrote:

> Got a shiny new 300GB drive here, it will be used in my home fileserver
> upgrade.
>
> What distributions are best for this? The easier it is to set up, the
> better, but I also want long term support - updates etc.

I don't know what you mean by "easy", but I find Gentoo Linux easy to
install. There's not much hand-on time spent on the install, but it can
take quite a while to finish (as it compiles everything). The only thing
you need to do that's slightly tricky is manually partitioning of your hard
drives and possibly configuring your kernel (although the installer will do
that for you).

The reason I suggest it is because updating it is a piece of cake, the
Gentoo devs tend to release new versions of things quite quickly compared
to other distros, and you'll get no "dependency hell".

> Just needs to offer basic fileserving functions, but will also run
> Slimserver, a media player, webmin, etc. Web, mail, ftp, nfs, etc.
>
> I've used Suse, Mandrake, SMEServer in the past but wondering what else
> I should consider currently. I could chuck on Debian, Slackware, etc but
> wondering if it is worth checking out a distribution aimed specifically
> at servers.

Another advantage of Gentoo is that yo are in complete control over what
gets installed. If you want it just for a server you could avoid installing
any GUI, for example.

> Something as easy to install as SME Server but more configurable and
> standard would be good.

Probably excludes Gentoo then.

> For example, is CentOS (rpm) worth a look (top of my list)? tinysofa
> (deb) (last release over a year ago)? What else?
>
> Too darn many Linuxes, ain't it great!

Indeed.

Allistar.

-=rjh=- wrote:

> Got a shiny new 300GB drive here, it will be used in my home fileserver
> upgrade.
>
> What distributions are best for this? The easier it is to set up, the
> better, but I also want long term support - updates etc.
>
> Just needs to offer basic fileserving functions, but will also run
> Slimserver, a media player, webmin, etc. Web, mail, ftp, nfs, etc.
>
> I've used Suse, Mandrake, SMEServer in the past but wondering what else
> I should consider currently. I could chuck on Debian, Slackware, etc but
> wondering if it is worth checking out a distribution aimed specifically
> at servers.
>
> Something as easy to install as SME Server but more configurable and
> standard would be good.
>
> For example, is CentOS (rpm) worth a look (top of my list)? tinysofa
> (deb) (last release over a year ago)? What else?
>
> Too darn many Linuxes, ain't it great!


Debian, my $deity I really have joined the dark side
http://groups.google.co.nz/group/nz....81a27de?hl=en&

(How the hell you can run SME is beyond me (I hated working with it, all
that expand_template BS!))
And Id argue there isnt enough Linux distros!


--
Rule 6: There is no Rule 6.

-=rjh=- wrote:
> Got a shiny new 300GB drive here, it will be used in my home fileserver
> upgrade.
>
> What distributions are best for this? The easier it is to set up, the
> better, but I also want long term support - updates etc.
>
> Just needs to offer basic fileserving functions, but will also run
> Slimserver, a media player, webmin, etc. Web, mail, ftp, nfs, etc.
>
> I've used Suse, Mandrake, SMEServer in the past but wondering what else
> I should consider currently. I could chuck on Debian, Slackware, etc but
> wondering if it is worth checking out a distribution aimed specifically
> at servers.
>
> Something as easy to install as SME Server but more configurable and
> standard would be good.
>
> For example, is CentOS (rpm) worth a look (top of my list)? tinysofa
> (deb) (last release over a year ago)? What else?
>
> Too darn many Linuxes, ain't it great!

Personally I run Debian, this is for its quality, hence stability, it
might loose on config but the hundreds of days uptime it gives meets my
needs. Ie you plan to configure something when it suits you, a barfed
system means you have to fix it now. Also I would not run a single drive
if you are looking for a fit and forget solution.

regards

Thing

On Fri, 07 Apr 2006 11:57:27 +1200, -=rjh=- wrote:

> Got a shiny new 300GB drive here, it will be used in my home fileserver
> upgrade.
>
> What distributions are best for this? The easier it is to set up, the
> better, but I also want long term support - updates etc.

Debian. Period.

> Too darn many Linuxes, ain't it great!

Yes, too many distros - there's debian/stable, debian/testing,
debian/unstable, debian/experimental ...

--

Cheers
aum

-=rjh=- <> wrote in news::

> Too darn many Linuxes, ain't it great!

Since you already knopw about Contribs.org. look at this:
Clark Connect Home Edition

http://www.clarkconnect.com/info/compare.php

It came highly rated from another poster on the NG.

--
Ciao, Dave

-=rjh=- wrote:
> Got a shiny new 300GB drive here, it will be used in my home fileserver
> upgrade.
>
> What distributions are best for this? The easier it is to set up, the
> better, but I also want long term support - updates etc.
>
> Just needs to offer basic fileserving functions, but will also run
> Slimserver, a media player, webmin, etc. Web, mail, ftp, nfs, etc.
>
> I've used Suse, Mandrake, SMEServer in the past but wondering what else
> I should consider currently. I could chuck on Debian, Slackware, etc but
> wondering if it is worth checking out a distribution aimed specifically
> at servers.
>
> Something as easy to install as SME Server but more configurable and
> standard would be good.
>
> For example, is CentOS (rpm) worth a look (top of my list)? tinysofa
> (deb) (last release over a year ago)? What else?
>
> Too darn many Linuxes, ain't it great!

I have slimserver alienbbc mplayer icecast samba and all the usual
server stuff on debian.
These days I would probably start with Ubuntu or Ubuntu server to do the
same thing, or maybe knoppmyth if I had a tuner card.

On Fri, 07 Apr 2006 11:57:27 +1200, -=rjh=- wrote:

> For example, is CentOS (rpm) worth a look (top of my list)? tinysofa
> (deb) (last release over a year ago)? What else?

Use CentOS if you know RedHat and want to install a Gnome focussed distro.

Use SuSE 10.1 (to be released in the next week or so) if you want a
mainstream KDE centred distro.

Use Debian if you have a broadband connection and want the ability to
upgrade your system using apt.

I suggest that you use SuSE.


Have A Nice Cup of Tea

--
Martin Taylor, GM of platform strategy at Microsoft: "We found
that the Linux environment provided about 15 percent more end
user loss of productivity." - *provided MORE loss of productivity*

On Fri, 07 Apr 2006 11:57:27 +1200, -=rjh=- wrote:

> Got a shiny new 300GB drive here, it will be used in my home fileserver
> upgrade.
>
> What distributions are best for this? The easier it is to set up, the
> better, but I also want long term support - updates etc.
>
> Just needs to offer basic fileserving functions, but will also run
> Slimserver, a media player, webmin, etc. Web, mail, ftp, nfs, etc.
>
[snip]

I've just set up a tiny headless server dedicated to Slimserver.

I used Debian Sarge (stable) and it required virtually no changes from
the default base install. (I just added ssh for headless operation).
It was very, easy & hassle-free.

There is a Debian package archive set up by Slimdevices, see their wiki:

http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?DebianPackage

so you only need to add a line to your /etc/apt/sources.list to be able
to install it and upgrade it by default using apt or aptitude.
By default it sets slimserver up as a service (aka daemon). From there
it could be configured & controlled via a remote web browser.

Murray.

-=rjh=- wrote:
> Got a shiny new 300GB drive here, it will be used in my home fileserver
> upgrade.
>
> What distributions are best for this? The easier it is to set up, the
> better, but I also want long term support - updates etc.
>
> Just needs to offer basic fileserving functions, but will also run
> Slimserver, a media player, webmin, etc. Web, mail, ftp, nfs, etc.
>
> I've used Suse, Mandrake, SMEServer in the past but wondering what else
> I should consider currently. I could chuck on Debian, Slackware, etc but
> wondering if it is worth checking out a distribution aimed specifically
> at servers.
>
> Something as easy to install as SME Server but more configurable and
> standard would be good.
>
> For example, is CentOS (rpm) worth a look (top of my list)? tinysofa
> (deb) (last release over a year ago)? What else?
>
> Too darn many Linuxes, ain't it great!
I have used e-smith SME server I have had some good results out of
slackware and only ever configured the thing out of mc's edit

--
http://cooze.co.nz home of the RecyclerMan aka Robert Cooze

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