From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,c32f496672c2e0c5 X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,domainid0,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Received: by 10.66.89.39 with SMTP id bl7mr8000237pab.33.1357361298971; Fri, 04 Jan 2013 20:48:18 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 X-FeedAbuse: http://nntpfeed.proxad.net/abuse.pl feeded by 78.192.65.63 Path: s9ni83359pbb.0!nntp.google.com!feeder1.cambriumusenet.nl!feed.tweaknews.nl!217.73.144.44.MISMATCH!feeder.ecngs.de!ecngs!feeder2.ecngs.de!proxad.net!feeder1-1.proxad.net!nntpfeed.proxad.net!news.muarf.org!news.ecp.fr!news.jacob-sparre.dk!munin.jacob-sparre.dk!pnx.dk!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Randy Brukardt" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Linux distro for new server? Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 22:48:13 -0600 Organization: Jacob Sparre Andersen Research & Innovation Message-ID: References: <20130103174200.bcf9c1584b18c0225c153789@iki.fi> <87zk0ppubz.fsf@ludovic-brenta.org> <87pq1lpsv5.fsf@ludovic-brenta.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: static-69-95-181-76.mad.choiceone.net X-Trace: munin.nbi.dk 1357361297 14904 69.95.181.76 (5 Jan 2013 04:48:17 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@jacob-sparre.dk NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2013 04:48:17 +0000 (UTC) X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5931 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.6157 Date: 2013-01-04T22:48:13-06:00 List-Id: Thanks. And thanks to everyone else that has replied. I'll think about this over the weekend and make decisions on Monday. Randy. "Ludovic Brenta" wrote in message news:87pq1lpsv5.fsf@ludovic-brenta.org... > Ludovic Brenta writes: >> In case you really need GCC 4.6, you'll be happy to learn that Debian >> 7 "Wheezy" has been frozen for months and is very close to becoming >> stable; only critical bug fixes are allowed at this point, so the API >> and ABI are really "stable" already. In fact, at this point in time I >> recommend you install that and in a couple months time you'll find >> that the upgrade to the real "stable" will be minimal. > > Forgot the URL: http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/index.html > > There is no separate installer for "desktop" as opposed to "server" > machines; the same installer works for everything from a Raspberry Pi to > a z10 mainframe, with laptops old and new in between. This installer > does not require the machine to even have a keyboard, let alone a > graphical display; it is quite content with a network or serial > connection. > > I've used this installer at least a dozen times in the past 12 years. > Every single time I was astounded by the quality of the engineering and > the amount of detail that went into this program, especially considering > that this program normally runs only once on a given machine :) > > Just three examples: > > Back in 2006 I installed Debian 4 "Etch", several months before it > became "stable", on an already old Sun Enterprise 250 server (2x > UltraSPARC II processors, 512 MB RAM) with no keyboard or display; I > connected a laptop to the serial line, connected the Ethernet to my hub, > placed the net-installer CD-ROM in the drive and off I went. The > biggest problem was a 10-minute research on how to go into the firmware > using the serial line and tell the machine to boot from CD-ROM. After > that, the install and next reboot were a breeze. > > Mid-2012, on my latest laptop, the installer for Debian 6 "Squeeze" > warned that choosing XFS as the filesystem for the root partition > requires the LILO bootloader as opposed to the default GRUB2. After a > painless installation of the base system, I promptly switched the > selection of packages from "stable" to "testing", replicated the list of > packages installed on my old laptop to the new one, and installed the > rest of my packages. Then I scp'd my home directory from the old > laptop, restored /etc from the monotone database I keep it in, and was > productive within a couple of hours, all told. > > Last week, on the old iBook I just mentioned, the Debian 7 "Wheezy" > installer warned me that that kind of machine required a special > partition, at least 880 kB in size, with the name Apple_Bootstrap. > > This kind of detail makes me enthusiastic about Debian, even after 12 > years of continuous use, so excuse me if I sound biased :) > > Hope this helps. > > -- > Ludovic Brenta.