[TriLUG] Server: Debian or Mandrake?

[Tarus Balog]

Gang:

Okay, I don't want to start a distro war here, but I would like some input
from people who have more experience at this than I.

Now that I work in an office, I have real Internet connectivity and can
get rid of the Windows system I needed for DirecPC. I have a 3Ware RAID
card and soon will have four 80GB drives for a RAID array in the old
server.

The distro I am most familiar with is Red Hat, and I really like it. But I
also run 7.3 on my servers because I want the stability. With the changes
going on at Red Hat, I am looking at Debian or Mandrake 9.1 for the O/S on
this server.

Here's my take: Debian is reknown for being stable to a fault, but
Mandrake is also more Red Hat like (while borrowing some cool stuff from
Debian [Thx Tanner]) so I would be more familiar with it. But since I also
have access to a Debian guru I am willing to make the jump.

My needs:

1) Serve files (via Samba)
2) Security
3) screen (haven't used it - seems cool)
4) Ease of maintenance

That's about it.

Suggestions?

-T

-- 
Tarus Balog
Consultant
Sortova Consulting Group, http://www.sortova.com
+1-919-696-7625
tarus at sortova.com