[TriLUG] Server: Debian or Mandrake?

[Heath Holcomb]

On Tue, Apr 22, 2003 at 12:48:14PM -0400, Tarus Balog wrote:
> Gang:
> 
[snip]
> My needs:
> 
> 1) Serve files (via Samba)
> 2) Security
> 3) screen (haven't used it - seems cool)

It's fantastic, you're going to really like it. :)

> 4) Ease of maintenance
> 
> That's about it.
> 
> Suggestions?
> 

Based on what you list here, it sounds like either distro would work
fine. I started using Debian on my home server after using Red Hat and
Slackware for 8-9 years. Apart from the packaging system and some
details of the filesystem layout there's not really that much difference. 
I don't think you'll find it too hard to adjust. 

Now, as you probably know you'll have to put up with some extremely old
software if you're going to run Debian stable (which you should since
you list security among your needs). I have found that some of the minor stuff
in Debian stable tends to be a bit buggy because it's updated so rarely and
doesn't always track upstream bug fix releases. You can pull in updates
from testing or unstable piecemeal though.

Have fun,

Heath

-- 
Heath Holcomb
bluetea at nc.rr.com