Libranet review, sorta

[Gary Wilson]

Over the last couple of days I've started using
Libranet and I want to add my 2 cents to the earlier
discussion of it and other distros.

Back when I saw that I had to move away from Caldera
to another Linux distribution, I checked a whole bunch
of them. Slackware was a strong contender. But then I
started using Debian and the Debian package manager
and the apt updater were killer apps. I couldn't go
back to RPMs or any other package manager I'd tried.

So I began using Debian pretty much exclusively. Then
along came Knoppix, a distribution based on Debian
that has everything in it that I was always slowly
adding myself, plus a few things that were new to me.
So then whenever I'd show someone Linux or set up a
new Linux box I'd started using Knoppix. It's been
very popular.

I'd resisted Libranet and the other distributions that
were't available for free. But something came up last
week and without going into the details I found the
Knoppix wasn't going to work. But I didn't want to
move away from a Debian-based system.

So I went ahead and purchased Libranet. And it was a
good experience. In fact, I'd say that I liked it so
much I may make it the default system I install for
new users. If you've got the money, it's worth it (I
don't think that Lindows is worth the money, I've
installed it and didn't like it, it is not secure by
default and in its effort to be like MS Windows it has
too many things that are not stardard Debian/Linux for
my tastes).

The review of Libranet by Leon in Linux Journal
(http://linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6878&mode=thread&order=0)
covers the features. Libranet has a nice, easy to use
administration panel that helps do administration of
the system by the user. And it has a very good
installer that lets you choose what packages to
install, helps you partition the drive and all that.

Though it is more uptodate than Red Hat 9, I don't
think that Libranet is set up to stay on the cutting
edge the way Knoppix does. 

It does not include support for the XFS file system,
which Knoppix includes. It defaults to ReiserFS. 

But cutting edge is not always where you want to be on
the desktop anyway. Libranet sets up a very stable
desktop system that is pure Debian. That's a very good
thing.

That's my two cents. As for Gentoo, it is great and
has a very good package system, one that is equal to
Debian's (some things about it are better, some things
about Debian's are better, I think its a wash as to
which is better). But the installation process is
quite time-consuming. And since I am setting up 3 or 4
desktop systems a week, I don't really have time to do
Gentoo (I can't just clone the systems because they
are used for medical research projects and each one
requires a custom build for the hardware and software
being used by the project.)

Gary

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com