SUSE vs. Debian (lindows)

[Alma J Wetzker]

Ken Moffat wrote:
> Alma J Wetzker wrote:
> 
>>>
>>>
>> I am just playing with gentoo.  The setup allows lilo or grub.  The 
>> documentation is pretty clear that initrd is optional for both 
>> loaders.  My hardware changes too often to deal with compiling 
>> everything in the kernel.  I have only compiled a kernel, 
>> successfully, on the initial install of gentoo, where it leads you by 
>> the hand.  I prefer something more flexible than compiling everything in.
>>
> Did you choose initrd? If so, what is the advantage?
> 
> Have you tried Libranet? it has an excellent kernel recompile utility. 
> Not that you need it, but it's nice to have the option if you want to 
> upgrade to a newer version or change the default processor type or 
> something.
> 
I did choose initrd.  The advantage, as I understand it, is if I upgrade a 
system component (video adapter, sound card, network adapter...) the system 
will automagically detect that new component and try to load the modules to 
support it at boot.  In practice it works a little better than the old 'plug 
and pray'.

I have not given a debian based distribution a serious look for a long time. 
I am in the process of trying to get to the 2.6.? kernel.  There are still 
many things I can't do with gentoo and I hope that will give me a better base 
to try them out.

     -- Alma