Hi All,

I'm a recently converted Linux fan, and have limited exposure to the various distributions.

I've been using Mandrake 7.2 since it's the one I had and it was easy to install and use, but just because it works doesn't mean it's neccessarily the right one for me. 8-)

I'm setting up a server in our office for email,web and Samba file and print sharing.

Any recommendations on which flavour would be the easiest to administer ?

Thanks in advance,

Justin Webb

I can tell you that personally I am a fan of Mandrake 7.2 also. I have heard the Red hat has many security flaws, but I dont know if they are all true.

Mandrake runs well, and is easy to configure everything I think you would need, and can be done graphcally in most cases.

Hi,

Thanks for that, I'm glad to know I stumbled onto something that works.

Now I just need to get over the paranoia - the feeling that everything has gone so smoothly till now that some earth shattering disaster is about to overcome my server !

Thanks again,

I personally would recommend RedHat 6.2, not 7.0 since yeah of some of the security flaws in it which though they do have patches.
Mandrake to me is easy to use, but its more of a desktop type distro.

When I decided I wanted to check out this 'linux' thing I had no idea about it or any *nix.

I had heard about Redhat so went about trying to download and burn some of the ISO images from FTP sites, well after 7 different ISO images and 7 coffee coasters I stumbled upon Linux-Mandrake.

It had the same ISO image on every FTP server I looked at and burnt the first time, I haven't looked back since.

It uses the RPM packages that RH does, so basically anything that runs on RH runs on LM.

I no longer work where I have unrestricted access to a pipeline to the internet (650M took about 1.5 hours) so I puchase my copies from http://www.everythinglinux.com.au for about $5.

I now run a small business that leases servers to other small businesses. I run LM 7.2 with samba, the users windows workstations login, share files, printers etc, etc, etc. They don't know it's not an NT server and they don't care.

I am able to remotely admin the servers via dial-up and install LM as many times as I wish without paying for 'licences'. It comes with everything that the businesses could ask for and I run at a greater profit for not having to pay the big red beast.

Learning linux has been the hardest and most rewarding experience, not only on a personal level but also on a business level.

Don't worry about everything going smoothly, it's supposed to when you run linux, I have servers that have uptimes of 100+ days. Most are less but only because of a blackout we had in the area.

You can see what I use LM for so you decide if you think it is a 'Desktop' type distro or not for yourself.

Harry Philips is right... I my self prefer SuSE but when you see that he can do all that with Mandrake, why switch?

Companies keep their eye on the bottom line or they go get other jobs...ones that dont pay as much ;-)... as far as im concerned, Linux is a bargain. I was told by someone that a 100 user liscense for Windows NT is right around $5,000. So, youre on the right track.

When these "linux elitists" (geeks keep your shirts on! :-)) call a distro a desktop distro that really means nothing when it comes to business. Besides most ppl where yu work are used to using Win98 or ME which is ALL desktop. Myself, I like OLWM, but I understand most ppl including my wife prefer point and click. And thats great because afterall thats what open source is all about... -Being able to completely and truly customize your computer, right?

Great, thanks for the input. I'm probably just paranoid and was wondering if I missing out on something !

Come to think of it I am, I missed a lot of expense and frustration ! I guess I'm going to have to spend more time at home with the wife!

Thanks again,

lol - That feeling that everything is about to fall down after being so easy to setup is a part of your brain that is still in M$ land.

Welcome to the party that is... Linux...

I personally have used a bunch of distros, Redhat and Mandrake included. Don't bother listening to 'distrolls' who will tell you that everything but their preferred distro is crap. If you can't drive a Ferrari, it might as well be crap as far as your concerned right? Same with distros. If you're a good admin, anything will work fine. If you're NOT a good admin, super-deluxe Linux is still crap.

Mandrake is fine for most stuff I can think of. If you wind up going to a mission critical datacenter, you might consider a move to Redhat or something that has a lot of widespread enterprise use, but for a small office, you're ok.

Great call "!"! very good ... but... remember that only victims volunteer!

For lean and mean workgroup servers, I usually use Debian and WebMin. This gives me a solid server, which I can easily administer from any PC in the same network. Installing bugfixes and new software is also very easy, thanks to the wonders of apt-get.