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#! rnews 2801 bsd Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!mr.net!news.mr.net!lunen.gac.edu!not-for-mail From: "Brian M. Choc" <bchoc@gac.edu> Newsgroups: alt.os.linux.caldera,alt.os.linux.slackware,comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: PC Unix implementations Date: 23 Feb 1997 19:50:15 GMT Organization: Gustavus Adolphus College Lines: 34 Message-ID: <01bc21c2$8f14ac40$4258ec8a@host.domain> NNTP-Posting-Host: @dial-in-02.slip.gac.edu X-Newsreader: Microsoft Internet News 4.70.1155 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au alt.os.linux.caldera:1343 comp.os.linux.advocacy:85475 comp.os.linux.misc:160624 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:35975 Greetings, people who probably know more about Unix than me, Since you seem to be the people who know most about such things, I am going to ask you this question: which PC Unix implementation should I commit to? A little background, first; there are three things I should mention. 1. I have run Slackware Linux, noncomittally, for about half a year now. It seems ok. However, they've not updated in awhile, and other systems do look better. This mediocrity, and other reasons, has slowed my move away from Windows to a snails pace. 2. I have spent the last week ATTEMPTING to download a new OS to try out. I have ftp'ed Red Hat (many times, dif. mirrors), FreeBSD, and thought about dl'ing Debian (then though, "Why bother?" and didn't). I even mirrored the "/i386" portion of a Red Hat mirror to my hard drive. All to no avail (I just downloaded Slackware again last night, the install looks promising... and how long did I spend getting back to this?). At modem speeds, this is not a quick process. 3. My federal tax return just arrived. :) I thought to myself, "What the heck, why don't I just buy one of the stupid things on CD and be done with it." Actually, after dozens of hours of ftp transfers my word choices were slightly less conservative, but the point comes across, anyway. So, as a "treat" to myself, I've opted to purchase a new, Unixesque operating system. I've seen the presence of Slackware, FreeBSD, Red Hat, Debian, and Caldera on the 'net, and many others mentioned in Linux and Unix books I've referenced. My needs will primarily involve being a single user workstation and member of a good sized network, though I may be the server for a small (around 3 computers) network until it is wired to the larger one (several months, only). So my question is this: which OS do you think I should aquire, and why? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you very much, Brian