Choice of distro

Here's a subjective topic you can all get stuck into

I'm going to be setting up a linux server on an old PC very soon.
PC spec's are 1.1Ghz Celeron, 512Meg Ram, etc etc so no worries about running anything.

On this server I will be running a few things :-

• Web Server (Apache)
• FTP Server
• IP Tables Firewall and NAT routing for internal network
• Medal of Honour Game server
• BNC
• Internet connection keep alive service

I've used Redhat 7 - 8 quite a lot and am very happy using it, but wondered if an alternative distro would be better suited.

I'm not particularly fussed about a GUI as I do most things via a shell anyway, and it would make it easier telnetting into the server rather than switch monitors keyboards etc etc etc.

What distro would you recommend and why? Ideally I want a server thats on 24/7 and one that will be very stable.
Any input gleefully accepted.

To get the most out of your hardware i'd suggest gentoo which is a self-proclaimed "meta-distribution". It compiles everything from source so be prepared to spend a whole day installing it. It's a minor draw back to have the exact setup you wan't and to be able to have easily maintain packages and the server as whole.

Otherwise i'd go with Slackware of course.

If you're comfortable with the CLI and want a slimmed-down distro with good community support, then check out Slackware.

I'd either opt for Gentoo or Debian...

Gentoo because you can optimise it (though I'm not sure you'll need to), because it's so easy to maintain and update, and because it's fun to install

Debian because it's rock-solid stability-wise, it's also easy to maintain (and update?), and because the Debian project is just so cool - no other distro puts so much effort into worrying about licensing/the community/ other FS issues.

I used to be a big Slackware afficionado, but I get fed up of not having a decent package manager, and believe me, after using Gentoo/Debian, you'll wonder why you ever bothered with RPMs!

Agreed! I never used RPMs but I have been throuhgt that package maintenance nightware inherent to Slackware and since i've been using Gentoo I don't use anything else!

Ok, ok... you've got me interested...

Now please explain. What packages does Gentoo use? What is so l33t about it? o_O

Heh, well I don't know about it being l33t, but I can tell you why it's good Gentoo uses a system called portage, based on the BSD ports system. The basic idea behind portage is that type one command (e.g. "emerge kde") and it downloads the source files, unpacks them, does any necessary configuration stuff, and compiles them all for you. It maintains a database of installed and available packages, each entry being a little file with instructions on where the packages are, how to unpack/install/etc, and you can create these files, called ebuilds, yourself in any text editor, then upload them to add them to the Gentoo portage database.

This approach has many advantages:
1 - It's dead easy to install something (it checks all the dependencies, etc. and does it all from one simple command)

2 - If your killer app isn't available as an ebuild, make one yourself - it's very easy - and expand Gentoo. If you don't want to, because *everything* is compiled, you'll have no problems with missing libraries that I always found with RPMs

3 - Your system is highly optimised for your hardware, and also for your software choices (you don't have to install bloated options if you don't want them, e.g. GNOME/KDE support)

4 - Because there aren't any weird tools made by the Gentoo team, the install is very clean, so if you're familiar with the CLI and editing config files, administering a Gentoo system is really painless

5 - You'll always be on the bleeding edge - KDE3.1.1 was available a few days before it was even officially announced!

Disadvantages:

1 - Compiling everything is slow, so if you're impatient, or you have a very slow system (sub 400MHz get's annoying for BIG packages like KOffice), it might not be for you (though more and more packages are now available as binary installs)

2 - Bleeding edge can also mean less stable

3 - There's no tools to hold your hand - you need to dig in and learn, thoug hthe forums are really, really good for support

It's not like it's THAT slow. I mean it only took 3 days on my P166MXX w/ 32MB of RAM.

As for stability, choosing conservative optimisation settings should do it in most cases. -O3 is asking for trouble but is often very stable, depending on the hardware. O2 should do it.

Rendy: learn how to use the USE flags and read the emerge manual, that'll help since you're installing a server.

Oooh you got me all excited now

What a great explanation of why to use a distro!
Sounds very very interesting.

One thing though, I wrote a guide on how to set up a USB ADSL modem here and the main bonus point was that I didn't have to recompile anything to get USB support etc etc. Will that still work on a gentoo system?? I'm presuming it should be pretty similar and that it would work, but I know there are strange neuances (?) bound to each release

Everything has to be compiled. I quickly read your how-to and I guess you basically need usb support in your kernel.

How reliable is Portage? Does it ever mess things up, or does it really build / configure all the stuff for you, and even optimise it for your system?

Will I be easily be able to download the necessary stuff with it if I'm behind a proxy server?

Hmm looks a bit scary m8 :/
Reading the install info lol

I'm torn, I want to try it, but I know it wil take days and days and at the end of it will I be any better off?

I guess this all reflects on me and what I want to get out of the project.. :sigh:

Gonna sleep on it and decide tommorow.

Why couldn't it have a damn divvy installer for me lol

If you wan't to get up quick and dirty i'd suggest Slackware instead. But...

Portage is pretty much flawless but the ebuilds aren't always. However, this is usually the case with ebuilds that require a lot (I mean a lot, not just 8 or 10) of dependencies like Kde or Gnome. A few days and a emerge rsync usually fix it though.

As for the installation procedure it's not that hard. Starting from stage1 these are the usual steps:

set up network and format partitions.
mount and prepare partition for chroot
emerge [r]sync
bootstrap process...
emerge system
set up a few things such as timezones, loggers and a kernel.
set up grub or lilo
and there ya go!

Just like compiling a kernel for the first time, read everything!

You can always come back here or gentoo.forums.org for help.

Ho and good luck, you will need it (not like it always fails).

The only problems I've ever had with Portage have been because apps haven't compiled, but within a day or so patches are circulating on the forums. But then again, once you're set-up, unless you just like updating things, there's really no need to bother

And it is less stable, even with conservative USE values, because you're using bleeding edge code, which is less tested and so has less bug fixes (though conversely it will often contain many more bug fixes). This is as opposed to say Debian stable, which is a rock

Oh and the install looks scary, but it really isn't. You just have to manually construct the base of your system If you are able to, set-up a really minimal system as a toy just to practice installing, before you do it on any main system.

You're good at explaining stuff, any affiliation with the site?