Is Knoppix right for me?

[mtorbin]

Hey all,

I have an internal 30GB drive in my Macintosh G4. I'd like to set up a "Red Hat"-like environment where I can test a SQL database as well as Apache. Keeping in mind that I have minimal experience setting these things up and just slightly more working with them, is Knoppix for me? Is this going to help me do what I want to do?

Please advise.

- MT

[Cuddles]

MT,

Not quite sure bout the Mac, but, for the PC, I can advise...

Linux, as a "generalized" OS, this includes all variants; Debain, Suse, RedHat, Mandrake, etc... is not for the faint of heart... Working "in" Linux, mostly, will lead you, inevitably, down to a "command line" interface. Even though many programs exist in a GUI format, they are usually "front-ends" to a command line program. The "power" of Linux is in that command line, not the GUI. Most configuration files are stored in standard text format, so that they can easily be modified with your favorite text editor. Some files, configuration files, that is, can only be modified by manual editing, like modules, and fstab...

Programs can be run from a menu entry, like windows, or, from the command line. The command line can give more output of what is going wrong, or what is going on, during the execution of that program, because it has a place to "spit" ( pardon the rude analogy ) its output to a screen, whereas, when a program is run from a menu entry, no "console" exists for it to place its output into, only the standard "windows-like" error boxes "may" pop up, in the case of an error.

As for the Apache, etc... issues, I think, not knowing about the Mac, again, and using the PC for my knowledge, it should work... I am running a complete installed Knoppix system on a 30GB hard drive, 500 MB used for swap, and are only using about 10 GB of that partition. ( at most )

I may not be the best to answer for a Mac issue, others may actually be running with a Mac, and may be able to give more input on this "specifically", but, I gave the perspective from a PC person...

Hope this helps,
Ms. Cuddles

[mtorbin]

MT,
I may not be the best to answer for a Mac issue, others may actually be running with a Mac, and may be able to give more input on this "specifically", but, I gave the perspective from a PC person...

Thanks for the in depth response. Actually, the command line thing I somewhat have down. I'm just wondering what to do with the drive. Sounds like this might work and the FREE thing you can't pass up on.

- MT

[pureone]

if you want to get used to running a server. i would say check out debian.