[olug] my own personal installfest

[whaisch4 at cox.net]

This weekend I installed a few OSes on my Powerbook G4 12" running Virtual 
PC 6.1.  I installed FreeBSD 5.1, FreeBSD 4.8, NetBSD 1.6.1, Slackware 9, 
Mandrake 9.1, and Debian 3.  Here are my findings:

FreeBSD 5.1 Net install -- XFree86 graphical setup hangs on exit.  
Something else didn't work so I just gave up on it.  I'm still green on the 
whole FreeBSD track and the installer does not help.  The FBSD installer is ... 
unique.

FreeBSD 5.0 Net install -- Similar results from above.  But I'm learning....

FreeBSD 4.8 Net install -- Third time is the charm.  Same installer as above 
but seems to work better.  Experience is helping...

NetBSD 1.6.1 Net install -- Nevermind above.  This installer is REALLY 
quirky.  At least the installer is similar no matter what architechture it is run 
on.  But the system seems to work better.  X doesn't work yet.  Maybe I'm 
just tired...

Mandrake 9.1 CD -- Easiest install.  Comatose people have been rumored to 
install MDK.  XF86 runs s...l...o...w and web browsing, forget it!  But it 
works...

Slackware 9 CD install -- Slightly more difficult Linux installer.  Definately 
for someone who is more experienced with Linux and knows about 
partitions, slices, and filesystem types.  Bonus: has the whole distro (plus 
compilers, X, and more) all on one CD!  Slick!

Debian 3 Net install -- Fairly easy install and setup (cross between Slackware 
9 and FreeBSD), totally networked (apt-get, etc... nice!)  One of my personal 
favorites.

These are my experiences, YMMVFDTD (you milage may vary from distro to 
distro).  I would like to say that VPC is a great tool!  I also have Mandrake 
9.1, Win98SE, Win2k, and WinXP installed as well.  Knoppix runs slow, 
Mandrake 9.1 is unusable in X, XP runs like crap (even when "optimized for 
speed") and keeps whining about registration.  Win98 is the only one that 
runs relatively quick.  VPC reports a PII/500 but it runs like a PII/200 at 
times.  On the up side, formatting drives only takes 5 seconds...  Later!

-Wm.
William Haisch
whaisch4 at cox.net