DaiTengu wrote to Gamgee <=-
Re: For you SBBS Sysops operating on *NIX, what's your flavor?
By: Gamgee to on Wed Jun 05 2024 07:25 pm
1: Ubuntu [1 16.67%] û
2: Debian [1 16.67%] û
3: A Debian variant (Mint/MX/other) [1 16.67%] û
These probably could have been combined into one like the RHEL/CentOS/Fedora one is (I assume
Rocky/Alma/Oracle/Scientific/etc fall under this)
I run CentOS on my main BBS Box, and it's in desparate need of an
upgrade. (CentOS 7 reaches EOL at the end of the month). I'm
considering moving it to Gentoo, which is what I've run for over
a decade on my home devbox (and also what hosts my SEXPOTS dialup application).
In the end though, I'll probably just wind up moving it to CentOS
9 Stream or Possibly Rocky or Alma 9. Maintaining one Gentoo box
is plenty. :)
Cool, and an interesting mix there. Quite different. I was once a fan of the Redhat heritage, even ran Redhat for a short while before it went commercial, and then Mandrake after that (still RPM package management). I
guess I've never tried CentOS, but have installed Fedora a few times, but found it too Gnome-focused. I actually liked Gnome back in the early days with RH and Mandrake, but it's evolved into.... something I don't like any more. Finally settled on Slackware (w/ XFCE desktop) and been there ever since.
Haha, yes I have tried Gentoo also, LONG ago, and while fun for a while, was too much work. Good way to learn about Linux, though.
Very rarely do I use a GUI on Linux. All of my linux boxes are headless.
I run Windows on my main PC, which hosts an X-server, where I can run graphical applications remotely if I need to.
Nightfox wrote to Gamgee <=-
Re: Re: For you SBBS Sysops operating on *NIX, what's your
flavor?
By: Gamgee to DaiTengu on Thu Jun 06 2024 11:14 am
Cool, and an interesting mix there. Quite different. I was once a fan of the Redhat heritage, even ran Redhat for a short while before it went commercial, and then Mandrake after that (still RPM package management). I
I tried Mandrake years ago (maybe around 2001 or 2002), and one
thing I ran into was that it worked well on my PC in one version,
but when I tried to install the next version, some things (such
as its graphics hardware detection for X) wasn't working well
anymore, etc.. I had seen that with some Linux distros back
then, where one version would work well but the next version
wouldn't. It was odd, as it was like things would sometimes
regress with newer versions.
guess I've never tried CentOS, but have installed Fedora a few times, but found it too Gnome-focused. I actually liked Gnome back in the early days with RH and Mandrake, but it's evolved into.... something I don't like any more. Finally settled on Slackware (w/ XFCE desktop) and been there ever since.
I also liked earlier versions of Gnome, and I don't like the
newer versions (which is one reason I'm not a big fan of Ubuntu,
as I recall it using a recent version of Gnome by default).
Haha, yes I have tried Gentoo also, LONG ago, and while fun for a while, was too much work. Good way to learn about Linux, though.
Yep, I used Gentoo for a while on a laptop, around 2004. I had
it configured to build all packages, and things like XFree86 and OpenOffice would take hours to build (I'd leave it overnight to
install those).
DaiTengu wrote to Gamgee <=-
Re: Re: For you SBBS Sysops operating on *NIX, what's your
flavor?
By: Gamgee to DaiTengu on Thu Jun 06 2024 11:14 am
I run CentOS on my main BBS Box, and it's in desparate need of an
upgrade. (CentOS 7 reaches EOL at the end of the month). I'm considering
moving it to Gentoo, which is what I've run for over a decade on my home
devbox (and also what hosts my SEXPOTS dialup application).
Cool, and an interesting mix there. Quite different. I was once a fan of the Redhat heritage, even ran Redhat for a short while before it went commercial, and then Mandrake after that (still RPM package management). I guess I've never tried CentOS, but have installed Fedora a few times, but found it too Gnome-focused. I actually liked Gnome back in the early days with RH and Mandrake, but it's evolved into.... something I don't like any more. Finally settled on Slackware (w/ XFCE desktop) and been there ever since.
Very rarely do I use a GUI on Linux. All of my linux boxes are
headless. I run Windows on my main PC, which hosts an X-server,
where I can run graphical applications remotely if I need to.
In the end though, I'll probably just wind up moving it to CentOS 9
Stream or Possibly Rocky or Alma 9. Maintaining one Gentoo box is
plenty. :)
I may give CentOS a try one of these days as I've always heard great things about it, but my servers will most likely always run Arch.
Yes, I also recall fairly frequent problems with Xwindows and graphics cards back in those days. I liked Mandrake quite a bit and then
Been there, too. Haha, yeah that stuff was painful. I used to even configure and compile custom kernels (on Slackware), thinking I could squeeze out more "performance"... Maybe it did, and in those days I was on fairly weak hardware so it helped, and was a lot of fun actually.
But also a lot of work, and I don't bother with that any more.
Considering CentOS is being end-of-lifed soon (as of June 30), there
probably isn't much point in trying it now.
CentOS 7 is. CentOS 8 Stream and CentOS 9 Stream are not. You've got a few years on 9, and a year or so on 8.
The "Stream" distros though have swapped places with RHEL proper. CentOS used to be built from the RHEL distros. Now RHEL is built from CentOS.
fusion wrote to Gamgee <=-
On 06 Jun 2024, Gamgee said the following...
Yes, I also recall fairly frequent problems with Xwindows and graphics cards back in those days. I liked Mandrake quite a bit and then
i remember configuring XFree86 came with a giant warning about
how it could damage your monitor.. spent an awful lot of time one
year tracking down the exact specs for some chinese 19" monitor
to attempt both 1600x1200 and 75hz (iirc) paranoid i might damage something.. that and.. the video card driver was compiled into
the X server itself? something like that. weird times :)
on the OS/2 side we just bought from a list. not on the list? too
bad :)
Been there, too. Haha, yeah that stuff was painful. I used to even configure and compile custom kernels (on Slackware), thinking I could squeeze out more "performance"... Maybe it did, and in those days I was on fairly weak hardware so it helped, and was a lot of fun actually.
But also a lot of work, and I don't bother with that any more.
i used to have to do that for an IBM server i had.. for the SCSI
raid controller.. that whole machine was a giant waste of
electricity. did feel cool the one and only time one of the power
supplies failed and i hot swapped it out. but yeah, i think i
studied the kernel config options for a while before deciding to
just use the slackware one as a template and then add the extra
stuff.
I never got aboard the OS/2 train. Straight from DOS to Win, and eventually Linux.
I may give CentOS a try one of these days as I've always heard great
things about it, but my servers will most likely always run Arch.
Considering CentOS is being end-of-lifed soon (as of June 30), there probably isn't much point in trying it now.
Shit, plenty? Maintaining one Gentoo box is an exercise infutility. :)
Meh, I've been using Gentoo for probably 20 years at this point. It
has its quirks, but no distro has taught me more than Gentoo has.
modern CentOS (The ones labeled "Stream" ) are a far cry from what it
used to be. It was designed to be a rock-solid super-stable enterprise-grade OS. Rocky Linux has taken its place, literally. Rocky
Whatever you're comfortable with, I say go for it!
Pretty much. I'll still make fun of people who use Macs, though, any chance I get.
Yeah, basically. The rage over it is from enterprise customers.
CentOS stood for "Community Enterprise Operating System". It's entire focus was around stability, and moving upstream of RHEL potentially
reduces some of that stability.
That doesn't mean things can't be upgraded. There are many official,
and even more unofficial repositories that install newer versions of programs, but users potentially sacrifice stability when that's done.
Fun fact, Gentoo now offers binary packages. This is a thing they did recently.
one of my co-workers also runs Gentoo, but he's a bit more insane than
I am. he just did an update with the latest profile and it completely
hosed his system.
I'm still running a Gentoo profile from 2017 I think. I got a
notification the other day that I need to update my profile to something newer, but you better believe I'll be using some kind of clonedisk or something first just in case :D
Ah, I've heard something about that. I had the impression that CentOS as we know it will be discontinued. Wikipedia even says CentOS is a "discontinued Linux distribution". It sounds like CentOS Stream won't be much different than the current CentOS?
Fun fact, Gentoo now offers binary packages. This is a thing they did recently.
I take it you mean, "officially", or something? I remember there being side projects that tried to introduce it, especially when Sabayon Linux was popular. But to be honest, Gentoo is Gentoo. Binary packages kind of defeats the entire purpose and meaning of Gentoo. :)
One of the reasons why I think the BSDs rock is precisely because you
can install binary packages if you are in a hurry, but if you want to install something after adding a custom patch yourself or do some nifty tricks, you can use the ports trees and build a package (with its dependencies) tailored to your system.
In fact, one of the big pluses of Slackware is that it has ports-like
tools that allow you to build your stuff as you see fit without needing
to go the wacko-crazy way of building absolutely everything from the
ground up :-p
I usually do non-distro related compiles and custom patching on stuff I install to a src directory straight from github. If I'm using 'pkg install' on BSD, or 'pacman -S' on Arch, I usually tend to stick with that route. Not sure how it is these days, but I would assume mixing the two could lead to dependency issues or whatever else.
1: Ubuntu
2: Debian
3: A Debian variant (Mint/MX/other)
4: Redhat/CentOS/Fedora
5: Suse and variants
6: Slackware
7: Arch and variants
8: One of the BSDs
9: AIX/Solaris/HP-UX ;-)
10: Something else
Ubuntu, it just works. Everyone should use it. --
nelgin wrote to Gamgee <=-
On Wed, 5 Jun 2024 19:25:23 -0500
"Gamgee" (VERT/PALANTIR)
<VERT/PALANTIR!Gamgee@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:
1: Ubuntu
2: Debian
3: A Debian variant (Mint/MX/other)
4: Redhat/CentOS/Fedora
5: Suse and variants
6: Slackware
7: Arch and variants
8: One of the BSDs
9: AIX/Solaris/HP-UX ;-)
10: Something else
Ubuntu, it just works. Everyone should use it.
DaiTengu wrote to nelgin <=-
Re: Re: For you SBBS Sysops operating on *NIX, what's your
flavor?
By: nelgin to Gamgee on Wed Jun 26 2024 07:48 pm
Ubuntu, it just works. Everyone should use it.
Ubuntu works, poorly. It's a bit bloated and you're forced into
using quite a few things. It's the Linux version of OSX.
Performance on older hardware can be problematic, and there are
far better distros out there that don't suck up precious memory
and/or CPU cycles that are needed elsewhere.
Ubuntu, it just works. Everyone should use it.
Ubuntu works, poorly. It's a bit bloated and you're forced into using
quite a few things. It's the Linux version of OSX.
It's very bloated, and I might even up that ante and say it's the Linux version of <cough> Windows.
And suggesting that "everyone should use it" seems a bit odd. There
are a lot of Linux distros, and Ubuntu isn't the only one that
Synchronet works well with.
Ubuntu, it just works. Everyone should use it.
Re: Re: For you SBBS Sysops operating on *NIX, what's your flavor?
By: nelgin to Gamgee on Wed Jun 26 2024 07:48 pm
Ubuntu, it just works. Everyone should use it.
I got an Ubuntu Bulgie DVD with Linux Magazine and, while it actually
brings
something new to the table, it doesn't feel very Linuxy to me. It certainly took more time for me to set it up as I liked than, say Devuan. Part of the issue I have with Ubuntu is that at this point they are trying very hard for everything to be a Snap.
when was this? wasn't linux magazine done in the 2000s? or is linux magazine back?
Re: Re: For you SBBS Sysops operating on *NIX, what's your flavor?
By: Gamgee to fusion on Fri Jun 07 2024 01:34 pm
I never got aboard the OS/2 train. Straight from DOS to Win, and eventually Linux.
I went from DOS to Windows too, but in 1996 I experimented a bit with OS/2 because I was curious about it. I could definitely see how it would have been nice to run a BBS in OS/2 (even a DOS BBS). I had also played a bit with Ray Gwinn's SIO drivers, which allowed telnet access to a virtual serial port.. I tried setting up a copy of RemoteAccess (BBS software for DOS) with those SIO drivers and was impressed that I could successfully telnet into it. I also looked into an OS/2-native BBS package that I thought looked interesting (AdeptXBBS) but never actually used it to run a BBS.
By that time though, Windows was the main OS I was using, and OS/2 was on its way out, with not much software being made for it.
Nightfox
On Thu, 6 Jun 2024 23:52:10 -0700, you wrote:I ran CentOS for a long time in a datacenter environment for headless servers. It was really just an alternative to RHEL at the time and I never regretted it from a security and ease-of-use standpoint. It's been a few years now since I've used it, but I'll have to check out 9.
I may give CentOS a try one of these days as I've always heard great
things about it, but my servers will most likely always run Arch.
Considering CentOS is being end-of-lifed soon (as of June 30), there probably isn't much point in trying it now.
CentOS 8's EOL is soon. CentOS 9 has just begun. :)
Regards,
Nick
... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
Your post really resonated with me. I really had big hopes for OS/2. While serving in the Navy we used Windows NT Server and Workstation primarily but OS/2 Warp made it's way into our internal network for managing building security (badging, door sensors, alarms). I wanted to
run BBS's on OS/2 but ended up using Windows instead. It's so nice now to have so many options all the way from CP/M and DOS all the way to Raspian, Debian, and some really cool distros. I've even got Mint installed on a spare laptop which is pretty decent and gives Ubuntu a run for it's money from a desktop perspective.
I never got aboard the OS/2 train. Straight from DOS to Win, and
eventually Linux.
I was all-in for quite some time. Worked with OS/2 1.2 and 1.3 in a IBM AS/400 and Lan Manager environment, then 2.0, then Warp 3 working with Netware - and then Windows NT 3.51 came out and it just *worked*.
Ran the BBS under OS/2 Warp 3 for a couple of years, loved that I could have a mailer, busy BBS and all the utilities running in an OS/2 console in the background of my desktop and not even notice it was there.
| Sysop: | Gate Keeper |
|---|---|
| Location: | Shelby, NC |
| Users: | 792 |
| Nodes: | 20 (0 / 20) |
| Uptime: | 65:48:32 |
| Calls: | 12,360 |
| Files: | 5,294 |
| D/L today: |
3 files (187K bytes) |
| Messages: | 576,434 |