RedHat Amateur SuSe Newbie Question
I have been successfully using RedHat for the server in my computer lab for two years now. I am currently using RedHat 9 (not Enterprise!) RedHat is of course no longer supporting version 9 for free. My choices are now to go to the Fedora core to continue using a RedHat ish product or to jump ship and go to another server OS. Windoze in its various flavours is not an option. My question is, can anyone give me an objective reason to switch to SuSe? It costs (not lots but some), whereas Fedora is still free. What advantages will I get out of switching? Eventually, I envision making the entire lab, including workstations, Linux, the only stumbling block there is I NEED to be able to continue teaching Java Programming as well as Visual Basic Programming. From what I have read Java can be done on a linux workstation but I am unclear about Visual Basic. Answers to any or all of these questions would be greatly appreciated -- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 7.0.230 / Virus Database: 262.6.4 - Release Date: 3/29/2004
Liam Marshall wrote:
I have been successfully using RedHat for the server in my computer lab for two years now. I am currently using RedHat 9 (not Enterprise!)
RedHat is of course no longer supporting version 9 for free. My choices are now to go to the Fedora core to continue using a RedHat ish product or to jump ship and go to another server OS. Windoze in its various flavours is not an option.
My question is, can anyone give me an objective reason to switch to SuSe? It costs (not lots but some), whereas Fedora is still free. What advantages will I get out of switching?
Eventually, I envision making the entire lab, including workstations, Linux, the only stumbling block there is I NEED to be able to continue teaching Java Programming as well as Visual Basic Programming. From what I have read Java can be done on a linux workstation but I am unclear about Visual Basic.
Answers to any or all of these questions would be greatly appreciated
I haven't got around to installing Fedora, but hope to do so soon, so I can't give an objective assessment of it. I have installed SuSE 9.0 here on an Athlon tower and a P-III 700 laptop, Mandrake 9.2 and 10.0 beta on another two Athlon boxes and SuSE 9.0 x86_64 on an Acer 1501LCe Athlon 3000+ laptop. SuSE gets the most use, but they are all stable. You could consider a mix, or at least try SuSE on one box to see what you think. I also run Crossover Office which runs quite a number of Windows stuff and I believe it handles VB, suggest you can check the codeweavers.com site for details, the main things I run are MS Office, IE, Lotus Notes, Windows media and a number of other bits and pieces. I did it as a proof of concept to see if it would be feasible for our guys at work to convert their laptops to Linux only and a number of us have run that way for a few years now. Java SDK comes as standard or can be downloaded from Sun. Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce .... Hamradio G3VBV and keen Flyer Linux Only Shop.
Linux, the only stumbling block there is I NEED to be able to continue teaching Java Programming
*** Reply to message from Sid Boyce
On Tuesday 30 March 2004 06.17, Liam Marshall wrote:
My question is, can anyone give me an objective reason to switch to SuSe? It costs (not lots but some), whereas Fedora is still free. What advantages will I get out of switching?
It was already explained to you in the other thread you started that suse can be installed gratis from ftp servers around the world.
Eventually, I envision making the entire lab, including workstations, Linux, the only stumbling block there is I NEED to be able to continue teaching Java Programming as well as Visual Basic Programming.
No you don't. You NEED to think about your curriculum. You are doing your students a disservice by teaching specific languages as opposed to general programming. When the next fad comes along (.Net or whatever) they will be less able to handle it quickly than students with a more generalised training. On the other hand, if your students have been taught the general basics under which all languages operate, they'll be able to get a grip on VB if they have to on their own very rapidly
Anders Johansson wrote:
On Tuesday 30 March 2004 06.17, Liam Marshall wrote:
My question is, can anyone give me an objective reason to switch to SuSe? It costs (not lots but some), whereas Fedora is still free. What advantages will I get out of switching?
It was already explained to you in the other thread you started that suse can be installed gratis from ftp servers around the world.
Yeah, it can be installed via ftp, and I have tried that, but it states quite clearly that it is not as "complete" as the boxed set
Eventually, I envision making the entire lab, including workstations, Linux, the only stumbling block there is I NEED to be able to continue teaching Java Programming as well as Visual Basic Programming.
No you don't. You NEED to think about your curriculum. You are doing your students a disservice by teaching specific languages as opposed to general programming. When the next fad comes along (.Net or whatever) they will be less able to handle it quickly than students with a more generalised training.
How do you teach any programming language without using specific languages as the medium for the teaching. It just so happens that we have chosen Java and VB. Java can be taught on Linux, Windoze or Macs, I just need compilers that work with the OS I am trying to switch to, in order to save some money. I am doing no one a disservice. The curriculum is fine, the medium I am working on. I asked for help, not criticism
On the other hand, if your students have been taught the general basics under which all languages operate, they'll be able to get a grip on VB if they have to on their own very rapidly
My students are being taught the basics that all languages operate under, but the school has invested a great deal of money in software (Microsoft Visual Basic) and in textbooks (for Java and Microsoft Office) you cannot expect them to just abandon thousands of dollars if there is a way to use SuSe and still use the software, or at least the textbooks
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participants (4)
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Anders Johansson -
jfweber＠bellsouth.net -
Liam Marshall -
Sid Boyce