[ILUG] Dell Poweredge - best distro

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Fergal Moran (fergal.moran at wasptech.com):

> I have a Dell Poweredge with an Adaptec AIC-7899 Ultra160/m SCSI card
> and a PERC 3/Di RAID controller (I believe drivers for both of these are
> available on Dells site) which I'm going to cleanse of Windows as our
> linux boxen are straining at the moment and this is only serving up the
> odd word doc here and there.  So I am looking for some advice on the
> best distro for it. 

1.  Sounds like a server-role machine, right?  I ask because some
distributions are best suited for pure workstation roles, e.g.,
Linux-Mandrake, SuSE, Libranet.  Others (RH, Debian, Slackware...) are
more readily adaptable.

2.  Never use Linux drivers from a hardware manufacturer unless you have
no choice (or a compelling reason, e.g., doing 3D on Nvidia).  In
general, drivers from manufacturers tend to be binary-only, proprietary,
and tied to specific kernel versions -- making them poor long-term bets.
They're also often really badly written.  (There are exceptions.)  But
your first instinct should generally be to look to the open-source coder 
community for your hardware-support code.

3.  The "best distro" is whichever one you've tried and found to meet
your needs.  You should, over time, try experiments with some spare
machine, and work out your own preferences.  Micromail has boxed sets:
http://www.micromail.ie/  But you can save a few quid by buying CD-only
sets in jewel cases or paper sleeves.  http://crazypenguin.co.uk/ has
these for EUR 2.29 per disc.

> It must be completed today....

In _that_ case, use whatever you're familiar with.  And can buy or 
download right away.