On 31 Dec 2001, at 8:37, M Tuttle wrote:

> Greetings All,
>
> I currently have a WinNT sp6a server and win2000 pro and WinXP work in
> my home office. At the office in town we have WinNT sp6a and 95 - 98
> workstations. I develop and test at my home office.
>
> I would like to install some version of Linux server in my home office
> for testing purposes and have a few questions. Since I'm unfamiliar
> with Linux I was hoping some of you who use it could help me out here.
>
> 1) Can Linux be installed on the same computer as WinNT and be booted
> to either OS?

Yes, this is easy most Linux based OSes will automatically install
a program called LILO which will allow you to select booting either
Linux or NT. Be careful reading the docs, there may be goofy
things related to booting NT under LILO, although the combination
has been around long enough that most of the problems should be
automatically resolved by now.

I would suggest though, that if you have room in your computer,
that you install a second hard drive, put Linux on that. This will
prevent Windows from trying to goof with it.

> 2) I have noticed that there are several flavors of Linux available.
> RedHat, SuSE, and Mandrake.
> A) Should I choose one over the other? If so , why.
> B) If I select one over another, will the interbase binary install
> on
> any flavor?

Redhat works well, I am installing Mandrake as I type, okay
Mandrake is now installed, no fuss, no muss, installed the latest
FB Superserver and it looks OK, I need to do some testing on it to
make sure there isn't anything "goofy" with it. I can't say whether
SUSE works or not, never used it. I know that Caldera OpenLinux
2.3 Server should be avoided, it has some goofy problems,
although I like Caldera, I could not use that particular one. Newer
products might work better, then again they might not.

I told one of their people about the problem last summer, never
heard whether they investigated it or not.

> 3) Where is the best place to download an IB 6.01 binary for Linux?

Borland I suppose, I prefer the FB variety myself, simply because,
since it isn't commercial, there are no marketing guys pushing
product before it's ready. One of the reasons I like Linux as well...

> 4) Any website with helpful info on setting up and using Linux /
> Interbase?

Not really, there are two ways to obtain it, most commercial
distributions (Redhat, Mandrake, Suse, Caldera) can use RPM
files, this is similar to a Windows installer, except that the program
is already on your computer, so it's just the compressed image
that you need, so you download the .RPM file, and use your
package manager to install it. If you are new to Linux, or have an
old version, then get a recent one, the most recent version in that
distribution, then go to their web-site and download all the patches.

If you have a non-commercial distribution like Debian or Slackware,
or need to use an old Linux, you need to roll your own from the
sources. Unfortunately to do this, you need a running IB server,
you should be able to use your NT one for that though. I have
never tried it, I find it easier and cheaper to stick to the RPMs.

> 5) Anything else I should ask?

Not really, just dive right in, and if you have questions, post 'em.

Paul

Paul Schmidt
Tricat Technologies
paul@...
www.tricattechnologies.com