This week I have been working from home and been doing some playing around with machine learning (ML) in Python. My home Linux box is using an old version of Fedora Core while my machine at work uses Ubuntu Linux. I am having problems getting Python updates to work correctly because some of my system libraries are so old. It is time to update my Linux and I am wondering which version to select.
I started using Red Hat Linux a long time ago. I don't feel the need to pay for Linux as I don't use it as a production server and so I have been running Fedora Core, which is based on Red Hat. If I want to continue using a Red Hat flavor of Linux, I could also install CentOS. So should I stay with Fedora Core or change to CentOS?
As mentioned, my machine at work uses Ubuntu which is based on the Debian distribution of Linux. I like it and it stays updated fairly easily. There are several other options as well but most of the world has settled on Debian or Red Hat. Suse used to be an option but Novell did a pretty good job of killing it in the early 2000's.
So what is the difference between them all? Mostly it has to do with system administration. PC users don't really want to do a lot of system administration work but they do like to install new versions of software. Red Hat uses "yum" to install software while Debian uses "apt-get". The programs are very similar. I have never had a problem finding updates for either flavor of Linux.
One problem I have noticed with Fedora Core is they are constantly changing versions. You may be on version 22 only to have version 23 come out a few months later. Updating your operating system can be a bit of a time sync as you have to make backup copies of your files and then spend hours making sure everything got moved to the same version without any problems. Ubuntu doesn't have that problem and so I think I will make that change over the Christmas break when I have more time. Until then I will have to remote login to my machine at work when running through my ML exercises. You may disagree and I would love to hear why. Feel free to send me a comment.
Showing posts with label Red Hat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Red Hat. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Linux Flavors
Yesterday my oldest son came into my office and started telling me how his day was. The topic of Red Hat Linux came up and he expressed a desire to have a copy. This started a whole discussion on the different flavors of Linux.
When I first installed Linux on one of my office machines over ten years ago, I went down to a local book store and bought a book about Linux. In the back of the book was a CD that came with a copy of the operating system. It was Slackware Linux and seemed to work just fine. I played around a bit but couldn't get the graphical user interface (GUI) working with my hardware. So I went to a computer store and bought a copy of Red Hat Linux. I think it was version 2. I was able to get the X windowing environment (Linux's GUI) running. Since then I have always been a fan of Red Hat Linux.
I purchased several more copies of Red Hat Linux before they decided to concentrate on becoming a server-centric operating system provider. Most of the work I do is for other people and they have their own servers. That means I don't really need a server-specific version of Linux. Not to worry, Red Hat created Fedora Core for people like me. It is freely downloadable from the Internet and so I don't have to get in my car and drive to the local computer store to get it.
About a year ago, one of my clients asked me to put together a staging server at my office. A staging server is used to test changes in software before they are moved into the production environment. This is very helpful if you want to upgrade your database software but need to ensure it will work before you make the change. Simply upgrade the staging server and run through a bunch of tests. Once you are satisfied the upgrade won't break anything, you can roll out the new database software to the production system.
My client is barely above water financially and so I wanted to save them a bit of money. The production servers run Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server but that costs about $2,500 per server (if I remember correctly . . . I just tried to look it up but you now have to purchase it from a reseller . . . what a pain). Since I really don't care about technical support for the staging server, I decided to load it with CentOS. CentOS basically looks like Red Hat Enterprise Linux but is free. That means if there are any problems you have to figure them out yourself. I wouldn't recommend it for a production environment unless you have one or two Linux experts on staff who are used to figuring things out for themselves. So far it has worked perfectly for my client's staging server. I told my son that if he really wants to give Red Hat Enterprise Linux a try, he should just use CentOS.
There are many different flavors of Linux and these only represent a handful of distributions available. I have a good friend who works for Cannonical who are the guys behind Ubuntu Linux. He keeps trying to get me to switch to his distribution. I am reluctant to do so because I am so familiar with what I am already using. Oh well, I would probably make a bad customer anyways because I try to avoid paying for anything.
When I first installed Linux on one of my office machines over ten years ago, I went down to a local book store and bought a book about Linux. In the back of the book was a CD that came with a copy of the operating system. It was Slackware Linux and seemed to work just fine. I played around a bit but couldn't get the graphical user interface (GUI) working with my hardware. So I went to a computer store and bought a copy of Red Hat Linux. I think it was version 2. I was able to get the X windowing environment (Linux's GUI) running. Since then I have always been a fan of Red Hat Linux.
I purchased several more copies of Red Hat Linux before they decided to concentrate on becoming a server-centric operating system provider. Most of the work I do is for other people and they have their own servers. That means I don't really need a server-specific version of Linux. Not to worry, Red Hat created Fedora Core for people like me. It is freely downloadable from the Internet and so I don't have to get in my car and drive to the local computer store to get it.
About a year ago, one of my clients asked me to put together a staging server at my office. A staging server is used to test changes in software before they are moved into the production environment. This is very helpful if you want to upgrade your database software but need to ensure it will work before you make the change. Simply upgrade the staging server and run through a bunch of tests. Once you are satisfied the upgrade won't break anything, you can roll out the new database software to the production system.
My client is barely above water financially and so I wanted to save them a bit of money. The production servers run Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server but that costs about $2,500 per server (if I remember correctly . . . I just tried to look it up but you now have to purchase it from a reseller . . . what a pain). Since I really don't care about technical support for the staging server, I decided to load it with CentOS. CentOS basically looks like Red Hat Enterprise Linux but is free. That means if there are any problems you have to figure them out yourself. I wouldn't recommend it for a production environment unless you have one or two Linux experts on staff who are used to figuring things out for themselves. So far it has worked perfectly for my client's staging server. I told my son that if he really wants to give Red Hat Enterprise Linux a try, he should just use CentOS.
There are many different flavors of Linux and these only represent a handful of distributions available. I have a good friend who works for Cannonical who are the guys behind Ubuntu Linux. He keeps trying to get me to switch to his distribution. I am reluctant to do so because I am so familiar with what I am already using. Oh well, I would probably make a bad customer anyways because I try to avoid paying for anything.
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