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Distro question

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redw0001
Posts: 96
Joined: 07 Sep 2009, 14:03

Distro question

Post by redw0001 »

I have a simple question but before I ask it I want to make it clear I'm not trying to seed a big arguement or flame war about distros. I just need to try to go down the right route and not get left behnd.

I have two B3s and a B2. All are running the latest, 2.6.0.2 (Debian Squeeze) from memory. I use Sqeezeserver, Owncloud and NFS mounts for use by PCs in our house.

I've seen some really impressive discussions about Gentoo, Arch and Wheezy. However, whilst Linux has always provided a freedom of choice I'd like to remain 'mainstream' on my Bxs. I get too much grief from my users when the main one is down.

What is the 'group plan' for the future?
Ubi
Posts: 1549
Joined: 17 Jul 2007, 09:01

Re: Distro question

Post by Ubi »

I don;t think thee is one yet, but I guess whatever Excito 2.0 decides to distribute as a default will probably get most traction. Personally I like debian for these little boxes as recompiling takes too long. But its really cool to see all these initiatives with the different distros. I hope many will stay alive and get a user base.
Most questions on this forum are not really dependent on the distro anyway, so theres no pain from that perspective.
Gordon
Posts: 1461
Joined: 10 Aug 2011, 03:18

Re: Distro question

Post by Gordon »

There are two considerations here:
  1. what distro supports armv5tel (and possibly powerpc)?
  2. what distro supports all the functions/applications we require?
In regards to #2 the new owners may make different choices than the old ones. Considering their relation to MouettE on this forum the most likely choice I'd say is going to be Wheezy. Debian being the size they are I don't think they will have LMS in Wheezy on armv5tel though, because then Logitech would have had the required armv5tel binaries for current perl as well. Will the new owners be compelled to create those binaries and support LMS now that Logitech has dropped the product?

Like I said in another thread: if Squeeze works for you and there is no pressing reason to upgrade: don't! That said, since moving to Gentoo I have noticed a considerable gain in performance. I have a web based photo album that uses Imagemagick to resize uploaded images for viewing and creating thumbnails and 'convert' used to take up to 75 seconds per image but now finishes in about 50-55 seconds.
redw0001
Posts: 96
Joined: 07 Sep 2009, 14:03

Re: Distro question

Post by redw0001 »

Agree, for me staying with Squeeze make sense in short term. However, 'considerable gain' in performance is always tempting.
sakaki
Posts: 172
Joined: 15 Aug 2014, 11:20

Re: Distro question

Post by sakaki »

I'd agree with Gordon here - don't switch unless you have to/really want to!

As to distros, Gentoo gives you a lot of flexibility, and the fact that you are building everything arch native can definitely improve performance for some apps (particularly noticible on the B2), but then you do have to compile packages when you upgrade, which is the downside. It has pretty good armv5tel (B3) and powerpc (B2) support. Arch Linux is a binary distro of course, so much like Debian in that respect (fast package installs etc.); there's arm support, but not powerpc atm. it has owncloud in it's arm repository, not sure about LMS (there is this repo, but I haven't tried it myself, so unsure if it'll work on arm).

If you are thinking of switching, the three live-USBs (B2 Gentoo, B3 Gentoo and B3 Arch) give you the chance to 'try before you buy', as it were (you can run them, make changes, install packages etc., then revert back to your original Excito system on the B2 or B3 any time you like; changes made are persistent on the live USB itself, so will be there when you next boot into it). If (as we do at home) use your B2/B3s for some fixed applications only (mailserver, vpn gateway server etc.), then if may make sense to try migrating your settings to one of the live USBs, and see how you like it - normality is only a "reboot" away, if you don't! If, however, you use the Excito web interface extensively to control your device, you'd be better off sticking with Debian.

MouettE, perhaps you could chime in here? Apologies, I'm not very familiar with the possible/recommended upgrade paths for those on Debian, nor (obviously!) what you guys are cooking up as the default config for the 'new' B3s?

best

sakaki
Gordon
Posts: 1461
Joined: 10 Aug 2011, 03:18

Re: Distro question

Post by Gordon »

Seeing the second mentioning of needing to compile yourself, I'd like to point out that although Gentoo itself is a source based distro, Gentoo based binary distro's do exist. If there were to be a mainline Gentoo based OS for Bubba (Bubbatoo?) many users would therefore not have to compile anything.
redw0001
Posts: 96
Joined: 07 Sep 2009, 14:03

Re: Distro question

Post by redw0001 »

Currently my B2 is not being used for anything significant, just me tinkering when I have time. So, I think I might give the B2 Gentoo USB a whirl just for my own education - never tried Gentoo before.
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