[GLLUG] RHN... the Red Hat Notwork

[Edward Glowacki]

On Thu, 2002-08-01 at 14:02, Ben Pfaff wrote:

> Why not use a Red Hat mirror, then?  Is there some reason that
> only ftp.redhat.com will do?  (I know little about Red Hat so
> that's a serious question.)  Personally, I use mirrors.kernel.org
> for Debian (800kB/s from here), but it also carries Red Hat.

By default, Red Hat has a program that sits in the tray on the GNOME
desktop with an icon representing the update status of your system.  If
it's a red '!', your system needs updating.  You click on it, it asks
for the root password, then attempts to update all the RPMs that have
new versions available.  This is the "obvious" way someone would try
first to update their system, as the red '!' is very hard to miss...

The catch is that to use it, you have to register (free).  With one
account, you can manage multiple machines.  However, unless you pay, the
update will only work for the single machine you select via the
website.  The alternative (as others have pointed out) is to download
the individual packages and install them.  I'm lazy, I want to *reduce*
the amount of work I need to do to keep my machines up to date.  And
I've experienced apt-get firsthand (though it's been a while), so my
expectations are pretty high.  I'm also not willing to deal with Red
Hat's policy of only allowing one server when it's known that I will
have several machines to keep updated, and nobody here is willing to pay
for anything we can get for free, so it doesn't look like Red Hat's a
winner (unless management enforces it to standardize on one
distribution... ugh...).

So I'm gonna try a network install of Debian via a few floppies and
debian.egr.msu.edu... ;)  I was going to try a CD install, but I
realized the download/burn process would take forever since it wouldn't
be coming from on-campus, so I scrounged around the office for some
reliable floppy disks...  It's sitting at the boot: prompt now waiting
for me... Hope I grabbed the right floppy to detect the RAID card... =)

-ED

-- 
Edward Glowacki				glowack2@msu.edu
GLLUG Peon  				http://www.gllug.org
Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
                -- Jules de Gaultier