From: Dan Zwell <dzwell@...>
Date: 2007-09-11T18:55:54+09:00
Subject: Re: What Linux distribution to choose for learning Ruby and Ruby on Rails

Slavo Furman wrote:
> Hi guys!
> 
> Thank you very much for all answers and for interesting discussion.
> 
> Now I considering to give a try either Ubuntu or Fedora (or maybe I'll try
> both).
> 
> Can anyone explain (in short and in form suitable for non-Linux user) what
> are main differences between Ubuntu Server Edition (
> http://www.ubuntu.com/products/WhatIsUbuntu/serveredition) and Fedora (
> http://fedoraproject.org/).
> 
> I understand that all Ruby/RoR stuff is available and works well on both.
> 
> thanks,
> Slavo.
> 

Because you are new to Linux, I would steer you away from Ubuntu Server 
Edition in favor of the desktop version. Linux "servers" are frequently 
very stripped down, and do not come with niceties like GUIs. On the 
other hand, every "desktop" variant of Linux I have used has become an 
apache/ssh/mysql/who knows what else server, and it's never been very 
hard to set up.

As for Fedora, I can't comment. It was my first Linux distro, but I only 
used it for two weeks--I didn't know how to make my sound card work, and 
the easiest solution at the time was to install a different distro. I'm 
glad nobody told me to recompile the kernel--I probably would have run.

Dan