JW writes:
(comments primarily intended for the newbies reading this forum)
>RedHat's most prominent feature is it's package installer, rpm.
<...snip...> rpm is really nice compared to having to worry about tarballs.

Definately, especially if you are only installing binaries and have
no plans to compile source code. What is really nice is KPackage, the KDE rpm interface. Using KPackage to install and uninstall software is as easy, if not easier, as using InstallShield. And, you don't have to reboot when you are done installing! ;-)

With tarballs it is wise to use mc (Midnight Commander) or KFM, the KDE file browser, to peek into the tarball and read the README and INSTALL instructions (before you actually 'tar xvf') to see where it will be installed and if there are any special things you must do before you run tar on it. With KPackage (or xrpm) the package is opened up and displayed in a directory tree and its contents listed. You can see what is being installed and where it is being installed. Further, you can set switches on KPackage to replace existing files or not, as you deem fit. Also, if there are any files required to be present before installation, KPackage will tell you what is needed, and you can cancel the install and go download the needed packages and install them first. Nothing could be easier!

IF you use rpm's of source files you still have to compile the source after rpm (or KPackage) installs it. That is usually fairly easy and done in three steps:
(in the source directory)
./configure
make
make install.

Then, on some apps, you have to edit ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc and add lines of shell script which create the environmental variables at boot time, or when the 'source' command is used on a freshly edited profile or bashrc file. Usually something like:
EXPORT APPDIR=/sompath/to/binary/executable
or, to an existing variable:
PATH=$PATH:/somepath/to/binary/executable
EXPORT PATH


Unfortunately, with tarballs, there is no 'uninstall'. You usually have to list the contents of the tarball and then go to each location listed and delete the files manually. Hopefully, most are in one directory, and deleting that directory deletes the app, but many times executables are put into /usr/bin or some other directory, and they have to be deleted also. Then there is the problem of cleaning up the environment by removing any evironmental variables that the app may have required, which is done by editing them out of the profile or bashrc files and re-running 'source' on them.


>
>I produce linux routers and servers. I build them with vanilla RedHat. Why? >Because if a security advisory comes out for RedHat, it is usually patched and >available within hours, which is stronger than Mandrake, IMHO.

IMO, both RH and Mandrake are fine distros and no one would go wrong using either one.

>I can't say much about SuSe, but it's probably a reasonable choice for updates.

SuSE is very vigilant about being on top of security issues and, like RH, often has a patch on their website before many folks realize there was a problem or an exploit. The primary thing that attached me to SuSE, 3 years ago, was it's system administration tool, called YaST (Yet another System Tool). Three years ago it was avant garde, but RH and Mandrake, and others, have caught up and I am sure their 'YaST' tools (RH: linuxconf) are equally powerful.
YaST uses rpm to install and uninstall files and packages. Then SuSE goes a step farther that most distros... it runs additional perl scrpts which reads SuSEConfig (a resource file created by YaST) then edits existing resource files, like bashrc, fstab, host, network, shawdow, users, groups, etc., and automatically configures them. It will, for example, add a freshly installed app to the KDE menu structure so it can be selected from the KDE menu. Or, if uninstalling an app, it will remove the menu item. Most good distros do that now.

So, like JW said, what really sets distros apart today is what they are designed for... their target. Want a good webserver with top security then chose distro A. Want a good game distro? Choose distro B. Want a good office distro? Chose distro B. etc.... UNDERSTAND, it is not that you can't set up a webserver, play games or run office apps on about any Linux distro...you can. It is just that some distros are designed from the kernel up to do certain things more easily than if you started with a stock distro. What is a 'stock' distro? RH, SuSE, Mandrake, Corel, Caldera. Many think the best webserver distro is FreeBSD. The best game distro is... well, you can do research and discover for yourself.

>What kind of support is available for SuSe and Mandrake.

I've never needed support but RH and SuSE both have excellent support. Beyond the 30 or 90 day install support you must be prepared to pay for the level of support you want. But, you will get what you pay for and you won't hear the stock M$ techie answer of 'reboot' or 'reinstall'.

>Are you looking for support, or are you just looking to play?

The ball is in your court! ;-)
Linux is a FUN!
JLK