Linux: Networking for Your Office

Web Supplement: Red Hat Versions
by Rod Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com

Red Hat Linux Versions

Less than one week after I submitted the final CD for L:NfYO to the people at Sams, Red Hat released version 6.1 of their distribution. Therefore, the book comes with the now-outdated version 6.0 of Red Hat Linux. (I did update all the packages with the latest versions available at the time I created the CD, however, so it includes many updated packages.) The information in the book is still useful with Red Hat Linux 6.1, or with any other distribution, so you shouldn't be too concerned with this update. Further, Red Hat Linux 6.0 is still useful, even if it's not the latest version of the OS. If you want to remain up-to-date, however, you have several options:

• If you have a fast network link, you can download Red Hat 6.1. Red Hat maintains a list of mirror sites from which you can obtain their version of Linux. In general, I recommend that you download the image file and burn it to CD. If you want to install from a hard disk or burn a CD from the component packages, you can check my web page on do-it-yourself Red Hat CD creation and hard disk installation. I haven't updated it for version 6.1 because of the official availability of CD image files, but most of the information should still be relevant.
• Purchase an up-to-date CD from a cut-rate dealer such as Cheap*Bytes, LSL, or LinuxMall. These CDs typically cost about $2 plus shipping, but come with no documentation or support. L:NfYO can help in the support arena, but it's not intended as a basic Linux tutorial.
• Purchase a complete Red Hat Linux 6.1 package. The preceding vendors carry such packages, which come with a printed manual, support, and extra CDs with commercial demos and source code.
• Perform any of the above but with some other Linux distribution. SuSE, Debian, Caldera, Mandrake, Slackware, Corel, and others all offer Linux distributions, and each has its meritorious points.

No matter what distribution you use, you should be sure to keep up to date on the distribution's errata. For Red Hat, the appropriate web site is http://www.redhat.com/corp/support/errata/.

Copyright © 1999 by Rod Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com

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