Caught the link to this article through the LXer.com feed: Build a hotspot with complete in-house control.. We’ll show you how….

I haven’t looked at it that close but on the surface it looks helpful if you’re thinking about doing this. I would call it required reading.

In looking around for the best open source operating system to run a web server I’m leaning toward CentOS. I considered Novell’s SuSE Linux but ultimately basing my decision on the fact that CentOS is a rebuild of the oldest Linux distro around, it’s completely free, and has no plans to “go Red Hat” on me anytime soon. SuSE would be an excellent choice too, and they do offer a free version at openSUSE.org, but I’m paranoid about future support and a possible flip-flop on the free version. My opinion on Novell isn’t based on any facts, just my own unsubstantiated fear of corporate decision making and their uncertain future intentions. CentOS, on the other hand, builds their distribution on the source code available from Red Hat, released freely as required by the GPL license.

Linux Magazine reviewed CentOS in their April 2006 issue (available as a two page PDF on their website). Keep in mind that CentOS, even though they won’t mention the name on their website, is a rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat posted their own review of version 4’s first year: Risk Report: A year of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4

Another option I’m still considering is FreeBSD, a direct descendent of Unix, rather than a clone. A base install of FreeBSD will likely outperform most popular Linux distros, but the features and supported hardware might be obstacles later. FreeBSD has been used by Yahoo (see Yahoo! And FreeBSD) since their early beginnings and continues to be used for their webhosting (and likely other services). Hotmail started on FreeBSD and ran on it for almost two years after Microsoft’s aquisition of it. FreeBSD seems like the way to go, but my reservations lie in it’s reputation for being slow in supporting third-party software. I’ve personally experienced this at work when I built a HylaFAX server using FreeBSD. The most difficult part was figuring out how to install support for the multiport adapter I wanted to use. The Diginet multiport was an old piece of hardware and I assumed there would be no problem getting it to work — I was wrong, but eventually achieved success after a lot of research and long nights at the office. The fact, however, that Yahoo is still using FreeBSD is very encouraging and I haven’t ruled it out. FreeBSD’s inclusion of CVSup makes it slightly more desirable because it’s an excellent utility for distributing and updating files from one server to another, a method that would be handy for creating an off-site mirror backup.

Right now I’m going back and forth between FreeBSD and CentOS. I’ll play with both before making a final decision this weekend. I also need to consider my resources and other people that will help support my project when I’m not available. One that might get involved in the project is a Red Hat fan, so the scale is tipping to that side. My other thought behind CentOS is that if my needs grow, and I decide I want a commercially supported OS, it will be easier to move to Red Hat’s enterprise distro from CentOS. It’s basically the same truck, the paint is just a different color and it comes with a warranty.

Most of my friends know I’ve been tinkering with different “distros” for quite a few years now. I have used different versions of Red Hat and SuSE in dual-boot setups and installed a few others that didn’t stay on my computer for more than a day.

On Saturday my XP box was still nagging me about being low on disk space. It was down to about 200 MB and I had spent hours combing through programs I could remove to free up space — every session I manage to clean up 50 or 60 megs but it still doesn’t keep XP happy, it still nags with the pop-up warnings.

Anyway, Linux has been making leaps and bounds the last couple of years. Red Hat is going strong with their enterprise Linux products, Novell bought SuSE, a German company responsible for the second oldest Linux distribution, and Ubuntu, the new Debian-based sytem, has gained wide acceptance recently. So I decided to take the plunge. No more dual-booting, no more tinkering — this is for real. I downloaded the latest free version of SuSE Linux 10, burned the CDs, and installed it on my now-former-XP box.

I knew the hardware detection would be a lot better than in the past when I’d played around with it. To my absolute suprise SuSE recognized every peice of hardware in my PC including the wireless network adapter and my TV capture card. Yeah! My biggest hesitation had been over compatibility and the fear I wouldn’t be able to watch TV on my computer.

I’m with Novell on their predictions. I think within another year, maybe two, Linux will be easy enough to install and use that it will become much more common-place than in the past. Experts have been arguing over it’s adoption for a long time. I think the time is nearly here.

Read Novell still running Windows on ZDNet. It won’t be for much longer.