2.2 Operating System

Dr. Tak has a reputation of promoting Linux. There is one reason for it: Linux is free, and it works!

Personally, Dr. Tak believes Linux is a suitable operating system for practically anything. Web serving using Perl CGI is definitely one of the many applications that Linux is well suited for.

However, even if you decide to use Linux, there are many different distributions of Linux. For the hardcore ones, there is no need to use use any particular distribution because you can recompile everything from scratch. Of course, this takes a lot of time, both to configure the system, and to wait for the compiler to finish compiling the components.

This is why there are distributions. Each distribution consists of the following:

• Installer: this is normally a bootable CD or a bootable floppy disk. It contains the necessary software to start the installation process on any computer, even if a hard disk is freshly formatted.
• Pre-compiled binaries: this is a normally large collection of programs already compiled and ready to be installed.
• Updater: this is a program that is used post initial installation to bring a system up-to-date, or to install/remove packages.

Most people have heard of some famous distributions such as RedHat and Suse. Dr. Tak has little experience with these ``commercial'' and off-the-shelf distributions. The one distribution Dr. Tak uses for all his systems is Debian (http://www.debian.org).

Unlike RedHat and Suse, there is no off-the-shelf shrink-wrapped Debian. Without going into depths of the distribution system, let's just say that the Debian distribution system is very simple to maintain over time. It is also very easy to install or remove packages as necessary. The down side of Debian is a slightly more tedious initial installation.

The full documentation of installing Debian Linux is already available at the Debian website mentioned earlier.

Note that you don't have to use Debian, it's just that Dr. Tak has used Debian for years, so it is easier to diagnose problems if you use the same distribution.