Been running into some problems when compiling php5 on my mandrake 10.0 system because it has issues with the devel binary package on the apache rpm's and the repositories on cooker seem to be incomplete which is really starting to aggrivate me grrr....
Well, it's been a while since I have used Debian. As a matter of fact, debian was my first distro I learned how to install not including the multiple attemps I had tried with Redhat 7.2 - 9.0. Anyways I have decided I will once again try to grasp linux with a much more firm understanding of how things work. So far i've run Mandrake 9.0 - 10.0 for workstation purposes and also server purposes. I have learned a substantial amount considering the time I've used linux which can only really be amounted to about 4 months straight. This time I plan to go all the way -- I'm not saying i will "convert" -- But I do plan to be able to say with confidence that I am an experienced user of linux.
Well, i have since updated much of the backend of my current content managment system. I do have plans to release it as soon as i have finished it. It's internals are built so you can template the site with any engine you desire and you can still make it extremely functional. I built the api for the CMS to be extremely intuitive because that is how i learn and how i make things easier to develop for myself. I have about 90% of the overall CMS completed. If you notice, you will see on the left hand site of my site an archive of all the news / postings. That is the newest lib i've made to enhance the functionality of the system.
Damn it I say, It is impossible for me to figure out how to submit email through my smtp server. Why
can't I RTFM and figure shit out like the rest of geeks in this world. Grrr, stupid postfix. I even
tried using webmin to set this shit up and I still don't understand much of what the configuration
options are even for. 
Whelp, the other day my dad gave me a heap of crap pile from some friend of his. The computer
specs: HP zetta 200 MHz 32mb sim memory with 2 GB drive.
I
exchanged the 2 GB with a 13 GB Seagate and I replaced the old broken Intel nic with a new realtek +
davicom. I attempted to install debian, but I realized I was sorry out of luck because I'm terrible
at compiling kernels which is why I run mandrake (just so I can avoid such scenarios. Anyways, after
debian did not work, I went with smoothwall, which I couldn't get working, and said, screw this shit
and went with mandrake. I installed a very dry installation of mandrake, came out to all of 300mb of
files, mainly for a few daemons I'm running. I ran into a few problems afterwards which were related
to some sort of issue with sshd, when i stay logged in for too long on that box it seemed to hang
and so the internet connection would die. I just avoid using sshd too much on it now 
I'm starting to finally get some real work done again, i'm working now with the zendstudio client 3, and i must say, i'm quite impressed with it's abilitys as goes for IDE functionality, zend crew didn't screw around when they built this client. I've started a new cms back-end, completely done in OOP, i'm thinking about implimenting PEAR:DB which would make this even more exciting. I will release the source soon enough as to give the public some really nice easy to read object code. I must recommend to all those who actually read my site to go download zend studio client 3 trial version. it's my savior.
Working on my development server and having some problems, so far, i've tried several dristros which are: arch, debian, mandrake 9.1, gentoo 1.4rc4. As far as i can tell at the moment, Mandrake and Gentoo are my favorite. Currently, I am working on getting mandrake 9.1 with apache2 working, due to the fact that my previous apache was 1.3.x , and i don't truely have an understanding of how apache works, to fix this problem. Untill i get my problems settied, i won't be working on anything for The Development Solutions. :/
Just got my linux boxes, starting to experiment with new distro's, and the box speeds are:
+ 550mhz p3 384mb sdram, intel 440bx chipset, 2 hd, 1 Maxtor 20gig, 1 WesternDigital
20gig, nvidia tnt2 ultra 32mb, 3com nic
+ 800mhz duron 256mb sdram, 1 samsung 20gig, sis
chipset, integrated realtek nic, matrox g200 8mb
Anyways, i've tried debian so
far, which is nice, very minimalistic setup, but the only problem is see, is it feels too
minimalistic, i need a box with some body to it 
, so i'm going to give mandrake 9.1 a
shot, hopefully it will setup many of the features which i find to be extremely useful.
I will keep everyone updated on my new development boxes.